What is hydrogen?
What is hydrogen and what are hydrogen applications? There has been a lot of talk about this topic for a few years now. The German Federal Government as well as the EU are relying on this energy carrier to achieve the climate goals that have been set. However, the use of hydrogen is anything but simple and requires detailed planning and clever engineers for implementation. But which hydrogen technologies are available and for which areas can they be used economically? What contribution does DILICO engineering make in this context? In the following, an overview is given and the main differences in hydrogen applications are discussed.
Hydrogen is the lightest element in the universe and consists of only one proton and one electron. Hydrogen as a molecule is a gaseous energy carrier, very light and therefore very volatile. This makes hydrogen very difficult to handle. However, hydrogen also has a very high mass-related energy density (33.33 kWh/kg) and is therefore suitable as an energy store. One disadvantage of hydrogen is that its volume-related energy density is very low and therefore large quantities can usually only be stored under very high pressure. Nevertheless, there are various technologies that deal with the application of the molecule hydrogen. Because hydrogen is sufficiently available on the planet. It is found in water or bound in hydrocarbons, but not in pure form. Hydrogen must be obtained from water or hydrocarbons.