question_answer 89)

  Basic principle of hydrogen economy is transportation and storage of energy in the form of liquid or gaseous hydrogen. Which property of hydrogen may be useful for this purpose? Support your answer with chemical equation if required.

Answer:

  Liquid \[{{H}_{2}}\] can be stored relatively easily and safely in cryogenic tanks. It is also feasible to transport liquid \[{{H}_{2}}\]byroad or rail tankers. It can also be stored in underground tanks and transported by pipe-lines. However, it may not be convenient to store liquid \[{{H}_{2}}\] in a home or in a car since its boiling point is very low. The only alternative left is to store \[{{H}_{2}}\] in a metal or in an alloy as interstitial hydride. The gas can be released on mild heating. A different approach involves reacting the\[{{H}_{2}}\] with certain metals to produce hydrides which when reacted with water produce hydrogen which can be burned.                                 \[Li+\frac{1}{2}{{H}_{2}}\to LiH\]                                 \[LiH+{{H}_{2}}O\to LiOH++{{H}_{2}}\]