Fueling More Aluminum Demand?

A team of Purdue University researchers has developed a process that could make the use of hydrogen fuel more practical, and a key component of the process is a new aluminum alloy.

According to a news item on Economist.com, researchers at Purdue University have developed a technique to isolate non-combustible hydrogen gas that uses “small pellets of an alloy of two metals, aluminum and gallium.”

The process ties into aluminum’s ability to separate oxygen from water molecules, leaving behind “loose hydrogen” while the oxygen combines with the aluminum to form alumina (aluminum in its pre-refined state).

The post-transition metal gallium comes into play by mixing it with the aluminum to prevent “the formation of [an] oxide skin so that, in the presence of water, each and every atom of aluminum is available to free up hydrogen,” according to the Economist.com news item.

The report notes that, at the end of this chemical process, both the alumina powder and the liquid gallium can be recycled or re-used.

The researchers currently estimate that the CO2 emissions of the process are about half those for using gasoline in an internal combustion engine. The cost of running such a vehicle could be similar to using gasoline, the Economist reports.

The researchers have created a start-up company called AlGalCo to begin commercializing the process, initially looking at applications with smaller items such as lawn mowers and chain saws, according to a Purdue University news release.