Our waste may power our cars of the future
Ever since we saw Doc Brown’s car at the end of the first Back to the future movie, we have sought to fuel our cars with normal waste products, Doc Brown used waste food and garbage but scientists are beginning to prove that this may not be just the work of some imaginative script writer. Scientists at the University of Leeds are developing are producing energy efficient hydrogen production systems, whcih allow hydrogen to be extracted from waste products such as vegetable oil. They believe it is possible to produce enough hydrogen to enable large scale power production and also portable fuel cells. Put simply the same product that you fry your chips (or fries) can be used to fuel your car.
Not to be outdone by this, scientists at Ohio University have also found a way to extracy hydrogen from a waste product, possibly the most available waste product on the planet, urine. The electrolytic system that has been developed is similar to one used to split hydrogen from water, but requires less power and thus cheaper and because the molecular structure of urine is easier to break down than water the production of hydrogen should be easier and faster. A video demontrating the results can be found here.
New innovations like this have a two fold advantage, not only do they produce an energy efficient, environmentally friendly fuel but they also aid in the clean up and recycling of waste products.
Tags: chip, Energy, fuel, hydrogen, leeds, ohio, oil, power, urine
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