Grantville Gazette 38 gg-38

by Коллектив Авторов

  It's interesting to note that, depending on who you ask, electrolytic hydrogen is cheaper (Roth), more expensive (Ellis/Sander), or the same cost (Greenwood) as hydrogen from the steam-iron plant. I suspect that it turns on what the assumed cost of power is. Bear in mind that nowadays, electrolytic hydrogen is much more expensive than hydrogen from steam reforming.

  This cost data (Tables 5A, 5B) is not available in Grantville, but they can calculate the materials requirements and cost them out separately.

  (1) materials only, steam and water treated as free; refrigeration power cost of 60 cents/1000cf.

  (2) Ellis 595, mostly based on Sander; additional prices of 18.75 for silicol (p523) and 32-38 for hydrogenite (521ff). Cp. 462ff for fractional refrigeration, 445, 458 for Griesheim-Elektron 472 Carbonium.

  (3) Greenwood 213, 234. Assumes power cost of 0.25p/kwh.

  Ellis (537ff) breaks down the operating cost for electrolytic production of 632 cubic feet compressed hydrogen/hour (4,550,400 cubic feet/year of 300 workdays, 24 hours/day) and half that of compressed oxygen as follows:

  Hydrogen Purification

  I talked about purification of carbon monoxide in the section on "water gas." In essence, carbon monoxide may be removed by treatment with cuprous chloride, or hot soda lime, caustic soda, or calcium carbide, or by liquefaction. Carbon dioxide is eliminated by washing with slaked lime, or water under pressure. Bog iron ore will extract hydrogen sulfide. (Greenwood 211ff).

  Hydrogen Transport

  Generally speaking, in the early-twentieth century, hydrogen was compressed for shipment to industrial customers. In 1904, figure that a gas compressor for compressing 100 cubic meters of hydrogen every 10 hours cost $1000, and a second compressor for the associated 50 cubic meters oxygen would be $625. (Engelhardt 39). Ellis (556) estimated that compressors for a 10 cubic meter/hour hydrogen system would be $2850.

  According to Ellis (538), an electrolytic hydrogen plant would require 4 kilowatt-hours for compression of 632 cubic feet (17.9 cubic meters) hydrogen to 300 psi (20 atmospheres), and 12 kilowatt-hours to compress 316 cubic feet oxygen to 1800 psi. Engelhardt (113) says that for compression to 100-120 atmospheres, the total power required would probably be about 4 kwh for 1 m3 hydrogen and 0.5 oxygen.

  The tanks were also a significant expense. The plant had to purchase enough so that it didn't have to wait for empties to be returned in order to keep up with demand. The steel tanks weighed 10 kilograms per cubic meter gas held, and a 40 kg tank cost $11.75 in 1904. (Englehardt 118ff).

  You have to be careful; don't use the same compressor alternately for hydrogen and oxygen, and don't use a former oxygen cylinder to carry hydrogen, or vice versa, without being sure that you completely removed the old gas. (Ellis 592).

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  An alternative to compression is liquefaction. Hydrogen was first liquefied in 1898. Liquefaction requires bringing the hydrogen to a pressure above its critical pressure (12.8 atmospheres), and then cooled below its critical temperature (-239.95oC). Keeping it liquid requires keeping it pressurized and cold, even in transport. And if you fail, well, remember that liquid hydrogen is a rocket fuel. I think it will be decades before liquid hydrogen appears in the new time line.

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  Since military balloons had to be launched near the front line, where transportation options were likely to be limited, the tanks were moved by a variety of means. The first use of compressed hydrogen in warfare was possibly in the British expedition to the Sudan (1885); each camel carried two 66 pound cylinders, each carrying 140 cubic feet (after expansion) of gas. (AGLJ) In the Boer War, fifty horses were needed to transport cylinders (weighing 1 pound/cubic foot hydrogen) enough to fill a 14,000 cubic foot balloon. (Greenwood 223). Later, the Germans used railway wagons that weighed 30 tons and carried almost 100,000 cubic feet hydrogen. (233) The American military neglected the balloon after the Civil War, but in 1891-3, the Signal Corps decided to add a tethered balloon and fill it with hydrogen from pressurized (120 atmosphere) cylinders. (Crouch 519ff).

  Airships have much greater mobility than military balloons, so we aren't limited to "front line" options, but the rail network is much less developed in the 1632 universe.

  The total cost of compressing and shipping hydrogen to a remote airship facility can be high. For 12.5 cubic meters hydrogen, compressed and shipped 300 miles, and empties returned, Schmidt estimated (1900) 29.5 cents to produce the gas, 2.5 to compress it, 16.25 as interest on the purchase cost of the tanks, 2 for labor, and 62.5 for the two-way freight, for a total of $1.13-9 cents/m3. (Englehardt 129).

  In 1915, Fourniols compared the cost of producing hydrogen at a cheap-to-operate hydrogen plant and shipping it in compressed form, to generating it on site using the hydrolith process. The former produced hydrogen at a cost of only 0.4 francs/cubic meter. But compression and transport of 50,000 cubic meters for an unstated distance increased the cost from 20,000 francs to 960,000. In contrast, the same amount of hydrogen could be produced by the field process for 324,000 francs, of which only 40,000 was transport-related (carriages for the apparatus and reagents). (Ellis 534).

  At some point, high pressure hydrogen pipelines, like the early-twentieth century one from Griesheim to Frankfurt, might reduce transport costs. (Ellis 440).

  There are two complications with storing hydrogen; its great capacity for diffusion through other materials, and its ability to embrittle metals, include steel (Kirk-Othmer 13:851). That may limit the useful life of storage cylinders.

  Hydrogen Recycling

  The contents of a gas cell will become corrupted as hydrogen escapes and, more slowly, air enters. The hydrogen in this "spent gas" may be recovered for re-use by an adaptation (Greenwood 233) of the Linde-Frank-Caro liquefaction method used to separate hydrogen from carbon monoxide in the water gas processes.

  Hydrogen Testing

  To avoid explosions and fire, and maximize lifting power, it's important to know how pure the produced hydrogen is, and what other gases it's contaminated with. Hydrogen may be measured by combustion with excess oxygen, or by measurement of the thermal conductivity of the gas. Carbon monoxide will blacken paper moistened with palladium chloride, or it can be quantified by measuring the carbon dioxide formed by its reaction with hot iodine pentoxide. Carbon dioxide, in turn, is detected by its reaction with lime water or barium hydroxide. (272). Oxygen is revealed by blueing if the gas is bubbled through a colorless cuprous salt solution.

  We can measure arsenic with the "mirror test" beloved of early detective stories, and hydrogen sulfide by its reaction with a lead acetate paper. (Greenwood 235ff, 254, 272; Taylor 193ff).

  I leave it up to the reader to determine the extent to which these detection methods would be known in Grantville Literature, and how soon the necessary reagents and apparatus could be produced.

  Conclusion

  In the 1630s, I believe that electrolysis, whether of water or alkali, should be the dominant method of hydrogen production in Grantville itself. There's ready access to electricity, which, for the reasons I set forth in Cooper, "Aluminum: Will O' the Wisp?" (Grantville Gazette 8), should be relatively cheap for several years despite its ultimate dependence on burning coal.

  And we don't have to worry about compressing the gas if the airship station is in Grantville. If we electrolyze water, we have the further advantage that we are producing oxygen (which itself is valuable) and the hydrogen is going to be of extremely high purity (at least if we use distilled water).

  Otherwise, the practicality of electrolytic hydrogen will depend on whether electricity is available. That in turn first requires either the proximity of a river with a suitable gradient and flow rate (for hydroelectric power), or of fuel (coal, oil, wood, etc.) to burn. And secondly, you need the turbine for converting the kinetic energy of falling water, or the boiler and steam engine (piston or turbine) for converting the chemical energy of the fuel. I considered this, in a rail electrification context, in Cooper, Locomotion: The Nex
t Generation (Grantville Gazette 34).

  Unfortunately for Copenhagen, which in canon is a leader in airship development, Denmark is not well suited for electric power generation of any sort. As we know, Marlon Pridmore chose to rely on the steam-iron process. However, generating steam requires heat, and plainly the Danes are burning some kind of fuel to do it. With no waste, you need nine grams of water to make one gram of hydrogen (0.42 cubic feet), and to make several hundred thousand cubic feet of hydrogen is going to require a heck of a lot of fuel. My guess is that the Danes will establish a big steam-iron plant that is on the Copenhagen-Venice route and near to a coal field or at least has ready river or rail access to a coal field. Hannover is a possibility, but coal would probably be cheaper near Cologne, and they could add service to Amsterdam and Hamburg. The airship would make a "pit stop" when its gas cells were getting dicey.

  I think that there will also be some experimentation, by would-be airship powers, with the steam-carbon and steam-hydrocarbon processes. The former uses coal, which is abundant in western Europe, and the latter can make do with petroleum fractions that aren't useful as vehicle fuels. And of course, if you have carbon or hydrocarbon for use as a reactant, you can presumably use some of it as fuel for steam-making.

  We know that there is going to be rapid scale-up of both iron and sulfuric acid production, which will provide some initial impetus to explore the potentialities of the wet method. If the Civil War buffs in Grantville have particulars of Lowe's hydrogen generator, that will also give it a boost. However, acid-iron has too many disadvantages to be attractive in the long-term.

  The search for oil will inevitably result in the discovery of natural gas reservoirs, like that in the Grantville area. The pyrolysis of coal, to produce organic chemicals such as benzene, will produce coal gas as a byproduct. The accelerated development of chemical knowledge will lead to the relatively early discovery of catalysts suitable for reforming methane (and other volatile hydrocarbons) from natural gas or coal gas. This will facilitate stationary hydrogen production.

  Of the classic field methods, I think silicol will be the first one to become practical in the 1632 universe. A crude silicon can be made easily enough, and there is going to be demand for ferrosilicon by the steel industry and that will help bring costs down.

  Bibliography

  Ardery, "Hydrogen for Military Purposes," Metallurg. amp; Chem. Eng'g 14: 333 (Mar. 15, 1916).

  Brewer, Hydrogen Aircraft Technology

  Clow, The chemical revolution: a contribution to social technology

  Doty, A realistic look at hydrogen price projections (2004)

  www.dotynmr.com/PDF/Doty_H2Price.pdf

  Haydon, Aeronautics in the Union and Confederate armies (1980)

  Crouch, The Eagle Aloft: Two Centuries of the Balloon in America (1983).

  Tunis, "Civil War Weapons: Balloons," Popular Science, 179: 86 (September 1961).

  Powell, Military Ballooning, Scientific American Supplement, No. 397, 6339 (Aug. 11, 1883).

  Taylor, Industrial Hydrogen (1921).

  Capelotti, By Airship to the North Pole (1999).

  Seeker, Hydrogen, its technical production and uses, The Chemical Engineer 20: 221 (Dec. 1914).

  Boyne, The influence of air power upon history

  Hoffmann, Tomorrow's energy: hydrogen, fuel cells, and the prospects for a cleaner planet

  Delacaombe, The boys' book of airships (1909).

  Sander, The Preparation of Gas for Balloons, Sci. Am. Suppl. 1840:210 (April 8, 1911).

  Ellis, The Hydrogenation of Fats and Oils (2d ed. 1919)

  Engelhardt, The Electrolysis of Water (1904).

  Greenwood, Industrial Gases (1919).

  Rand, Hydrogen Energy: Challenges and Prospects

  Roth, A Short Course on the Theory and Operation of the Free Balloon (2d ed. 1917).

  Lunge, Coal-Tar and Ammonia.

  Businelli, "THE HOMEMAKER’S HYDROGEN GENERATOR" (2010)

  http://www.princeton.edu/~iahe/Document/IAHE-PrincetonUniversity_Final_Report.pdf

  [AGLJ], Gas for War Balloons, American Gas Light Journal 104: 59 (Jan. 24, 1916)

  Teed, The Chemistry and Manufacture of Hydrogen (1919).

  Liu, Hydrogen and Syngas Production and Purification Technologies

  Blomen, Fuel Cell Systems

  Philpott, The On-Site Production of Hydrogen

  Platinum Metals Rev., 20: 110-113 (1976).

  http://www.platinummetalsreview.com/pdf/pmr-v20-i4-110-113.pdf

  Wilcox, "Hydrogen for the R100"

  http://www.nevilshute.org/Engineering/JohnBWilcox/jbw_hydrogen.php

  Maxfield, "War Ballooning in Cuba," Aeronautical J., 83-6 (Oct. 1989).

  Molinari, Treatise on General and Inorganic Chemistry (1912).

  [JCE] "Steam and Superheated Steam," Chemistry Comes Alive!

  http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/CCA3/MAIN/STEAM/PAGE1.HTM

  Yurum, Hydrogen Energy System (1995).

  Stovel, Contributed Discussion of Dodge, Specific Heat of Superheated Steam, Proceedings of the American Society of Mechanical Engineeers, 28: 1473 (May 1907).

  Babcock amp; Wilcox, Steam, Its Generation and Use (1919)

  http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22657/22657-h/chapters/superheat.html#chapter_superheat

  Pennsylvania RR, Reports on Tests of Locomotive 60,000

  http://www.cwrr.com/Lounge/Reference/baldwin/part03.html

  Udengaard, Hydrogen production by steam reforming of hydrocarbons

  http://www.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel/preprint%20archive/Files/49_2_Philadelphia_10-04_1205.pdf

  Smit, Enriching the Earth (2004).

  Templer, Military Balloons, (1879).

  Weissermal, Industrial Organic Chemistry (1997).

  [BLE] Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineer's monthly journal, Volume 13 (1879).

  Moedebeck, Pocket-Book of Aeronautics (1907).

  Baden-Powell, "Military Ballooning," Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, 27: 735 (1883).

  Langins, "Hydrogen production for ballooning during the French Revolution: An early example of chemical process development", Annals Sci., 40: 531-558 (1983).

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  TMI

  Kristine Kathryn Rusch

  William Gibson saw it, although not completely clearly, this future-this present-filled with self-obsession and knowledge at our very fingertips. I’m not sure Bill was the first to see it-I know Algis Budrys saw miniaturization and small computers long before anyone else-but I know this: When I first read Neuromancer, I thought Bill’s future sounded awful.

  And now I’m living it.

  Yeah, I know, the computer isn’t jacked into my brain-yet. But I have more information at my fingertips than I could ever consume. And I’m in minute-by-minute contact with people all over the globe through various social networking sites, if I so choose to be.

  I’m halfway through my life, raised in an analog world, so I’ve only partially adapted to this one. Yet I loathe it when I can’t log on at the minute I want to, and I love to whip out my iPhone to answer some trivia question. I took one look at the Kindle Flame and decided it wasn’t for me. Not because I think it a bad product-I don’t. But it runs on wireless, and my experience with wireless, particularly in remote places (like the town I live in), means that I won’t be able to download something the moment I think of it.

  And I hate that.

  I couldn’t do it four years ago, but now, I really don’t want to live without it.

  But I’m not a sharer. And by that, I’m not talking about all those folks on Twitter who feel compelled to tell me what they’re cooking for dinner.

  By that, I mean I don’t use half the commands on my phone or in Facebook or on my Kindle. A year or so ago, when Amazon upgraded my ancient (!) three-year-old Kindle’s operating system, it added a feature that to me, looked like those used textbooks I used to buy when I had no money. Every sentence in the John Grisham novel I had been reading was suddenl
y and inexplicably underlined.

  If I moved the cursor to one of those sentences, the device would tell me that 85 people liked it. Or it would ask me if I wanted to share that sentence with my friends.

  Um, no. I like keeping my reading private. Although I do underline when I read. Nonfiction. For research. Using a pen and a real book.

  It took me a couple of hours to figure out how to shut off that feature. Then I mentioned it to another Kindle-owning friend who is older than me (but not by much) and he had a visceral hate-reaction to that underlining feature, and choice words for the folks who use it.

  But these options are proliferating. When Google Alerts sends me an obligatory mention of my name on the web, sometimes my name is attached to a random quote from one of my books, often on Good Reads. People will quote one line from my 600,000 word Fey saga, and other people will mark whether or not they like that one line.

  Never mind that it’s taken out of context. Never mind that it might be the opposite of what I personally believe. It’s there, I wrote it, and people like it.

  I find it all weird.

  When this whole sharing thing started, it blind-sided me. Now I have little links to all the various sharing services on my blog, and I know folks use them. Heck, I’ve used those little links lately on other people’s blogs, because the dang things are convenient, even if they do mean that some cookie somewhere has linked my Twitter account to that blog or hacked my Facebook account (is it hacking if they have my permission?) so that I can post on Facebook without logging onto Facebook.

  Privacy advocates tell me I should be offended by all of this sharing, but I’m not. It’s convenient sometimes, and creepy sometimes, and Just The Way Things Are.