Hydrogen Storage in Salty Blocks

An interesting route to store hydrogen for automotive and other applications investigates Jan Lublinski for Deutschlandfunk radio (10.7.2006). The chemist Claus Hviid Christensen of the Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen developed a method to convert hydrogen (H₂) into ammonia (NH₃) which is then fixed by the salt magnesium chloride. Later, for instance, inside a car the hydrogen may be released from the salt at 500 degrees Celsius. At present, Christensen is still optimistic that his method will have a loss in energy of only 35 percent. Others are skeptic. Because real-time fixation of hydrogen at a filling station takes too long, energetic salt block may be exchanged battery-like. First demonstrations are envisioned for wheel-chairs and forklifts.