Ammonia is the solution

RV fridges still use it I believe ,many fires, failures and quite expensive.the industry is slowly changing over to residential fridges using inverter and lithium batteries
 
The source of that hydrogen is typically methane! (natural gas). So, you use energy to separate the hydrogen. Then you use energy to produce the ammonia, and this is likely all grid power or power produced using methane or coal-fuelled generators, so there's your power plant losses upfront at multiple steps here.
I've worked in 2 ammonia plants, both had in house power generation, steam turbines powered from (primarily) the excess heat from the reformation stage of the process. Essentially its all natural gas powering the process - the only time these plants would need "grid power" will be during start-up.
 
RV fridges still use it I believe ,many fires, failures and quite expensive.the industry is slowly changing over to residential fridges using inverter and lithium batteries
Actually 12v fridges for the most part. There are some residential ones in the bigger units, but most of the more affordable consumer stuff is 12v fridge. There's still a pile of them that use the absorption units as well. Lots of people that boondock camp prefer them as they can get away with using less electricity from their battery/solar.
 
Actually 12v fridges for the most part. There are some residential ones in the bigger units, but most of the more affordable consumer stuff is 12v fridge. There's still a pile of them that use the absorption units as well. Lots of people that boondock camp prefer them as they can get away with using less electricity from their battery/solar.
I can run my samsung on solar.First thing I did when the RV fridge failed (the ammonia smell gave it away) is by the residential, less cost -$ 3600 vs 1200.
Stuff gets cold fast and ice cream is hard.Solar beats propane easily.
 
I've worked in 2 ammonia plants, both had in house power generation, steam turbines powered from (primarily) the excess heat from the reformation stage of the process. Essentially its all natural gas powering the process - the only time these plants would need "grid power" will be during start-up.
Yes, cogen is VERY common for large industrial consumers, that's why I mentioned both in my post, as electricity prices have to be insanely cheap for it not to be worthwhile (see: Quebec).
 
My brother was commercial HVAC certified, and had bad stories of anhydrous ammonia leaks. I buy 70% for cleaning - it smells bad but no more reactive than Purple Power.
There is also a lot of current research on ammonia ICE fuel promoter (130 ROM), mainly for diesel but also for gasoline, from 87% gasoline/13% NH3 up to 37% gasoline/63% NH3. gasturbines & power (I work occasionally with gas turbine plants with ammonia co-gens.)
I'd considered fogging 70% NH3 into the intake at WOT to increase charge density (cooling) and eliminate chance of knock. Just adding a cold air intake to the old beast made a very measurable performance difference on hill climbs by having it ingest 70F air instead of 180F.
 

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Interesting - what was the issue? Absorption chemicals leaking? Electric and propane flames are always a danger in and of themselves.
You mean "what IS the issue". Its still happening. RVs use open flame or an electric heater to make the ammonia do its thing.

Springs a leak and get out the marshmellows.
 
I wonder if we could handle ammonia on a mass scale without burning everyone's lungs up. Would have to provide a sealed transfer process to keep the fumes from escaping while fueling and driving. Or maybe there's some way to neutralize the fumes?

The current state of the art is to carry ammonia in a “inert” form - such as DEF for use in SCR, hydrazine for F-16 APUs/liquid fuel rockets or solid form as ammonium nitrate. Problem is to convert the ammonia to usable form via decomposition if it needs to be used as a fuel.
 
The US has 10 of thousands of miles of pipelines carrying ammonia. The idea is to convert ammonia into hydrogen at the point of sale.
 
You mean "what IS the issue". Its still happening. RVs use open flame or an electric heater to make the ammonia do its thing.

Springs a leak and get out the marshmellows.
Interesting - I hadn't known the extent or recalls. Reading https://www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-refrigerator-fires points out some units to check especially, since the shut-offs allowed 1200F instead of 700! The temps caused the boiler cracking and fires; 800F is also the yield point of the cooling unit tubing with the normal charge pressure.
They note this https://www.arprv.com, which monitors the boiler temp.
The normal range for a Norcold 1200 is 185 to 195C (365 - 383F), and my old Dometic is not affected by a recall and chills well.
I can easily add one of my temp sensors to the Pi ADC like the arprv device, but I'll check the shutoff with my FLIR for correct
 
A 100kW fuel cell sounds almost impressive, until you realize that it’s only ~134HP, and basically only 2/3 as powerful as the diesel it’s replacing while likely costing 10x as much. The article makes it sound like some great accomplishment that the tractor could run “for several hours” on a tankful of ammonia; the diesel tractor likely runs all day and still has some left on a tank.

Also, anyone wanna place wagers on what’s easier to get serviced? Diesel vs fuel cell, even if the FC wasn’t ammonia? I agree with others… ammonia FC is a bonehead idea.
 
A 100kW fuel cell sounds almost impressive, until you realize that it’s only ~134HP, and basically only 2/3 as powerful as the diesel it’s replacing while likely costing 10x as much.
No wonder I saw a label on the FCEV bus fleet around that says “If battery SOC is less than 30%, please call operations control ASAP”. It’s one thing for an underpowered hybrid car to make do with 70-90hp, but if a commercial FC stack can’t keep up with motive demands…
 
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