Over the past couple of months, I’ve talked about how ammonia-fueled cars may be the hydrogen cars of the future. Ammonia is a hydrogen-rich chemical compound that when activated is able to release its hydrogen to a fuel cell to power a vehicle.
Ammonia is now back in the news as a hydrogen-storage method that can potentially be used to power future hydrogen cars. Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are using solid ammonia borane pellets for compact storage of hydrogen.
These ammonia borane pellets take up less space and weigh much less than pressurized hydrogen. The PNNL scientists are now working on how to release the hydrogen from the ammonia pellets at predictable rates during acceleration for the automotive industry.