Jun 24, 2023 05:04 PM
https://spectrum.ieee.org/iron-fuel
EXCERPTS: The high melting points of metals make them useful components for machinery, electronics, and furnaces. But even metals can burn if you grind them into fine powders. What’s more, metals can burn without emitting toxic or planet-warming emissions, making them a potentially attractive fuel for producing clean power—one that can be easily stored and transported.
[...] Iron powder is an ideal alternative to carbon fuels, says Jeff Bergthorson, a mechanical engineering professor at McGill and the chief scientific advisor for Altiro. Bergthorson and colleagues at the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency developed the metal fuel concept and published their report in the journal Applied Energy in 2015.
Iron is one of the most abundant metals on Earth, and the most produced. It has an energy density of about 11.3 kilowatt-hours per liter—better than gasoline. Burning iron powder produces heat that can be used directly or converted into electricity by a steam turbine, leaving behind iron oxide, or rust. This can later be reduced—that is, the oxygen can be stripped away—back into iron powder. “You can think of iron fuel as a clean, recyclable coal,” says Bergthorson.
[...] That’s not to say iron fuel doesn’t come with its own challenges. It does not ignite as easily as hydrocarbon fuels, and the flame speed is slower, which makes it unstable and more prone to extinguishing. Altiro gets around this problem by adding a little natural gas to ignite the iron powder when the boiler first starts up. They have also come up with a technology to stabilize the flame so that it burns for long periods of time without extinguishing, Bergthorson says... (MORE - missing details)
Regeneration of iron oxide; making the iron fuel technology a reality ... https://youtu.be/Qm0sIN-KhUo
EXCERPTS: The high melting points of metals make them useful components for machinery, electronics, and furnaces. But even metals can burn if you grind them into fine powders. What’s more, metals can burn without emitting toxic or planet-warming emissions, making them a potentially attractive fuel for producing clean power—one that can be easily stored and transported.
[...] Iron powder is an ideal alternative to carbon fuels, says Jeff Bergthorson, a mechanical engineering professor at McGill and the chief scientific advisor for Altiro. Bergthorson and colleagues at the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency developed the metal fuel concept and published their report in the journal Applied Energy in 2015.
Iron is one of the most abundant metals on Earth, and the most produced. It has an energy density of about 11.3 kilowatt-hours per liter—better than gasoline. Burning iron powder produces heat that can be used directly or converted into electricity by a steam turbine, leaving behind iron oxide, or rust. This can later be reduced—that is, the oxygen can be stripped away—back into iron powder. “You can think of iron fuel as a clean, recyclable coal,” says Bergthorson.
[...] That’s not to say iron fuel doesn’t come with its own challenges. It does not ignite as easily as hydrocarbon fuels, and the flame speed is slower, which makes it unstable and more prone to extinguishing. Altiro gets around this problem by adding a little natural gas to ignite the iron powder when the boiler first starts up. They have also come up with a technology to stabilize the flame so that it burns for long periods of time without extinguishing, Bergthorson says... (MORE - missing details)
Regeneration of iron oxide; making the iron fuel technology a reality ... https://youtu.be/Qm0sIN-KhUo