By RQT Energy Storage Corp, Palm Desert, California
RQT Energy Storage Corp is located in Palm Desert, California. Our mission is to invent and develop devices to bring about the energy transition from carbon-based fuels to sustainable and eco-friendly energy storage solutions. We envision Green Hydrogen, i.e. hydrogen made from water, as a first step, with hydronitrogens to follow. To this end we have devoted our efforts to investigating all the factors involved in the hydrolysis process, and discovered a significant savings at the very heart of the process, namely the electrode surface.
Molecular oxygen is one of the two gases formed by the process, and contains two electrons that are not spin-paired. Also, atomic hydrogen has only one electron without a partner for spin pairing. Any electron that is not spin paired has a magnet moment, and this magnetic moment will align with a strong external magnetic field. By aligning the spins of the electrons of these reactants and products the orientation factor of the Arrhenius equation is greatly increased thus allowing for a faster, lower energy pathway for the overall reaction to proceed. The metallic surfaces that participate as catalysts are also magnetic. The fine metal particles thus self-assemble into a “starburst” pattern. This pattern exposes the maximum surface area for electrolyte interaction.
Realizing the benefits of the enhanced reaction rate in a physical device has proved more challenging than anticipated due to the properties of the hydrogen gas in an alkaline solution. For safe long term storage the hydrogen must not contain air or oxygen (water vapor is ok). This separation must be effected by the geometry of the flows and balancing of pressures as well as temperature. Several generations of devices have been developed to date, and the critical parameters are becoming clear. Another key factor is the supply of water, and recently a process has been discovered which will allow any source to be used, even seawater, with little or no input of energy. RQT needs investors to help realize these promising developments.
The market RQT envisions serving goes far beyond transportation. The major energy needs of a household are heating and cooling the environment, made more critical by rising temperatures. Air conditioners, water heaters, furnaces, cooking stoves and refrigerators can all be operated on low pressure hydrogen and oxygen. All these devices are available to operate with methane gas, and the hydrogen-oxygen flame is much more efficient than methane. The advantage over batteries is both cost and duration; no set of batteries will operate a house for more than a day, but hydrogen can be accumulated to last several days of low sunlight.