Is Hydrogen A Safe Fuel, Or Not?

Is Hydrogen a Safe Fuel, Or Not?

Is Hydrogen a Safe Fuel, Or Not?

How dangerous is hydrogen, lets compare.

We all know how dangerous gasoline is. You drop a match on spilled fluid it explodes. Diesel is not as bad as its flash point is a little higher. You can actually hold a match to diesel and light it, although I would not recommend it, the reason for this is the flash point. Gasoline flash point is 536 degrees Fahrenheit where as diesel is 489 degrees Fahrenheit. Hydrogen flash point is almost double that of gasoline or 932 degrees Fahrenheit. Flash point is defined as, lowest temperature at which a liquid can vaporize to form an ignitable mixture in air. So in other words, hydrogen has to be heated a lot higher than gasoline to ignite.

Hydrogen gas is also lighter then air, in fact it is 15 times lighter. So if a leak did occur, the hydrogen gas would rise, it would than combine with air and quickly become so sparse that it could not burn. If by a small chance ignition did occur, being lighter than air it would burn upwards and be consumed quickly.

Gasoline and diesel vapors on the other hand are heavier than air and will not disperse but will follow the contour of the ground. If ignited it would spread rapidly. These vapors also have a lower ignition temperature so the chance of ignition is greater. With gasoline you also have a larger chance of an explosion.

Petroleum products are poisonous to humans and considered asphyxiates Hydrogen is actually a naturally occurring element and is non toxic. Petroleum products produce CO2 which is expelled into the air, while hydrogen produces O2. This is why when you leave a car running in a closed garage it could cause your death. This death is caused by too much carbon dioxide entering your body. It triggers your brain to speed up your breathing to get rid of excess CO2. Too much CO2 changes acid level in the body and in turns causes your death.

When pure hydrogen and pure oxygen is burned only pure water is produced. So when hydrogen is introduced into an engine it actually cleans the ambient air by burning the excess hydrocarbon. By burning the excess hydrocarbon you start pushing oxygen instead of carbon dioxide out your tail pipe. With oxygen coming out our tail pipe instead of carbon dioxide, what do you think that it is going to do to our environment?

In comparison petroleum products produces carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrogen sulfide. None of which is good for the environment.

As you can see introducing hydrogen into the fuel really helps in cleaning up our environment and as a bonus it will increase your fuel mileage. Fuel mileage increases from burning more of the fuel that enters your engine. The more fueled burned the less fuel is wasted out the tail pipes.

With all these factors taken in consideration, hydrogen fuel is a pretty safe fuel and better for the environment when used correctly. Just remember, as with any other fuel if used incorrectly it can and will be dangerous. This is especially true in a closed area. But used correctly you not only will be able to increase our mileage you will also help save our air quality.

by: Julianne Rowat

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