Purdue researchers "perfecting" new hydrogen-generating technology
By Donald Melanson 
posted August 28th 2007 4:50PM
posted August 28th 2007 4:50PM
Those mad scientists at Purdue University seem to think they have something big on their hands, with them now claiming that they're "perfecting" a new hydrogen-generating technology that they first announced earlier this year. According to the researchers, the technology could represent a "pollution-free energy source" for a whole range of applications, with it effectively generating "hydrogen on demand." To do that, the researchers added water to an alloy of aluminum and gallium, which attracts oxygen from the water, letting hydrogen loose in the process. This latest development centers on a new and improved form of the alloy that boasts a higher concentration of aluminum, which apparently allows it to react more rapidly with water to form hydrogen. While the technology is still under " intense investigation," the researchers are planning to detail their findings at the 2nd Energy Nanotechnology International Conference that goes down in Santa Clara, California on September 7th.
[Via TG Daily]
[Via TG Daily]
'But wait an aluminum alloy? Aluminum is extracted using electrolysis, where will we get the electricity to do this - oil :p'
Indeed, this is actually the whole problem. Making aluminum back from aluminum oxide costs a lot of energy and is in fact very dirty. I've seen this news-item on physics.org a couple months ago.
Aluminum is a very stable and easy to handle energy carrier, but it is also very heavy. It doesn't do much better then batteries.
Yes it takes a lot of electricity, which is why most (if not all?) generate their own electricity using cheap and clean hydro power. Alcan in British Columbia does exactly that. They built their own dam, and sell us their excess electricity.
Aluminum is not heavy.
That's a major reason Aluminum is used in stuff. Cos it's light.
There is a guy in Clearwater Florida safely separating hydrogen and oxygen from water right now... His work is based on (or stolen, depends on who you ask) Browns Gas.Browns gas dates back to the 60's and can use fresh and saltwater. The process uses electrolysis to separate the two molecules. The guys name is Denny Klein, he claims that he has created a bolt on part for late model cars to use the technology. He states that his own car gets a 30% increase in mileage when using the technology which is said to work alongside the gas engine.
http://www.hytechapps.com/applications/
Also have a look at what browns gas is capable of. A hand held torch with temperatures exceeding the surface of the sun seems pretty cool to me.
I understand the bit about the oxygen trying to combine with the aluminum, but are they sure that the oxygen is being seperated from the H2 and not just what's already diffused into the water from the air? Is this process strong enough to break the oxygen free from the H2? Chemistry is not a strenght of mine...
Am I the only one who didn't immediately think "pirate" when he saw the guy with the eyepatch? With that dark suit, he looks more like a Bond villan, or some other kind of mad scientist.
"Excellent work, my polo-shirted goon. Soon, soon we will make London tremble...and then...THE WORLD! MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH"
I know those guys!
OMG! First thing I was thinking, everyone's wearing glasses even if you have something else, then I saw the patch... OMG it's number 2 from austin powers!
Nonetheless, best photo ever from engadget today, as Homer would say it, "so far!"
The kid on the right is going to earn an eyepatch if he doesn't wear safety glasses or goggles.
These guys will be sitting pretty within a year due to a big hefty buyout cheque from Big Oil. The only 'application' this will be used for is taking up shelving space.
"Big Oil" wont be so BIG when they run out of OIL.
hackedbyjoe @ Aug 28th 2007 8:51PM
"Big Oil" wont be so BIG when they run out of OIL."
We all know that Big Oil will do anything and everything within its power to keep us on oil until every single drop has been used.
Looks like the process of "perfecting" has had some mishaps along the way... :D
BOILER UP!!!! go Purdue
Actually, these guys announced their findings months ago, but couldn't get funding from the feds to further their research. There was a suggestion of bias against their lab, because they weren't a member of the old boys club of energy researchers already sucking at the NSF funding teat.
Al2O3 is going to be pretty hard to recycle to pure Al. You can do so via energy provided by solar-thermal power systems, but now you're limiting the rate of hydrogen generation to the rate of aluminum recycling. This is because the power delivered from solar-thermal and other systems is less than what might be available from an oil-fed electrical grid. Thus, this system is a WORKABLE solution for on-demand hydrogen generation. The problem is refueling -- you'll likely have to wait a while for your fuel to be usable again.
yoooo they got a pirate to perfect hydrogen generating technologie wow , carrot face and frat boy should win a nobel prize......thats like getting tony danza to work on a blog for engadget
check out Aquygen™ Gas : Hydrogen Technology Applications Aquygen™, also known as HHO gas, is already providing value in commercial use for: Fusing, Brazing, Cutting, Welding, Soldering, and Heating. ...it is only the beginning
http://www.hytechapps.com/aquygen
Also Google: Brown's gas
I dunno...sounds dangerous to me - I mean, if you're not careful, someone could lose an eye...
Oops...too late.
I did some math here, based upon my interest in seeing how a hydrogen storage system of "Purdue-pirate Al-80%/Ga-20% + Water" would stack up when compared to current H2 storage methods, compressed gas, liquefaction and conventional metal hydrides.
As one commenter mentioned earlier, the amount of H2 present in this system would be pretty small, about 5.5% H2 by mass. This is based on the quoted chemical reaction being: "3H2O + 2Al -> 3H2 + Al2O3". However this is actually a pretty decent storage capacity when you consider the Department of Energy FreedomCAR target for 2010 is 6.0% H2 by mass. Somewhat exciting.
However, then another commenter reminded me that you get the water back when you "use" the hydrogen. If you were to use a PEM fuel cell, as it would allow for simpler recycling of pure hydrogen than a combustion engine, one could drastically reduce the water/H2 weight need for a system like this to operate.
The math would go as follows, to provide 6 kg of H2 (roughly equivalent energy to full tank of gas in a passenger car), normally this system would require 54 kg of water and 54 kg of aluminum (I'm going to ignore the Gallium to make things simpler). If you could recycle the water from the exhaust of your engine/fuel cell, one could perhaps get away with only 1/10 the amount of water and keep on re-using it until the entire supply of Aluminum is reacted to Aluminum Oxide. Therefore you'd have a complete system that weighs approximately 60 kg and provides 6 kg of H2, or 10% H2 by mass - this surpasses the DOE FreedomCAR 2015 goal of 9% H2 by mass.
Of course there's a bunch of important factors that are unknown, mainly how quickly the Purdue Al/Ga alloy can catalyst water into H2, will it be fast enough to feed a 150 kW fuel cell stack?
Lastly I'm not interested in the amount of energy it requires to convert the alum.-oxide product back to elemental aluminum. Hydrogen *in our* economy presupposes that cleanly produced electricity is plentiful and cheap, something that isn't the case now, but hopefully will be as time goes on.