To produce hydrogen and oxygen from water by electrolysis, you must use a
lot of electricity, and therefore a lot of energy. If you later recombine
the hydrogen
and oxygen, it releases a lot of energy -- usually as heat, but you could do
it in a
fuel cell and get it back as electricity.
Could you get back enough energy or electricity to replace what you had to
use to make the gases in the first place?
The answer is 'NO', although with careful design you could come fairly
close.
If you think just about the molecules, the amount of energy you have to put
in to turn water into hydrogen and oxygen is EXACTLY the same as the amount
of energy you get back when you produce water from hydrogen and oxygen. But
if you are thinking about a practical electrolysis set-up you always need
some extra
voltage above the bare minimum to make the reaction go fast enough to be
useful.
And that extra voltage simply leads to some wasting of electrical energy as
low grade
heat -- mostly in the water, but a little bit of it in the rest of the
circuit. Pressure does
affect things. You get a bit more energy back if you use very high pressure
oxygen
and hydrogen in your fuel cell. But then, of course, you have to use up some
energy
to compress the gases to get them to that higher pressure, so you do not
really gain anything.
The following is just a few website that I found interesting from background
on using
hydrogen as a fuel (we will see more of this in the future for cars with
reformers) to
fuel cells, to electrolysis. There is a LOT out there.. if anyone is
interested.
However, for KEELYNET? Not sure if this is 'free energy' or 'overunity' as
it really falls
under the classification of 'alternative' energy or 'renewable' energy.
v/r Ken Carrigan
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http://www.futurehorizons.net/energy/hyd2.htm
OBTAIN FUEL FROM WATER
Attention Alternate Energy researchers!We have put together the most
up-to-date Hydrogen Power plans, reports and schematics in this package,
which is Hundreds of pages in length and over 1 megabyte of information.
* Detailed plans and diagrams on how to convert any gasoline powered
engine to run safely on hydrogen.
* Run your car on water. You can also power your lawnmower, a
generator to power your home, for cooking and heating, even for water
pumping and space refrigeration.
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http://www.mbj.mercedes-benz.com/e/mirai_e/suiso/nenryo2.html
Electrolytic cars will be running on the world's roads in the 21st century.
The fuel cell vehicle uses the reverse reaction of water electrolysis to
combine oxygen and hydrogen without causing an explosion, converting the
energy generated into electricity to drive a motor. Based on a concept
completely different from traditional electric vehicles, the fuel cell
vehicle meets all conceivable requirements for a car driven by an
alternative energy:
* NECAR II: a hydrogen tank on the roof
* The only emission is pure water.
* Higher energy efficiency than conventional internal combustion
engines.
* The motor is extremely quiet.
Since 1993, Mercedes has conducted thousands of kilometers of road test
driving for NECAR fuel cell vehicles. The latest development in the project
is NECAR 3, which carries its power plant on board the A-class. Unlike NECAR
II, which had large hydrogen tanks, NECAR 3 uses a reformer to decompose the
methanol fuel into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. In the fuel cells, hydrogen
combines with oxygen in the air to generate electricity. By using methanol,
the fuel cell system can not only be reduced in size and weight, but can
also be made even safer. In addition, it features high energy efficiency and
low CO2 emissions, since most of the emissions are in the form of pure
water. On a full tank, NECAR 3 can drive approximately 400 km, an
unthinkable range for electric vehicles driven by secondary batteries. We
have already entered an age of clean emissions, in which we will drive
quietly with smooth motors, refueling our cars with methanol at existing gas
stations.
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http://ecosoul.org/
Eco Soul Manufactures America's First Reversible Fuel Cell Learning Kit
The URFC consists of a 1.5 inch diameter Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) and
three c.c. of pure water, enclosed in an optical grade polycarb housing.
The URFC demonstrates visually PEM electrolysis of water, producing hydrogen
and oxygen. Reversing the PEM to fuel cell mode recombines the hydrogen and
oxygen, producing electricity and water.
This simple reliable solid state technology is a zero emission refinery and
power plant in one. Sun light and H2O are the only inputs necessary for the
PEM to convert solar energy to hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas is an energy
carrier. Once stored this carbon free energy is then available to power
anything.
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Some food for thought.. and background from the DOE perspective....
http://www.hev.doe.gov/components/hydrogen.html
Hybrid Electric Vehicle Program - Components
Hydrogen
Contents
What is hydrogen
Why isn't hydrogen in wide use
The process
Production Cost
Background
The DOE program
Fuel Storage
For more information
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