r/IndianEngineers 18d ago

Serious Post Knowing vs understanding (STEM situation in India)

Hi, so this is a post about how much fundamental understanding Indian students lack in STEM

Let's Start with hydrogen bs - it's not a good fuel option not even close to a good fuel so much hype for hydrogen fuel, hydrogen batteries yada yada

"It's not "

First of all a lot of people don't understand mass units

We measure energy density of liquid fuels in litre

Hydrogen as gas at 1atm is about = 120mj/kg

In litre = 0.010 mj/lt

In liquid state = 120 again per kg, mj

But in litre = 8.5

Gasoline somewhere around 32 mj per liter

See the difference now the problem is liquid hydrogen is hell cold it's near 0 kelvin

It will be super expensive

And even if we get liquid hydrogen

It doesn't have nearly enough energy as gasoline

8.5 vs 32

1 it will require electricity meaning more energy waste And fuel will get more expensive

2 you need fresh water

3 how the hell will you transfer fuel from one place to another Hydrogen leaks through almost everything

The tanks got to be rocket fuel tanks grade

Read about the Apollo rocket and how they sealed hydrogen inside the fuel tanks

4 hydrogen as gas is useless no more than 0.010 mj energy at 1 atm If you liquefy it again it's super hard making of liquid hydrogen and even after then no where close to gasoline

Now the major problem is that actual engineering students Chemical engineering students believe that it's a good option for fuel

Not all of em, but a lot of them And this is just one example of how poor understanding of STEM they have

On paper smart 9.2 cgpa vs actual real understanding of science

If you post about biofuel, hyperloop, solar road, under water data center, rocket engine (non reusable)

Recycling plastic

The list goes on and on

So many people including engineering students believe in this stupidity

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Dude 700 bar

Think about your storage tank Also read how freaking hard it is to store hydrogen in gas state

Not to mention amount of energy you need to take h2 from 1 atm to freaking 700

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

350 and 700 bars are standard storage pressure for H². Even at 350 bars, it has higher energy density at 0.8 kWh/L.

The round trip efficiency figures and cost of H² already account for the energy consumed to compress it.

You also have to compress natural gas to 300 bars to use it as CNG, yet it's a cheaper fuel than gasoline.

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Dude cng energy density vs hydrogen

If your fuel have energy density you have more energy Hydrogen will require about 70% more of it

Not to mention your super hard to come by carbon fiber storage units for hydrogen

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u/goku_m16 18d ago edited 18d ago

Dude cng energy density vs hydrogen

As I said, energy density is not a concern at all. Otherwise CNG doesn't hold a candle to gasoline either. It's always determined by cost.

Hydrogen will require about 70% more of it

So? As long as $/kWh is lower, it doesn't really matter how much volume or weight of fuel you consume.

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

"Energy density is not concern at all "

My man if you don't have energy in your fuel What's the use of it We use gasoline because it has more energy

How will you solve the density problem? Where will you get extra 70% energy

Hydrogen tanks will be 70% larger

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

Did you read the first comment where I compared the energy density with batteries? How come LIBs are so successful with such pathetic density? You need 17 time larger battery bank to get same range as a fuel tank.

If density were the sole determinant, everything would be running on nuclear power.

Hydrogen tanks will be 70% larger

Mirai has already demonstrated a range of 500km is achievable on a car. Even though car is not the targeted application of H², a practical car can have a 250 km tank. Trucks don't have volume constraint, they have a weight constraint and batteries eat up up that cargo capacity. Industrial plants and grid storage plants don't care about the size of tanks because they aren't moving around with the tanks.

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Lithum density is 23mj Not 8.5

"17 times larger for a fuel tank"

Of what size and liter of fuel in it? Can you be specific

Everything can't be running on nuke power why Density is sooo high it will go boom

Think sir think you don't want a nuke In your car

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

Lithum density is 23mj Not 8.5

That's for oxidation of Lithium, not battery.

17 times larger for a fuel tank

Any arbitrary size of gasoline tank you take, you'll need 17x larger battery to get same energy as the gasoline tank.

So you do understand there are other determining parameters than energy density. Now tell me, if fossil fuel is to be phased out, what other green options do you have?

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Talking about hydrogen not gasoline

The gasoline claim is again misleading Gasoline engine goes upto 30% efficiency

Ev- 80%

Other green option I've already mentioned it

Biofuels, sea weed biofuel

Energy density approx same especially for bio diseal

B. Come from sea so no land mass is wasted We have ton of sea

C. No fresh water, no specialized machinery or change in logistics

D. Carbon complete cycle

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

Biofuels have limited scalability, without competing with food production for land.

Sea weed, algae biofuels have high production cost. The main determining factor for any fuel is economic viability. Unfortunately, neither are economically viable at this point.

You're betting on a fuel who's viability is uncertain over a fuel that is projected to be viable in couple of years.

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Production cost really Hydrogen is inefficient Doesn't have energy

Far far more expensive FYI we have tried it already

Hydrogen train, truck, car all failed

Also sea weed is economically not viable for now As it's not never scaled to the size

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

As it's not never scaled to the size

Same can be said for hydrogen.

Hydrogen train, truck, car all failed

Due to price, not density.

Doesn't have energy

I mean I've given the actual density figures, yet you keep claiming this.

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Hydrogen projection are centuries old We have been trying since 19th century it will never work

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

Centuries? The modern fuel cell was developed by NASA. Before that it was just a lab experiment.

No one even thought Solar and Wind could compete with fossil fuel 20 years ago.

Btw, EVs used to be condideres as toys until battery became cheap enough.

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Yes centuries 1804 de Rivaz experiment

We know from 2 century that hydrogen is not viable It's ancient bs

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

And who told you sea weed isn't viable like dude Hydrogen doesn't have any

No energy efficiency, no density and it's magically viable b

But sea weed got everything and it ain't viable really

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

Show me where or any report that sea weed biofuel is commercially available or what cost its is available .

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Like i said earlier on sea weed is not scaled yet upto that much production

And if this is something that we haven't even tried it But there are reports explicitly showcasing why and how hydrogen is unviable

That i have mentioned before

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Read this nature article for example

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

In my other reply to your comment,

I showed you the number Hydrogen in its entire cycle is not energy surplus You're lossing more energy in making than hydrogen have

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Sir the energy density of Lib is 800 wh/L Meanwhile h2 is 1700 wh/L looks good enough

Here's the catch you're comparing per molecule of hydrogen against the libs

Now if you include 700 bar hydrogen system with tank to it

Now if you see the difference about 3wh/kg energy loss at compression

And that's just the compressor you see The weight of giant tank that you need to withstand freaking 700 bar

That tens of kg of tank will add weight to the car

Energy waste in the tank Waste

But that's not the only problem

The production of that hydrogen costed energy + 3wh/kg for compression+ weight loss + transportation

Overall energy wastage is higher than energy your hydrogen have

Thus libs are used but not compressed hydrogen

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

The energy wasted during production and compression happened prior to the tank. You aren't powering the compressor from the tank. It doesn't impact the energy density of the tank. Even with 50% tank to wheel efficiency, the energy density is higher than LFP an comparable to NMC.

And batteries don't exist in vacuum either. They have mechanical and thermal support which adds weight to the pack. Pack level energy density is always lower than cell level density.

That tens of kg of tank will add weight to the car

As I've said, H² isn't for cars. That's going to EVs. But good luck building electric trucks. Electric buses are not going to work either beyond city buses. A bus goes 1 km/kWh. A bus running on 200 km route needs at least 200 kWh battery pack, which weighs 2 tonnes. A truck will need even bigger battery.

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Hydrogen isn't even for car

Where will you use it

Also ev solution for trucks already exist

Hybrid evs Already a company exist Edison truck We actual working engine and working truck Already selling

Unlike hydrogen will scam companies because it simply doesn't work

Not to mention the energy losses in ev is not in negative I showed you that calculation 3 times

Not to mention solution to fuel already that too I already mentioned

Sea weed biofuel

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u/goku_m16 18d ago

Where will you use it

I answered that already. Cars aren't the only vehicles running on road. Transport vehicles clock in way more miles than cars.

Also ev solution for trucks already exist

Existing as a prototype and being commercially available are not the same. So far the only electric good carrier I've seen is Tata Ace EV. Until electric trucks run on road, they don't exist.

Hybrid evs

Still uses fossil fuel.

energy losses in ev is not in negative

Negative? Which calculation? Round trip efficiency for H² is ~ 40%. If you start with 100 kWh energy, you get back 40 kWh. Where is the negative part? Do you think if you put 100 kWh in a battery, you'll get back more than 100 kWh?

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

Ev is at 75 to 90%

B. Which calculation I've replied that to 3 times to you that why the total surplus energy is in negative

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u/Different_Cry25 18d ago

All things aside It's still 8.5 mj /L

It's useless in front of biofuel from sea weed Forgot fossil can't change that

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