What quality of water is best for electrolyzing into Hydrogen and Oxygen? Tap water? Distilled? De-ionized?

Question

Just wondering what would be the major downfall to using tap water, rain water, or for that matter, swamp water? I'm thinking about getting into a deeper study of hydrogen to be used in a fuel cell or perhaps some other form of potential energy. Also I'd appreciate being pointed to a website or newsgroup dealing with alternate energy production. Searches work but there's such a thing as working too well. I'm having a devil of a time looking for the few needles in that haystack.

Answer 1

As pure as you can get it.

That means softened, then deionized, then filtered through a 0.45micrometer filter and tested with an ohm meter to have a resistance greater than 18MegaOhms, atleast....

Answer 2

Distilled water is best for electrolyzing into Hydrogen and Oxygen.

Answer 3

Tap water or the swamp water would probably be the best due to the presence of ions. Water doesn't actually conduct electricity very well. In actuality, it is the ions in the water that carry the current. Thus, distilled and de-ionized, which I think are the same thing anyway, or nearly the same, would really not work. If you add a salt, such as NaCl, it might work better, but not as much oxygen would be produced. Experiment with different salts to find the best.... just a suggestion. I hoped this helped.

Answer 4

Doesn't matter; an electrolyte will need to be added in any event.  But hydrogen has little potential for vehicle power: it is too difficult to store, and too expensive since it has to be made from something else -- which either contains or uses a lot of energy.