KSC Hydrogen production and waste

[StrandedonEarthsince1970]

I'm curious as to where NASA produces its hydrogen supply: on-site or do they have it piped/shipped in? It occurs to me that with all the hydrogen-producing (hydrolysis?) infrastructure probably idle a lot of the time, the KSC area would make an ideal area for testing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, like tour buses.

This came to mind because this line from the STS-127 pre-mission thread caught my eye:
"The vent line runs from the GUCP, away from the launch pad to a "flare stack" where excess hydrogen is safely burned off"
and it occurred to me what a waste this is. The "excess" hydrogen could at least be run into a fuel cell or vehicle filling station or used to help heat a building (hmm, I guess heating isn't a problem in Florida).

Many industrial processes create waste hydrogen, which usually just gets vented. Here in BC, some waste hydrogen is being used to fill fuel-cell test vehicles as part of Ah-nold's California-to-Canada "Hydrogen Highway." Imagine, FREE fuel! I can't see why this wouldn't work around one of America's biggest hydrogen consumers.

Side note: GUCP is Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate. Too bad they didn't call it Ground Umbilical Linkage Plate (GULP)!

 

[scottb50]

I'm curious as to where NASA produces its hydrogen supply: on-site or do they have it piped/shipped in? It occurs to me that with all the hydrogen-producing (hydrolysis?) infrastructure probably idle a lot of the time, the KSC area would make an ideal area for testing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, like tour buses.

This came to mind because this line from the STS-127 pre-mission thread caught my eye:
"The vent line runs from the GUCP, away from the launch pad to a "flare stack" where excess hydrogen is safely burned off"
and it occurred to me what a waste this is. The "excess" hydrogen could at least be run into a fuel cell or vehicle filling station or used to help heat a building (hmm, I guess heating isn't a problem in Florida).

Many industrial processes create waste hydrogen, which usually just gets vented. Here in BC, some waste hydrogen is being used to fill fuel-cell test vehicles as part of Ah-nold's California-to-Canada "Hydrogen Highway." Imagine, FREE fuel! I can't see why this wouldn't work around one of America's biggest hydrogen consumers.

Side note: GUCP is Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate. Too bad they didn't call it Ground Umbilical Linkage Plate (GULP)!

If I remember right the Hydrogen is transported in and produced from hydrocarbon stocks.While hydrolysis makes sense it is still cheaper to heat hydrocarbons and separate the Hydrogen.

 

[emudude]

Yeah, best way to get hydrogen is still from natural gas and oil...they definitely should not be wasting hydrogen like that though. In one of the courses I took in my third year of Computer Engineering, a process where big industrial producers examined materials that they needed and looked at a long list of waste products from other producers, and relationships were formed to reuse otherwise wasted materials...this led to much lower costs to produce their materials and therefore an edge on the competition in the long run.

 

[StrandedonEarthsince1970]

I wonder just how much hydrogen is wasted by flaring off what gets vented. I guess it must be a trivial amount, but still...

A pity that it's easiest to get hydrogen from hydrocarbons, it would be nice if they could find an efficient yet greenhouse-gas friendly source.

 

[scottb50]

I wonder just how much hydrogen is wasted by flaring off what gets vented. I guess it must be a trivial amount, but still...

A pity that it's easiest to get hydrogen from hydrocarbons, it would be nice if they could find an efficient yet greenhouse-gas friendly source.

I don't have figures, but with the design of the tanks there has to be a lot of Hydrogen vented, especially when it starts loading hours before a launch. Usually they show a video of the Oxygen venting and it is also a substantial amount. The bottom line is the Oxygen and Hydrogen cost is a small percentage of the overall costs of a launch.