What isn't mentioned is that it takes more energy to get the hydrogen than
you get. -- Bill --
Not that far off the mark. The use of water for hydrolysis requires
reasonably high purity, and preferably a bit of H2SO4 to help the
conductivity along. If you just used tap water, you'd be descaling your
hydrolysis equipment pretty often. So you have to buy your fuel-water
over the counter.
The reason that ethanol-from-corn was touted in the US as the answer to
cheap fuel, was that corn was relatively cheap. Now that a significant
fraction of corn production is going into ethanol plants instead of
being exported as food, the price of corn has gone up to the point where
people can't afford to buy it to eat.
Theo
i wouldn't normally bring it up, but what a stupid comment by the
presenter with the shaky grasp of economics right at the end: 'lets
hope water prices don't go up'.
hmm....
On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 4:28 PM, Smit, Theo <Theo.Smit@dynastream.com>
wrote:
> Here's a link:
> <http://travisab1.multiply.com/video/item/75>
>
> Water, as used in this context, is not the "fuel". He's using
> electricity to dissociate the water into hydrogen and oxygen gas (or
> maybe a partial hydrolysis to hydrogen and hydroxide ions) and then
> recombining the gases in his torch (or in his car), which turns the
> electrical energy into heat (and, judging by the tone of the article,
> smoke and mirrors).
>
> The energy is provided by the electrical plant that provided the
power
> to run his electrolysis machine. That's going to be coal-fired,
> hydroelectric, nuclear, or in the case of his car, a gasoline powered
> internal combustion engine.
>
> Theo
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