Hello,
How can I safely and cheaply compress hydrogen at home until it becomes liquid and is a propane/butane bottle strong enough for that pressure?
In the past I have already managed to get my moped to run on a propane-butane mix, now I can produce hydrogen at home by means of electrolysis.
My problem is that my refrigerator motor that I use as a compressor can’t put out enough pressure.
The inside of my engine has already been made stainless, I have an evaporator system for switching to gas, now I just need to be able to fill my bottle.
I don’t have much money so I wonder if there is a cheap, but above all a SAFE method to achieve my goal.
Thanks in advance.
Answer
Well … liquefying hydrogen is not something you can do with a refrigerator compressor, I’m afraid. The critical point of hydrogen is around -240°C, which means that you have to make it at least that cold before it can become liquid.
I don’t think you can explode a propane or butane bottle with the pressure a refrigerator compressor generates, but you certainly won’t get a lot of hydrogen in it. The reason you can fill these types of bottles with propane or butane is because the compressed gas condenses into liquid in the bottle, but hydrogen doesn’t – never.
Moreover, hydrogen in air has a very wide explosion range, which makes it dangerous to work with.
If I were you, I’d give up on this project before accidents happen. However you go about driving your moped with hydrogen, it will never be cheap and safe.
Answered by
Dr Christophe Vande Velde
chemistry, organic chemistry, organic synthesis, materials science, organic electronics, crystallography, x-ray diffraction, structure-property relations, organic solar cells
Prinsstraat 13 2000 Antwerp
http://www.uantwerpen.be
.