to build one of the largest hydrogen fuel furnaces in the world

Hey, it’s a “hydrogen” thing that’s actually not blatant greenwashing, for once! I was skeptical, so I read through to the press release and Wikipedia to figure out what it was talking about, and now I’ll share with the class:

Calling this a “hydrogen fuel furnace” is misleading. The point of this thing isn’t to use hydrogen as an energy storage medium and then burn it to produce heat/fuel-cell-react it to produce electricity. Instead, the point is to use the hydrogen itself as a reactant in the reduction reaction to convert iron oxides to metallic iron. (In other words, there’s actually a good reason for it to use hydrogen specifically, unlike the hydrogen cars we more commonly hear about.)

Specifically, reduction of iron typically occurs via two paths, using either carbon monoxide (CO) or hydrogen gas (H₂). In a “normal” foundry these gases are typically obtained as combustion products of burning coal and the reduction happens along a mix of the two paths.

3 Fe₂O₃ + CO ⟶ 2 Fe₃O₄ + CO₂
Fe₃O₄ + CO ⟶ 3 FeO + CO₂
FeO + CO ⟶ Fe + CO₂

3 Fe₂O₃ + H₂ ⟶ 2 Fe₃O₄ + H₂O
Fe₃O₄ + H₂ ⟶ 3 FeO + H₂O
FeO + H₂ ⟶ Fe + H₂O

Using pure H₂ as the reducing gas eliminates the first path, and produces the iron metal without needing any carbon (assuming it used “green hydrogen” (produced by electrolyzing water using electricity from renewable sources) rather than “blue hydrogen” (produced from natural gas), as doing otherwise would completely defeat the purpose).

There are two caveats, here:

1. Steel plants still need carbon inputs in order to carburize the iron into steel. That’s not a problem in terms of global warming emissions as the carbon is consumed in the process and becomes part of the steel, but it does mean the thing would still consume fossil fuels. (Maybe there’s an opportunity in the future to hook it to CO₂-capture systems and make it net-negative?)

2. The press release describes the furnace being funded as “hydrogen-ready flex-fuel”. In other words, it’s not actually going to run in the environmentally-superior mode I described; it’s just capable of it. The actual magnitude of improvement will be fuck-all until they go further and install a “green hydrogen” source at some undetermined later date that the press release doesn’t even contemplate.

Additional statistics about the IRA, which Trump and Vance have vowed to defund, from E2 two years into the IRA:

Nearly 60 percent of the announced projects representing 85 percent of the investments and 68 percent of the jobs - are in Republican congressional districts. This despite the fact that no Republican voted for the legislation.

https://e2.org/reports/clean-economy-works-two-year-review-2024/

Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

It is frustrating that Couchfucker doesn’t want this and for the wrong reasons.

one of the largest hydrogen fuel furnaces in the world

Hydrogen powered shit is dumb. Like, super dumb. It is nearly impossible to store the shit without it corroding the tanks, fittings, whatever. So maintenance cost will be a killer in the long run. Nevermind the whole Hindenburg-esque possibility of the plant. Worse than that, unless that hydrogen is coming from renewable sources (aka. “green” hydrogen), it will actually be way worse for the environment. Most of the shitty sources are actually fossil fuels (aka. “blue” hydrogen). And guess who would love to make and sell hydrogen from fossil fuels and is therefore lobbying for government projects for this kind of shit? That’s right, our “friends” Big Oil.

Hossenfelder discusses this in her video Hydrogen Will Not Save Us. Here’s Why. https://youtu.be/Zklo4Z1SqkE

So yeah. I hate agreeing with Couchfucker about this one very specific point.

“My focus is my constituents and doing what’s best for them—how else will this empty floodplain produce $1 million for people in our town?” Messer said. “Nothing is going do that but solar. I’m happy to use the IRA, but if I had a national role my view might be different. I mean printing money and giving it away to people won’t solve inflation, it will make it worse.”

This is real proof that a basic economics class should be mandatory to hold political office. This guy is the mayor and he hasn’t a clue how inflation works. Yet he’s talking to the press like he’s some kind of authority.

This is how “Fuck You, Got Mine” mentality becomes a policy platform. I wonder how Ohioans feel about electing this guy over an excellent democratic candidate for senate in 2022

Seems weird that a Senator from Ohio seems to be going out of his way to piss all over Ohioans.

We all know you make shit up for attention, Jimmy. Go fuck yourself.

The damage that Couch Guyliner brought to his home state, his wife, his family - all in the name of fascism as he supports Felon Drink Bleach - is incredible for all the wrong reasons.

How curious, it is almost always the other way around.