What is the source of hydrogen for New Shepard? Who makes the hydrogen, how do they make it (steam reforming? Electrolysis?) or is it made on-site?I assume they probably get it trucked in from somewhere, but where and by who? Anyone see any liquid hydrogen tanker trucks in West Texas?
Quote from: Robotbeat on 06/18/2022 01:32 pmWhat is the source of hydrogen for New Shepard? Who makes the hydrogen, how do they make it (steam reforming? Electrolysis?) or is it made on-site?I assume they probably get it trucked in from somewhere, but where and by who? Anyone see any liquid hydrogen tanker trucks in West Texas?Most likely from Methane with steam reforming as its cheapest with CO2 byproduct released into atmosphere. If Blue had greener source of hydrogen their PR team would make it known.
Yo. You can buy materials/parts to make a hydrogen generator on Amazon!
Quote from: Mr. Scott on 06/18/2022 09:38 pmYo. You can buy materials/parts to make a hydrogen generator on Amazon!Dude, I can buy them from a dollar store. Don't remember prices, though.
Quote from: SpeakertoAnimals on 06/18/2022 09:46 pmQuote from: Mr. Scott on 06/18/2022 09:38 pmYo. You can buy materials/parts to make a hydrogen generator on Amazon!Dude, I can buy them from a dollar store. Don't remember prices, though.Plenty of solar energy on site to make if from. If they are serious about increasing launch rate, investing in this infrastructure would be worthwhile especially for good PR. They've had enough bad press about rich people spending their money on 6 minute flight to space.
Here's a reasonably recent map collection of current and future US hydrogen production facilities. The one in Amarillo is Pantex and probably not for commercial sale, Air Liquide just opened one in N Las Vegas, and Albuquerque is trying to go all in for both aerospace and power production but not quite there yet. The 2040 dot near Van Horn lines up with DOT's hydrogen car plans for regional production.https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy19osti/71566.pdf
But what about LIQUID hydrogen production capacity?
Didn’t know about using a rubber pig (tube inside the bigger tube?) could allow hydrogen to be easily transported inside natural gas lines, but that makes total sense and seems obvious in hindsight. Natural gas can handle up to about 2% hydrogen and remain within spec, so that would make it tolerant of some modest amount of leakage.Makes sense that they’d just add a liquefier on a hydrogen line.Sounds like there are closer liquid hydrogen sources, in Nevada and Texas, than California.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PiggingThe pig acts as a separator between different products and is pushed along the pipeline by the pumped flow of the product. It's just shy of the diameter of the pipe interior and about three times as long. According to Wikipedia they have multiple uses, although I did not know that. Apocryphally, they are called "pigs" because they make a grunting noise as they interact with the pipe, but I have no personal knowledge of this.
Is there any hint about this? I’m very curious.