Climate: Green hydrogen from cola cans, sea water and coffee | Life & Knowledge
Aluminum (e.g. from Coke cans), sea water and caffeine – with this crazy recipe, US researchers produce green hydrogen!
The eco-fuel (CO2-free) could turn the entire transport industry on its head: fuels for ships, submarines, but also cars, trucks and even airplanes are conceivable.
Research at MIT on the production of hydrogen: Aly Kombargi (left) and Niko Tsakirise
Hydrogen from aluminum and seawater: New energy source?
A research team led by Aly Kombargi from the world-famous science hotbed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA has discovered a spectacular chemical reaction. The scientists found that aluminum – from Coke cans, for example – reacts with water and produces, among other things, hydrogen gas and heat.
▶︎ The catch: To obtain green hydrogen Until now, rare metals such as gallium and indium had to be used – and they are expensive. Kombargi: “In order to make the process cost-efficient and sustainable, these metals must be recovered.”
The researchers came up with an ingenious solution: sea water! “Previous research results indicated that gallium clumps together in salt water,” they explain. Ultimately, this enables the raw materials to be easily recovered. The rare metals can be used more effectively. And the researchers have taken this to heart and discovered another method to produce hydrogen.
Coffee accelerates the production of hydrogen
A chance discovery confirms that caffeine also helps to increase the production of hydrogen. “We experimented with ingredients from the kitchen,” explains Kombargi. “When we put coffee grounds in the salt water and then threw in the pre-treated aluminum pellets, the reaction suddenly ran much faster than in pure sea water.”
Kombargi is confident that this new method can be used to produce hydrogen using aluminum as a fuel.
The MIT researcher says: “The next step is to find out how this process can also be used for trucks, trains and maybe even airplanes. Perhaps the water needed for this could be extracted from the air humidity.”
The study was published in the journal “Cell Reports Physical Science, 2024”.