running your car on Hydrogen/water

[madmat]

OK who is going to own up and tell us how their car goes on hydrogen.

this is some pritty interesting stuff that could well work. Ithink.

http://fuelfromh2o.com.au/index.html

is this where all the guys selling diamond rings and rolex watches come to my house:p

[Gannon]

Im a bit skeptical about it all. A device that consumes 18A of electrical power from the cars battery, uses vinegar and baking soda as an electrolyte and claims 15-45% increase in economy. I dont think so.

The resovior looks like it only holds 500ml, and thats supposed to last 500kms, how much hydrogen are you gonnna get out of 500ml of water. I remember making oxygen and hydrogen in school, A testube of hydrogen just made a single "POP" when lit with a match.


Good luck to them

[BrennyV]

all that aside.... whats the bloody cost goign to be?!!

[AlpineRaven]

My father has that installed in his 1995 Tarago, he spent $500 to get it installed - he reckons fuel has gained a bit but from what I can see the results its the same as it was before.. I dont like the idea of running Hydrogen in the car because it leaves sulfur around the engine bay and causes rust build up. If Hydrogen was that good it would be in cars today and would be in market - its not because its not proven any good.
Cheers
AP

[Thalass]

Where does the sulphur come from?


The problem with hydrogen is that it's expensive to crack from water, and it's a bitch to contain. It's the smallest element, so it will leak out of the tiniest hole. NASA store it in liquid form, which means it has to be cryogenicly cooled to reduce the leakage (which is what all the mist is about before launch). The storage equipment for gaseous or liquid hydrogen in a car would weigh heaps, which would reduce your fuel economy, which will bring you back to square one.

Using it in fuel cells is a bit better, but there's still the question of where the hydrogen is coming from.

I have heard recently of an idea to take jet fuel, crack hydrogen out of it, and use that to run a fuel cell as an aircraft APU, returning the remaining bits of the fuel to the tank to mix with the rest of the kero. I'm not sure if it's worth it, myself, but it would be much quieter!

[fredsub]

if mixing sulphuric acid with the water to improve rate of electrolysis - thats where the sulphur is coming from.

As for running an engine on hydrogen, many have done that. Its the source of hydrogen thats the problem, if is from a storage, ie cryogenicly like nasa, that will never be feasible for our transportation, other may be in lithium, still very expensive.
The start of this topic is really about producing hydrogen on demand. HHO production does require a bit less energy, possibly only because the electrodes are in close proximity, but still you need more energy than what those websites lead you to believe, but now if you could only get some

ionization energy, whole new ball game I thinks.

But in anycase if a source of hydrogen becomes available, why would you waste efficiencies by burning it in a infernal combustion engine??H2 -> fuel cell -> electricity -> electric motors = more efficiency.

[MY_STI]

Surely this has been covered again and again.
But then there are still people who think the world is flat...

I like this:

The fuel will combust not at a 13% efficiency but at almost a 98% efficiency

What a joke.

Hydrogen on demand will never work, because it IS perpertual motion.
If you use say 100W of electrical power to produce hydrogen from water then you dont magically get 1000W worth of hydrogen.

A typical commercial seperator will be around 60% efficient. Nasa has produced units up around 80-90%. Which probably cost more than the average house.
I doubt this home made unit could be any more than 20% efficient.
Not that they system could work even if it was 100% efficient.

No even going to go into fuel cells, but a hydrogen economy that remotely resembles the current fossil fuel system will not and cannot happen.
Despite this, many a politician is willing to get a clean grean image by proping up this market. (US moreso)
Save the planet, buy a hydrogen powered Hummer. Sure.

[/rant, I needed that.]

[Thalass]

Ah. Sulphur to improve the process... I didn't know that worked.


As for lithium. I'd rather use it to store electrons than hydrogen atoms. LiFeP04 4TW

The same goes for radioisotopes. I'd rather have a radioisotope generator on board, directly generating electricity, than having that middle step of producing hydrogen, then turning that into electricity.

Not that the DPI will approve of that. Guantanamo'd!