Comparative reactivity of industrial metal powders with water for hydrogen production

Direct combustion of recyclable metal fuels for zero-carbon heat and power

“…In addition to the metal-air batteries that are under active investigation as discussed above, the reaction of metal fuels with water to produce hydrogen and heat is another possible means of achieving the zero-carbon metal-fuel cycle that has been widely studied by many researchers [25,58,67,68,[76][77][78][79], including by our group [80,81]. The metal-water reaction produces solid metal oxides and hydroxides that are easy to collect for recycling, along with hot hydrogen mixed with steam.…”

“…Due to the relatively slow metal-water reaction at low to moderate temperatures and pressures (up to T = 500 K and p = 20 atm) [80,81], an estimated power density, using Eq. (1), of typical metal-water reactors is much lower than that of combustionpowered devices, such as ICEs.…”

“…As discussed in this review, the direct combustion of metal fuels can lead to power systems that match the power density of hydrocarbonfuelled engines. Direct combustion can also enable metals that cannot be used in the low to moderate temperature metal-water cycle, such as iron [81], to be used as recyclable fuels. This is important because the optimal metal fuel for a given application will depend not only on its chemical reactivity and combustion or reaction properties, but also on its cost, the ease of collection of its metal-oxide combustion products, and the economics and life-cycle impacts of the fuel production and recycling systems.…”

Generation of Hydrogen through the Reaction between Plasma‐Modified Aluminum and Water

“…In situ hydrogen production [for portable power applications that use proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells] can be achieved from the well‐known reaction between metals and alloys with water. A number of metals (e.g., Mg, B, Al, Ti, Cr Mn, Fe, Zn, Sn, W) can readily react with water to produce hydrogen . One study showed that aluminum powder generated the largest amount of H 2 per unit mass compared with other metal powders .…”

“…A number of metals (e.g., Mg, B, Al, Ti, Cr Mn, Fe, Zn, Sn, W) can readily react with water to produce hydrogen . One study showed that aluminum powder generated the largest amount of H 2 per unit mass compared with other metal powders . Aluminum is inexpensive, light, has a high electron density, and it is one of the most widespread metals in the earth's crust (≈8.1 %) .…”