this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2023
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

"Large" and "1 Megawatt" seems like a contradiction.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Interesting. Not necessarily practical, but unusual.

I had heard about iron flow batteries which also change the oxidation level of iron, but not about burning iron powder and reverting the rust to iron using hydrogen.

I think electrochemistry has better prospects in warm climates, where you most likely cannot sell the heat. Burning and converting heat into anything always has a penalty in terms of efficiency - but can get high power densities. In cold climates where reaction heat is a useful thing to consumers - maybe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I wonder the energy cost of creating the powdered iron. And of converting iron oxide back to iron powder.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

AFAIK it is not the most efficient, but can be done with surplus electricity from wind farms for example.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Current (pilot test scale) electrical iron reduction is a bit more efficient than commercial hydrogen electrolysis. It may have some as-yet-unknown barriers to commercialisation though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This is a cool concept. There are definitely possible issues that need to be hammered out, but I like seeing diverse ideas for energy production! Thanks for sharing!

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