Forget combustion, try micturition!

[Prolescum]

Sauce.

Botte recognized that urine contains two compounds that could be a source of hydrogen: ammonia and urea. Place an electrode in wastewater, apply a gentle current, and voila: hydrogen gas that can be used to power a fuel cell.

Her system operates similarly to the electrolysis of water, a process that can be used to produce hydrogen for fuel cells - except that ammonia and urea hold their hydrogen atoms less tightly than water does, so less energy is required to split them off. Botte isn't the only scientist with her mind in the sewer. A group of scientists in the UK, for example, is working on a fuel cell powered directly by urine.

 

[televator]

Sauce.

Botte recognized that urine contains two compounds that could be a source of hydrogen: ammonia and urea. Place an electrode in wastewater, apply a gentle current, and voila: hydrogen gas that can be used to power a fuel cell.

Her system operates similarly to the electrolysis of water, a process that can be used to produce hydrogen for fuel cells - except that ammonia and urea hold their hydrogen atoms less tightly than water does, so less energy is required to split them off. Botte isn't the only scientist with her mind in the sewer. A group of scientists in the UK, for example, is working on a fuel cell powered directly by urine.

Yes! Free fuel! .....which the oil companies will probably stone wall. :cry:

 

[Pulsar]

:lol:
Alright, queue the jokes:

• Gives a whole new meaning to 'wind energy'.
  
• So urine really is liquid gold.
  
• Honey, I'm gonna fill up the tank.
  
• Let's hope we don't get spills from BPee.

 

[RichardMNixon]

My roommate's research is on catalysts for decomposing ammonia into hydrogen for fuel cells. If we can find one that works well it would be much better to put ammonia in your car than hydrogen: a lot more energy per unit volume. It's also less likely to have carbon monoxide than hydrogen produced from methane, so it's less likely to poison the fuel cell. It's a sweet deal all around. Too bad the only good catalysts so far are precious metals, of which there aren't enough on Earth to power everyone's car.

 

[Duvelthehobbit666]

The only objection I have to this is that we need electricity. However, if you use a green energy source such as wind and solar, it would not be so bad.

 

[sgrunterundt]

The only objection I have to this is that we need electricity. However, if you use a green energy source such as wind and solar, it would not be so bad.

Dude, the fuels cells themselves produce electricity. You just divert a bit of it to extract the hydrogen. Or you use the ammonia directly in a fuel cell as Nixon said.

Only thing is we already use a terrible amount of energy to make ammonia for fertilizer. We would be better of just recycling it on the fields, which of course we do with animal waste. The reason we don't with human waste is because of diseases. Is it easier to get energy from it than to purify it?

 

[Duvelthehobbit666]

The only objection I have to this is that we need electricity. However, if you use a green energy source such as wind and solar, it would not be so bad.

Dude, the fuels cells themselves produce electricity. You just divert a bit of it to extract the hydrogen. Or you use the ammonia directly in a fuel cell as Nixon said.

Only thing is we already use a terrible amount of energy to make ammonia for fertilizer. We would be better of just recycling it on the fields, which of course we do with animal waste. The reason we don't with human waste is because of diseases. Is it easier to get energy from it than to purify it?

But the conventional way for making ammonia still relies heavily on fossil fuels for hydrogen.

 

[sgrunterundt]

Dude, the fuels cells themselves produce electricity. You just divert a bit of it to extract the hydrogen. Or you use the ammonia directly in a fuel cell as Nixon said.

Only thing is we already use a terrible amount of energy to make ammonia for fertilizer. We would be better of just recycling it on the fields, which of course we do with animal waste. The reason we don't with human waste is because of diseases. Is it easier to get energy from it than to purify it?

But the conventional way for making ammonia still relies heavily on fossil fuels for hydrogen.

Yes, no one is suggesting producing ammonia to get energy here. They are suggesting using the energy that gets lost when ammonia (or urea rather) is peed into the sewer.