... gallium and alumina are the byproducts of the reaction, so that the gallium eloctrolysis only has to be performed once ... after the allow has split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, you are basically left at the end of the Bayer process, with gallium and alumina.

Whether this is better than straight electrolysis does not depend on how much energy it takes to make the aluminum alloy when recycling the alumina and gallium ... it depends on how much of that energy is recovered when water is added to the alloy to split off the hydrogen.

But it should be noted that it has to beat electrolysis by a good long way to be better than closed-cycle modular pumped storage hydro for something like storing off-peak and strong-wind power from wind power ... starting up a hydro system (either in the downhil discharge mode or the uphill recharge mode) is something that can be done quite quickly ... indeed, if the pumps are running, increasing or decreasing their speed can pretty much be done in real time. Its harder to imagine cranking up a smelter process with a couple of minutes notice because there was a gust of wind over Lake Erie.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.