Does anyone know how an MRE heater works? Could this be used to create steam powered electricity?

Question

When I was in the military there were MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) heaters which you just added water to and it began to boil. It would heat an MRE in just a few moments. There was no flame or fuel it just seemed to be some sort of reaction to the material inside the bag. If this could be done in a large scale couldn't it create pollution free electricity?

Answer 1

No.

When you breath you exhale CO2 on a small scale.

When every one drives to work CO2 is produced on a large scale causing global warming.

This chemical heater may sound clean on a small scale but on a large scale it would be worse than fossil fuels.

Also, it probably takes more energy to produce this chemical than it can ever give off.

Answer 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flameless_r...

http://science.howstuffworks.com/mre4.ht...

Check this out. Those are also great bombs too!

Answer 3

The MRE steam heaters I saw used JP-8, or most anything else available.

Answer 4

In short the "MRE" heater uses FRH (flameless ration heater ) technology to heat the contents of the MRE, this process releases toxic hydrogen gases into the air (which is why you cannot just throw MRE's away). Although hydrogen is a component of our atmosphere, as carbon is, a large scale operation that emitted vast amounts of hydrogen into the air would be just as detrimental to our Earth as burning coal. So in essence you would be posoining everyone on Earth which is probably why they don't use that process to make electricity.