California Farmer - January 2007 11

California Provocateur

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Important to family
I have just read your editorial on
E. coli in the Salinas Valley. I would like
an e-mail copy for my farming family
out of the Salinas Valley who produces
nonprocessed food crops. I live in the
Salinas Valley area, and this is very
important to my family. Thank you for
your editorial. This is a very difficult
process that you explained very well in
commonsense language.
Martha Westerlund
Salinas
sion standpoint — for using ammonia
as a fuel. Hydrogen to be used directly,
or converted to ammonia, using nuclear
or solar energy as the primary energy
source, could be a real winner from the
standpoint of reducing carbon dioxide
emissions to the atmosphere.
Does any of this make sense to you?
Bob Kylander
Fresno
Editor’s note: Our Key Points, like our
headlines, limit the number of characters
we can use and thus can be correct and
misleading at the same time, especially
regarding technical issues, as you cor-
rectly point out. Ammonia-fueled internal
combustion engines are still very much
in the development stage and raise many
as yet unanswered questions. We are for-
warding your points, which make sense
to us, to the Hydrogen Engine Center for
response and welcome reader input.
Look who reads
I just heard from the chairman of the
board at Rain Bird after he opened up
his December issue of California Farmer
and saw a great mention of Rain Bird’s
2007 float (Page 31). How can I order
a few copies? I looked online, but the
December issue is not up yet. Thanks
for including Rain Bird, and have a nice
holiday.
William G. Ostedt
Los Angeles
Editor’s note: The issue was mailed, and
it should be online shortly.

Cover frame
Nice pictures in the cover article and
Pages 6 and 7 (November 2006) Wow!
I’m never going to hear the end of this
one. I am trying to find out how I might
get a clean copy of the cover and article
to frame. My wife thought that it would
be a great idea. Thank you.
Frank Fernandes
Tulare

Editor’s note: The author, Eric McMullin,

and I agree with your wife, Frank.

Key point
On Page 36 of the November issue, the
third item in the Key Points reads as
follows: “Ammonia contains more hy-
drogen than liquid H2.” I think you may
have taken that statement from the
Hydrogen Engine Center, which reads
as follows: “Ammonia contains more
hydrogen per cubic foot than liquid H2.”
(Underline is mine). So, your quotation
is not a direct quotation. Nonetheless,
both statements, although correct at
face value, can be somewhat (or very,
depending on your point of view) mis-
leading.
Here’s the way I read the technical
aspects of the question:
1. Liquid hydrogen at its atmo-
spheric pressure boiling point of about
minus 252 degrees C weighs about 4.23
pounds per cubic foot, and it is, of
course, all hydrogen, so you have 4.23
pounds of hydrogen.
2. Liquid ammonia at, say, 60 de-
grees F under pressure of about 100
pounds per square inch weighs about
38.5 pounds per cubic foot. Of that 38.5
pounds, nitrogen accounts for ¹⁴⁄₁₇, or
about 82.4%, of the total, or about 31.7
pounds, leaving the difference of about
6.8 pounds for the hydrogen component
of ammonia. OK so far in that a cubic
foot of ammonia does, in fact, contain
about 1.6 times the weight of hydrogen
(on a weight basis) than a cubic foot of
pure liquid hydrogen. But, that does not
tell the whole story.
3. The heat of combustion of am-
monia yields only about 15% of the heat
released by burning the same weight
of pure hydrogen. So, even though am-
monia might have more hydrogen per
cubic foot than pure hydrogen, the
“extra baggage” that the nitrogen com-
ponent of the molecule represents re-
sults in a terrific loss of useful energy.
The “key point” that you (and the
Hydrogen Engine Center) seem to be
so proud of is really not all that great,
as I see it. I do agree, however, that am-
monia is a great carrier of hydrogen.
But, most of the ammonia produced in
the world is made from hydrocarbons
(oil or natural gas), so overall, there is
little or no benefit worldwide — from a
carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) emis-