Hydrogen generators fact or fiction.?

Question

Is hydrogen from water in a diy hydrogen generator possible? Am I wasting my time constructing one?

Answer 1

It is perfectly possible to produce hydrogen by the electrolysis of water.

However, the claims that you can power an internal combustion engine, or indeed reduce the fuel consumption, are slightly dubious.

Most modern car engines ignition and fuel injection systems are electronically controlled. Injecting an unregulated supply of hydrogen into the system may in fact cause the use of more fuel.

There are engines that are specially designed to run on the combustion of hydrogen and oxygen.

I have experimented with various electrolysis cells, using different type of plates,rods and spirals, similar to the devices you see on the internet. That however, is the easy part. To design a cell in which the production of hydrogen and oxygen, can be regulated, when you depress the accelerator is a lot more complicated.

Other factors to take into account, such as temperature, the electrolysis prodcues heat, which needs to be controlled.

The timing of the engine cycle may also need adjusting.

If this technology really does work, why are the major manufacturers not producing them ?, with the oil prices as they are. Maybe they are being supressed by the oil companies , who knows ?

I wish you the best of luck.

Answer 2

Yes, you can do it if you really want to.  But it is cheaper and easier to buy one from an educational supplier.

You need to have the safety angled properly worked out.  Air-hydrogen mixtures are explosive in some ratios, and can be set off by a spark.

As you probably know, the energy that goes in to making the hydrogen must at least equal, and will in practice greatly exceed, the energy that you will get out from it.

Take care, and good luck.

Answer 3

Yes, it's very possible. You just run electricity through water (not pure water though) and hydrogen will appear at the cathode.

Answer 4

It is so easy to do that a dozen or more people seriously burn themselves building & testing "DIY" hydrogen generators every year in the US alone...

It is possible, so you aren't "wasting your time", but likely you ARE wasting your money.  H2 is relatively inexpensive to buy, and is certainly cheaper than making your own...

Answer 5

yes, it's possible, but don't plan on saving any money, making hydrogen requires more energy han you can get by burning it

Answer 6

It's quite possible.

You just need to put some salt in the water to make sure it is adequately conductive. For a simple experiment to demonstrate this, see:

http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexper...

Answer 7

Yes they are possible. There are many different types of hydrogen generators of fuel cells and they are classified by there temperature Low 25-100C Medium 100-500C High 500-1000C and very High >1000C. Low temperature fuel cells are being used in cars. These are usually PEMs which use a polymer electrolyte to exchange protons between electrods. They are more efficient than combustion engines. They use platinum as a catalyst which is expensive. The main problem with them is they require pure hydrogen. High tempurature fuel cells are being used for back up power systems for hospitals, construction sites, and even part of the NYC power grid. For example solid ceramic fuel cells can work on many different fuels from syngas to gasoline. It has energy efficiencies approaching 60 percent which is extremely high. Since it has a high operating temp it can use a nickel catalyst. It can also use residual heat to cogenerate electricity using steam generators. But they are huge the smallest is about the size of a rail road car. The main draw back is that thermal expansion causes the electrolyte seal to leak.

These are all real world examples by the way, it is most defiantly plausible.

Answer 8

It's perfectly possible to get hydrogen from water using electricity, or by putting a sufficiently reactive metal in the water. However, the amount of energy it takes to pull the hydrogen away from the oxygen is just as big as the amount you gain by letting the hydrogen mix back with the oxygen, and that's assuming you manage 100% efficiency.