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Aluminum-powered climate change resiliency: From aluminum debris to electricity and clean water

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  • Godart, Peter
  • Hart, Douglas

Abstract

This paper presents a novel ecosystem for converting aluminum debris from a natural disaster to a stable water-reactive fuel that can be used to generate electricity and power emergency desalination. Bulk aluminum can be made water-reactive via a minimal surface treatment of gallium and indium, which works to passivate the oxide layer that would otherwise inhibit the reaction. With this oxide layer disrupted, the underlying bulk aluminum is able to react exothermically with water to produce hydrogen gas and aluminum oxyhydroxide (AlO(OH)) at high levels of reaction completion (>95%). The gallium and indium, which are not consumed in the initial reaction, can be recycled to produce more fuel. Several systems for converting the hydrogen product of this reaction to electricity are reviewed here, as well as a device capable of desalinating seawater using the thermal energy released in the aluminum-water reaction to drive a reverse osmosis process. Finally, a new economics analysis of the value of the electricity, water, and AlO(OH) outputs of this system was performed for 10 different countries and territories. In each case this value is shown to outweigh the scrap price of aluminum by up to 600%, providing added economic incentive for utilizing this aluminum treatment process as a means of post-disaster cleanup and subsequent disaster preparedness.

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  • Godart, Peter & Hart, Douglas, 2020. "Aluminum-powered climate change resiliency: From aluminum debris to electricity and clean water," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:275:y:2020:i:c:s030626192030828x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115316
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James Neumann & Kerry Emanuel & Sai Ravela & Lindsay Ludwig & Paul Kirshen & Kirk Bosma & Jeremy Martinich, 2015. "Joint effects of storm surge and sea-level rise on US Coasts: new economic estimates of impacts, adaptation, and benefits of mitigation policy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 337-349, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jamey Davies & Stephanus P. Du Preez & Dmitri G. Bessarabov, 2022. "The Hydrolysis of Ball-Milled Aluminum–Bismuth–Nickel Composites for On-Demand Hydrogen Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, March.
    2. Bouma, Andrew T. & Wei, Quantum J. & Parsons, John E. & Buongiorno, Jacopo & Lienhard, John H., 2022. "Energy and water without carbon: Integrated desalination and nuclear power at Diablo Canyon," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).

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