AlumiFuel Power: Producing Hydrogen on Demand
Filed Under: Uncategorized on January 3, 2010
This is very cool. It’s a generator that’s been in the works since 2006. They are now going into production with this unique generator. It produces hydrogen on-demand in an environmentally-friendly way.
It uses aluminum, water, and chemical catalysts to create hydrogen at any location at any time. The cool thing is, it can be scaled to fit in something as small as a Ford Ranger pickup truck or scaled up to larger, industrial use. It uses the patented AlumiFuel to produce the hydrogen.
It works with a simple chemical reaction that occurs between aluminum and water. By adding some additives, they are able to increase the productivity and efficiency of the process. Two cartridges about the size of a large soup can are put into the reactor. One is full of aluminum powder and the other with the proprietary chemicals. Water (just about any type, from sea/brackish water to ordinary tap water) is added to a water tank and a hand pump is used to prime the cartridges (this could be done by electrical pump from a vehicle’s battery).
After the water is injected, the reactions begin taking place, generating about 1,000 liters of hydrogen in 20 minutes from 32oz of alumninum powder. That hydrogen could be used for any number of things from fuel cells to balloons.
Best of all, the AlumiFuel product and entirely non-toxic and fully recyclable. The tin cans the stuff comes in can be refilled or recycled and everything can be spilt, sent to the landfill, or recycled without worry of environmental consequences. Unlike fuels, natural gas, and even hydrogen itself.
Now think of this on a home scale (a generator in your garage to recharge your cars?) or on a larger scale at gas stations (to produce hydrogen for vehicles) or industrial uses (to power backup generators or more). Then you get an idea of how cool this could be. In the car it’s great, but a little awkward to set up and a lot of weight could be reduced from the vehicle’s profile were the generator to be in-garage. The generator is small enough that it could also be (possibly) scaled to fit in the trunk, truck bed, or on a small trailer for long trips too. The possibilities are huge.
Very cool and definitely something worth watching.
The press release for this technology now being in production is at this link.
