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Carbidereaper t1_isoipyx wrote

Nuclear thermal electrolysis is over 85 percent efficient because your using that raw thermal heat to push the H20 molecules up the energy gradient then all you need is a very small amount of electrical current to break down the molecules into hydrogen and oxygen

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DM_me_ur_tacos t1_isojsys wrote

Interesting because I have heard that electrolysis efficiency is poor, but it never occurred to me that it is entropically favored so should be better at higher temperature

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xenon54xenon54 t1_isoqz93 wrote

Yep, the tipping point at which water spontaneously decomposes with only heat is 2500K, which is orange/white hot, or approximately the melting point of steel. If the gases can be efficiently separated, then the activation heat can be regenerated via a heat exchanger or turbine to convert that heat into electricity instead.

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Uncle_Touchy1987 t1_isojmyg wrote

Freaking cool. With how efficient that is, would it make sense to them use the hydrogen produced on site to then power another generating station like a green hydrogen power plant? Thereby doubling the electricity produced?

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