Saturday, September 22, 2007

more on alternate fuels that can be made from electricity

1. I am checking with auto company people, and will do some checks myself,
on the idea of the "HH economy" -- making hydrazine hydrate instead of hydrocarbons,
from electricity from space (or solar farms or nuclear plants for that matter).

2. FYI, HH is basically the same as ethanol with C replaced by N (and of course two H's gone).

NOW -- IT TURNS OUT TO BE A GREAT AVIATION FUEL TOO....

From Wikipedia:
Hydrazine was first used as a rocket fuel during World War II for the Messerschmitt Me 163 (the first jet fighter plane), under the name B-Stoff (hydrazine hydrate) and in a mixture with methanol (M-Stoff) and hydrogen peroxide called C-Stoff.

They say "rocket fuel," but they pumped it into the world's first jet fighter with no trouble...

In fact, maybe it would make sense as an alternative to hydrocarbons in one stage of an airplane-like RLV as well.

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It would be interesting if aircraft, both civilian and military, could be early users or adopters of the fuel,
if it were ramped up. But of course, airlines would take a long hard look at HH cost versus jet fuel cost
before doing anything. If energy from space could help reduce the cost of making HH, it could be decisive...
especially as the cost of crude oil keeps rising... And it would be nice for the US military to
have some fuel flexibility.

Best of luck,
 
   Paul

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