Water-fueled engine appears on the horizon

[GaryC 7]

An EE professor at Purdue University has found a way to produce hydrogen that replaces the need for gasoline by mixing water with beads of an aluminum-gallium alloy. The discovery could lead to engines that essentially burn water, instead of gasoline, since the gallium is not consumed in the reaction and the aluminum can be recycled.

Purdue has patented the process and has issued an exclusive license for it to an Indiana startup company, AlGalCo LLC.

EE professor Jerry Woodall discovered the process in the lab by accident, while cleaning a crucible containing liquid alloys of gallium and aluminum

"When I added water to this alloy, there was a violent poof," said Woodall. "When the aluminum atoms in the liquid alloy came into contact with the water, they reacted, splitting the water and producing hydrogen and aluminum oxide."

Woodall claims that several industrial process problems need to be solved before the water-fueled engine can become commercially viable. But eventually, he said, it could be used both in engines that burn the hydrogen directly and to charge up hydrogen fuel cells.

The reaction has no toxic by-products and can produce two kilowatts of power from a pound of aluminum, said Woodall. For a 350-mile trip in an automobile, it would take about 350 pounds of aluminum at a cost of about $60, since the aluminum oxide left over after the reaction could be converted back into alumihttp://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199601111num-gallium pellets for reuse.

[mRx 16]

So does this mean we can look forward to paying $3.50 a gallon for water?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

very interesting

[Amby 490]

I agree this is very interesting...I hope the price of water doesn't go up

[Mirorgate 0]

My father shared a dorm room with a guy back in his MIT days that had a working model, plans, and tried to patent the idea. My father came back from class one day and his roommate and all his things were gone.

Does anyone honestly believe b$g o$l will let this happen when there is still "black gold" in them thar sand dunes? as to water proces rising.. why? desalinate ocean water. and it's the hydrogen that gets burned.

[dalegg 143]

If this is similar to other water fueled vehicles, then this means that one of the main by products is water. Since water vapor is the most significant contributor to the green house affect, isn't this just going to add to the global warming problem?

Edited May 20, 2007 by dalegg

[Jamie76 0]

My father shared a dorm room with a guy back in his MIT days that had a working model, plans, and tried to patent the idea. My father came back from class one day and his roommate and all his things were gone.

Does anyone honestly believe b$g o$l will let this happen when there is still "black gold" in them thar sand dunes? as to water proces rising.. why? desalinate ocean water. and it's the hydrogen that gets burned.

Not to say this didn't happen, but I think I read a similar story on snopes.com

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

If this is similar to other water fueled vehicles, then this means that one of the main by products is water. Since water vapor is the most significant contributor to the green house affect, isn't this just going to add to the global warming problem?

Not if the equipment had a way to capture the vapor and turn it back into water and recycle it right back.

[dalegg 143]

If this is similar to other water fueled vehicles, then this means that one of the main by products is water. Since water vapor is the most significant contributor to the green house affect, isn't this just going to add to the global warming problem?

Not if the equipment had a way to capture the vapor and turn it back into water and recycle it right back.

Oh you're so damn smart.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

If this is similar to other water fueled vehicles, then this means that one of the main by products is water. Since water vapor is the most significant contributor to the green house affect, isn't this just going to add to the global warming problem?

Not if the equipment had a way to capture the vapor and turn it back into water and recycle it right back.

Oh you're so damn smart.

[Portlander 0]

I wonder how much energy it takes to recycle the Aluminum?

Seems to me that biofuels are still in the picture. Biofuels are essentially solar power, only with organic solar cells that are more efficient that anything we could ever produce - biological processes approach the limit of physics - for example, your eyes can detect a single photon (At least they used to! ). Doesn't get any more sensitive than that!

This sounds like a promising way to select where you create energy, though. Instead of producing the combustion byproducts in populated areas you can create them somewhere else. The byproducts are essentially the same as petroleum, but as they grow, plants take out from the atmosphere exactly what you put back in when you destroy them.

[Reynaldo 0]

I wonder how much energy it takes to recycle the Aluminum?

Way less energy than producing it from bauxite...