will hydrogen ever replace oil as societie's lubricant?

Question

We depend on oil for so much besides just fuel for transportation.Things like plastic,fertilizer and a lot of other things too.Could we end up going back to the stone age, technologically speaking?

Answer 1

Hydrogen has some potential for replacing oil as a fuel source, but not in the way most people think.

Hydrogen-based fuel cells are more likely to be powering the cars of the future than batteries or combustion-based engines. Fuel-cells produce electricity, and hydrogen fuel cells are not explosive.

As for other lubricants (and oil products) we are learning to use animal and vegetable oil directly, instead of cooking it for 65 million years first.

Answer 2

I have never heard of hydrogen being used as a lubricant. It does make a reasonable good fuel, though. I have been playing with some of the numbers for a strange way of using it as a fuel and there are possibilities if I can acquire most of Southern California for free. It is easy to get and hard to handle.

No, we will not go back to the Technological Stone Age. There will be adjustments made eventually. Alternative power sources will become more readily available. People will realize that corn is nowhere near the most efficient biomass crop for generating ethanol, which will help the prices of both ethanol and food.

Then in a few billion years, the sun will explode and wipe out the planet anyway.

Answer 3

The biggest problem with using hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles is how will you store it? The two choices are gas or liquid. Either is dangerous in a collision and tricky to fill.

There have been experiments with hydrogen in chemical combination with other elements so it could be freed up with a reverse reaction. So far, it hasn't looked practical.

Fuel cells look to me like the only practical alternative right now. they do involve oxygen, but in a different way.

Answer 4

Not a chance. Oil is a fuel: you can dig it out of the ground, and make things from it. There is no such thing as a hydrogen mine; it has to be made, by any of several processes, all of which consume huge quantities of energy. Furthermore, it is difficult to store (low density), transport (existing pipelines can't be used), and handle (density again). If one had a large supply of cheap hydrogen, the best thing to do with it would be to combine it with coal and make methane and higher alkanes, for which a huge infrastructure is already in place.

Answer 5

Hydrogen cannot replace oil. There are no hydrogen wells in the world. Most commercial hydrogen is made from natural gas, or coal or oil. Hydrogen can be made from water with enough electricity, but to generate the required electricity would require as much gas (or coal or oil) to run the generators as making the hydrogen directly from the coal/oil/gas the old way. Any way you look at it, hydrogen cannot replace oil.

Answer 6

Well, considering that Hydrogen has to be at -253 degrees C to even be a liquid, I'd have to say that it would not make a very good lubricant.
Besides that, Hydrogen is extremely combustible (remember the Hindenburg), so I really wouldn't want it anywhere near my engine's cylinders.

Answer 7

Haven't you heard about the Hydrogen Wells that are being drilled in South Texas? It won't be long before hydrogen will begin being sent via the pipeline from Texas to the East Coast for processing... it's almost a reality today.

Answer 8

Personally I am hoping for the driling of lignite which we have plenty of that mineral in our land here in Texas...
Lignite would be a great use to all mankind and it is already in our soil and needs to be drilled out...

Answer 9

No, it is a dangerous product, requires special handling and safety procedures to use.

Answer 10

Try K-Y