Drivers Seek Mileage Boost From Hydrogen, Oxygen Bubbles

[Liverpool, NY] -- Stephen Kushnir's 7-year-old Chevrolet Prizm used to get 35 miles per gallon on the highway. Not bad, but Kushnir thought he could do better.

A month ago Kushnir, a middle school technology teacher in Liverpool, N.Y., popped the hood and installed a gas-saving gizmo he had purchased over the Internet. He got it from a farmer in Missouri, who makes them in his spare time.

The main component is a steel cylinder filled with distilled water. With electricity supplied from the battery, the unit makes bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen. A hose carries the bubbles to the engine's air intake.

Kushnir was so impressed, he became a dealer for the Missouri farmer's company. He sells the hydrogen generating system in his spare time.

Fueled by testimonials such as Kushnir's, interest in on-board hydrogen generators is spreading like wildfire. They are the latest in a long line of aftermarket gadgets promising better gas mileage — few, if any, of which have been backed by independent studies to prove they work.

The Internet brims with start-up companies selling the technology and urging customers to "convert your car to run on water.''

Prices range from about $200 for small systems to more than $10,000 for systems designed for large trucks. Some sites offer free instructions for people to build their own.

Kushnir's company, Extreme Alternatives, sells a system that costs $849 before installation, or $999 installed.

"Everyone's talking about them right now,'' said Patrick Serfass, director of technology and communication at the National Hydrogen Association in Washington, D.C.

Some companies claim their hydrogen units can double a car's gas mileage while reducing its emissions. But Cathy Milbourn, speaking for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said consumers should be skeptical.

"If someone has something that works, we would love to see it, and we would love to help them bring it into the market,'' Milbourn said. "But we haven't found anything that really works.''

Proponents of the technology say it remains below EPA's radar because laboratory testing costs tens of thousands of dollars, which mom-and-pop entrepreneurs cannot afford.

A small amount of hydrogen mixed with gasoline or diesel causes the fuel to burn faster and at a lower temperature, increasing efficiency and reducing the amount of nitrogen oxides emitted, said Tom Ryan, president of SAE International, the Society of Automotive Engineers.

Whether any of the dozens of hydrogen generators on the market actually improve fuel efficiency is another matter, one that's difficult to assess without independent test results, Ryan said.

"There is a basis in science for this,'' Ryan said. "But the devil is in the details.''

Ryan, an engineer at Southwest Research Institute in Texas, said improving the performance of an existing car by adding aftermarket equipment is a complicated quest, because it involves changing the way the engine works. More promising, he said, is the likelihood that auto part suppliers will develop hydrogen generating technology with a view toward integrating it into new cars.

Michael Fowler, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada, said scientists are still studying the effects of introducing small amounts of hydrogen into internal combustion and diesel engines. It's likely that hydrogen improves combustion and reduces the production of smog-producing nitrogen oxides, he said.

"The question is, when you start generating your own hydrogen, and (factor in) the energy you take to generate the hydrogen by running the alternator, whether you get a net gain in the efficiency of the vehicle,'' Fowler said.

Because hydrogen improves combustion, it allows engines to run on a leaner fuel mixture, said Ryan, of SAE International. But putting a device on existing cars would probably yield "mixed results'' depending on how each engine was calibrated, he said.

"It would take almost an engine-by-engine analysis to figure out the answer,'' he said.

Many consumers aren't waiting for such an analysis. Ken Smith, the Missouri hay farmer who manufactures hydrogen generators under the business name Hydro Fuel Solutions, said he's selling 250 units a week and growing fast. He's negotiating with a manufacturer to take over production.

"Every time the price of gasoline jumps, the interest in hydrogen generation for vehicles, tractors, farm equipment and all kinds of stuff jumps,'' he said.

But the technology is not new. Smith said he started selling hydrogen generators at county fairs and flea markets during the early 1980s, another era of high gas prices. Smith said he likes the interest in independent testing of hydrogen generators.

"There's a lot of stuff out there that really shouldn't be put on cars,'' he said, including a hydrogen generator made from a glass jar. His Hydro Super 2 is made from stainless steel.

Kushnir, 41, the Liverpool, N.Y., teacher, has been interested in fuel economy and alternative energy ever since he was a graduate student. His 1989 master's thesis looked at the possibility of building a corn-burning car.

He and his wife, Dina, started Extreme Alternatives last year to sell Chinese-made Lifan motorcycles, many of which get 100 or more miles per gallon. He usually has half a dozen display bikes parked at the end of his driveway.

Extreme Alternatives incorporates the Hydro Super 2 into a package with other equipment. Kushnir markets the package as the Hydrogen Hurricane.

A key component of the system is an electronic modulator for the car's oxygen sensor, Kushnir said. The device prevents the car's computer from injecting more fuel into the engine in response to cleaner exhaust produced by burning hydrogen, which would negate the efficiency gained, he said.

Kushnir also includes a special oil and a gasoline additive in the package he sells.

Kushnir said his Prizm is averaging 40 miles per gallon in city driving and about 50 mpg on the highway since he installed the Hydrogen Hurricane. His wife's Jeep is averaging in the low 20s, up from about 16 mpg, he said.

(Tim Knauss is a staff writer for The Post-Standard of Syracuse, N.Y., and can be contacted at tknauss(at)syracuse.com)

The John Kanzius / energy from saltwater topics (I think this is all of 'em):

CANCER BREAKTHROUGH?: Arlen Specter seeks to put inventor's idea on fast track for animal testing

08/29/2004 11:39:39 PM PDT · by Main Street · 20 replies · 1,275+ views
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Monday, August 30, 2004 | David Templeton

EXCERPT Arlen Specter seeks to put inventor's idea on fast track for animal testing. Sen. Arlen Specter is working to put a Washington County native's experimental cancer treatment on the funding fast track so animal testing can begin at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Specter, R-Pa., described the medical invention of John Kanzius, 60 as "very promising." "We're going to work on it promptly," Specter said. "The wheels of bureaucracy work faster when dealing with a killer disease." Kanzius,... design[ed] what he hopes is a way to use radio waves to kill cancerous tumors and cells. The idea is...
Can Water fuel world - [Water Burns! (Energy Crisis solved?)]

05/30/2007 3:11:55 PM PDT · by freemike · 113 replies · 4,914+ views
WorldNetDaily.com | May 30, 2007 | By Joe Kovacs

Is the solution to America's energy needs as simple as a trip to the beach? The idea is a fascinating one as a Florida man searching for a cancer cure may have stumbled onto a virtually limitless source of energy: salt water.
Man looking for cancer cure hopes to solve energy crisis

06/14/2007 10:16:20 AM PDT · by BlueSky194 · 24 replies · 1,583+ views
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55934 | 5/30/07 | Joe Kovacs

Is the solution to America's energy needs as simple as a trip to the beach? The idea is a fascinating one as a Florida man searching for a cancer cure may have stumbled onto a virtually limitless source of energy: salt water. John Kanzius of Sanibel Island, Fla., demonstrates how salt water burns after bombarded with radio waves from a machine he invented. (courtesy WPBF-TV) John Kanzius, 63, is a broadcast engineer who formerly owned several TV and radio stations, before retiring in Sanibel Island, Fla. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with a severe form of leukemia, and began...
Water into fuel?

08/01/2007 8:46:09 AM PDT · by Para-Ord.45 · 93 replies · 2,421+ views
http://www.wkyc.com | 6/1/2007 | Michael O'Mara

Retired TV station owner and broadcast engineer, John Kanzius, wasn't looking for an answer to the energy crisis. He was looking for a cure for cancer. Four years ago, inspiration struck in the middle of the night. Kanzius decided to try using radio waves to kill the cancer cells. His wife Marianne heard the noise and found her husband inventing a radio frequency generator with her pie pans. "I got up immediately, and thought he had lost it." Here are the basics of John's idea: Radio-waves will heat certain metals. Tiny bits of certain metal are injected into a cancer...
Inventor May Have Breakthrough in Killing Cancer Cells

08/20/2007 8:23:48 PM PDT · by Paved Paradise · 138 replies · 3,627+ views
WKYC.com | August 20, 2007 | Michael O'Mara

Inventor from Erie, P.A. teams up with leading cancer center. The work has been quietly been going on for the last three years in a no-frills laboratory in Erie, Pennsylvania. Inventor, John Kanzius, working with Jim and Charlie Rutkowski, have been perfecting a device that will kill cancer cells with a radio frequency. This humble workspace could soon become the epicenter of one of the most stunning scientific breakthroughs in cancer treatment in years. Using the Kanzius RF machine and special nanoparticles, it appears that cancer cells can be targeted and killed without harming the rest of the body. This...
Inventor may have breakthrough in killing cancer cells

08/22/2007 6:47:15 PM PDT · by Main Street · 46 replies · 1,483+ views
wkyc.com | :8/22/2007 | Michael O'Mara

Inventor from Erie, P.A. teams up with leading cancer center. The work has been quietly been going on for the last three years in a no-frills laboratory in Erie, Pennsylvania. Inventor, John Kanzius, working with Jim and Charlie Rutkowski, have been perfecting a device that will kill cancer cells with a radio frequency. This humble workspace could soon become the epicenter of one of the most stunning scientific breakthroughs in cancer treatment in years. Using the Kanzius RF machine and special nanoparticles, it appears that cancer cells can be targeted and killed without harming the rest of the body. This...
Possible cancer breakthrough "invented" in Florida garage

09/01/2007 9:12:16 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 28 replies · 2,133+ views
www.wkyc.com | 5/16/2007 | Susan Moses

Susan Moses Created: 5/15/2007 2:59:08 PM Updated:5/16/2007 6:11:13 AM SANIBEL ISLAND, FL -- A Florida retiree battling cancer himself has discovered a possible method of killing cancerous cells with radio waves. If it works, it could be the "Holy Grail" of cancer treatments. His is the great American story. A broadcast engineer, who shrewdly evolves into the owner of several TV and radio stations, sells them for a bundle and retires early to picturesque Sanibel Island. But Easter 2002, began an unexpected chapter in the story of John Kanzius, a year and-a-half after he retired. He was diagnosed with a...
Salt water as fuel? Erie man hopes so

09/09/2007 7:53:44 AM PDT · by grundle · 137 replies · 2,632+ views
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | September 09, 2007 | David Templeton

For obvious reasons, scientists long have thought that salt water couldn't be burned. So when an Erie man announced he'd ignited salt water with the radio-frequency generator he'd invented, some thought it a was a hoax. John Kanzius, a Washington County native, tried to desalinate seawater with a generator he developed to treat cancer, and it caused a flash in the test tube. Within days, he had the salt water in the test tube burning like a candle, as long as it was exposed to radio frequencies. His discovery has spawned scientific interest in using the world's most abundant substance...
Radio frequencies help burn salt water(remarkable potential energy source))

09/11/2007 4:50:56 AM PDT · by Neville72 · 59 replies · 1,510+ views
Yahoo | 9/10/2007 | Staff

ERIE, Pa. - An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century. John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn. The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel. Rustum Roy, a Penn...
"Fuel" from Salt Water?

09/11/2007 4:41:09 PM PDT · by Keflavik76 · 127 replies · 2,234+ views
Treehugger -Science & Technology | 9/11/07 | Jereny Elton Jacquot

Yes, we know it sounds hard to believe, but a man in Erie, Pennsylvania, has apparently managed to set fire to a vial of salt water with a self-built radio frequency generator. When John Kanzius tried to desalinate seawater with a device he had created to (supposedly) treat cancer, he found he could keep the water burning like a candle as long as it was exposed to the proper frequencies. Not surprisingly, many in the scientific community initially dismissed Kanzius' claim as a hoax. However, when Rustum Roy - a professor of chemistry at Penn State University - took him...
Burning Saltwater: Kanzius and Penn State Chemist Rostum Roy

09/14/2007 10:32:35 AM PDT · by ckilmer · 78 replies · 2,347+ views
Desalination Research And Development | 9/14.07 | Charles Kilmer

Kanzius and Penn State Chemist Rostum RoyPosted September 14th, 2007 by Categories: Water Desalination Research and Development Back in June I posted extensively about John Kanzius RF machine that cracked hydrogen out of saltwater. His last comments at the time were that he believed that his device had achieved unityâ€“and therefor he would go silent. (That is, unlike electrolysis which is about 72% efficientâ€“Kanzius believed his machine was +100â€“meaning he believed his machine produced more energy than it consumed. Needless to say, everyone around the net has said this is impossible.)There have been a flurry of new articles this week...
Could This be True? (Salt Water Fuel)

09/25/2007 9:02:17 PM PDT · by Dallas · 53 replies · 75+ views
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/837049/how_to_turn_water_into_fuel/

If true, the oil companies will bury this invention. CLICK HERE for video.

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	Steve Kushnir's 'Hydrogen Hurricane' is an equipment package he sells that uses a car's electricity to make hydrogen and improve the way the engine burns gas. (Photo By Frank Ordonez)