Producing hydrogen from urine

Physorg.com ^ | 7/3/09 | Physorg.com

[aimhigh]

Chemistry World reports that the catalyst could not only fuel the hydrogen-powered cars of the future, but could also help clean up municipal wastewater.

Gerardine Botte of Ohio University uses an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine - the most abundant waste on Earth - at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water.

Urine's major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule - importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules.

[allmost]

Deleted scenes from ‘Back to the Future’.

[BipolarBob]

I’d rather my fuel come from pee than corn.

[ConservativeMind]

Funny quote of the day!

[pappyone]

So when the wife says,again, Pull over honey I gotta pee, its ok now?

[Bernard Marx]

If it really works it’s a great idea IMO. But we’ll still need nuke plants to produce sufficient electricity. I like the idea of such “recycling.”

[CanaGuy]

Will urine absorb CO2?

[john in springfield]

Proper pre-planning produces p***-profitable results?

[Wooly]

Urine contains a small amount of ammonia, so if you break it down you get Hydrogen and Nitrogen. Problem is, like many of the so called green energy solutions that enviros (non scientific morons)push, that it takes more energy to break the bond between the Hydrogen and Nitrogen than the energy value of the hydrogen.

[rovenstinez]

REAL good news for China, and it’s 1 billion people who all pee.

[freebilly]

Coming soon from the Obama Car Company— The Whizzmobile

[Citizen Tom Paine]

I’ll bet the process stinks to high heaven.

[Wooly]

What I want to know is that if we start using Hydrogen as a fuel instead of Carbon based fuels, how long will it be before the EPA and the Democrats classify Hydrogen Dioxide as a pollutant?

[jonno]

Just come out and say it - the car will be p!ss-powered.

[john in springfield]

If you can really make this work, urine the money!!!

[TRY ONE]

“REAL good news for China, and it’s 1 billion people who all pee.”

Was walking down the streets of Beijing one day and a little girl (~ 7 years old) just stopped in front of me, lifted up her skirt and started peeing. By the time I figured out what the hell she was doing (while her mother stood and waited) I had to jump to avoid the puddle!

[freebilly]

Just come out and say it - the car will be p!ss-powered.

With piss poor performance....

[Blood of Tyrants]

“it takes more energy to break the bond between the Hydrogen and Nitrogen than the energy value of the hydrogen.”

Not necessarily. If you allow urine to sit, it forms even more ammonia, which is very chemically reactive. Just like crude oil is broken down to gasoline, diesel, kerosene, etc. it still has more energy in it than you have to use to crack it.

[ottbmare]

The jokes just write themselves.

[parsifal]

A new area — Tinkle down economics

parsy, who thinks this is what it should have been called all along.