In a recent study published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Washington State University Professor Bin Yang and colleagues demonstrated that their lignin-based jet fuel can chemically bind hydrogen in a stable liquid form. This breakthrough has significant implications for fuel and transportation industries, potentially simplifying hydrogen storage and utilization as a high-energy, zero-emission fuel source.
“This new, lignin jet fuel-based technology could enable efficient, high-density hydrogen storage in an easy-to-handle sustainable aviation fuel, eliminating the need for pressurized tanks for storage and transport,” Yang said.
For the study, researchers at WSU, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of New Haven, and Natural Resources Canada set out to address one of the major challenges with using hydrogen as a fuel source. The lightest element’s low density and explosive nature make storage and transport technically challenging, inefficient, and expensive.
The January article details how the research team discovered the new hydrogen-storing process using chemical reactions that produced aromatic carbons and hydrogen from lignin jet fuel—an experimental fuel developed by Yang’s lab based on lignin, an organic polymer found in plants.
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