Fill your car up with aluminum?
By Julie Steenhuysen2 hours, 49 minutes ago
Pellets made out of aluminum and gallium can produce pure hydrogen when water is poured on them, offering a possible alternative to gasoline-powered engines, U.S. scientists say.
Hydrogen is seen as the ultimate in clean fuels, especially for powering cars, because it emits only water when burned. U.S. President George W. Bush has proclaimed hydrogen to be the fuel of the future, but researchers have not decided what is the most efficient way to produce and store hydrogen.
In the experiment conducted at Purdue University in Indiana, "The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you need when you need it," said Jerry Woodall, an engineering professor at Purdue who invented the system.
Thanks for filling us 'in' ... er UP, Gman!
I saw the article but didn't get a chance to read it. Glad you posted it.
I doubt it will be any cheaper than gas, at least not for a long, long time but it sure would be a heck of a lot better for the environment.
I wonder how available Gallium is?
I don't think there is any shortage of aluminum.
I would assume that getting it to usable gas form would be a bit more involved than dumping some pellets and water in your tank but it is great that we have people working on developing these things.
Dave
MB-1-E
Electric - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike
Icon Photo of lighning striking Eiffel Tower Jun 3, 1902, taken by MG Loppe'
Dave B
MB-1-E
<a href="http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/996-mountain-bike-conversion-24v-3-4h... - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike</a>
Back as a kid in the 60's and 70's when a lot of kids were actually curious about things, we used to make hydrogen for balloons (or just Hindenburg simulations) by simply putting aluminum foil into a strong solution of Drano (mostly lye?) Copious amounts of hydrogen were generated, but as I recall, other, noxious smelling gases, lye mist, and a lot of heat.
One has to be careful the reaction didn't go in runaway mode - my "experiments" came to an end when the generator bottle exploded violently, (the plastic tube and stopper on the bottle melted and clogged) sending glass shrapnel and caustic liquid everywhere, fortunately I had retreated behind a tree in the far end of the yard, and no one was nearby.
But, since aluminum is consumed in the reaction, and making virgin aluminum is very energy-intensive, I think large scale development of this idea would not be energy efficient or practical.
The method they put together was to mix aluminum and gallium.. the aluminim isn't used up, though it is modified and the pellets have to be recycled.
I've got a posting here: New process generates hydrogen from aluminum alloy to run engines, fuel cells on my other site which links to a couple related articles.
- David Herron, http://davidherron.com/
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
If the aluminum/Gallium can be efficiently recycled into new catalyst (actually probably a reagent) this sounds like great idea. Even with the aluminum/lye reaction, one could conceivably recycle the aluminum hydroxide into new aluminum reagent.