Research Could Fuel Cars with Urine
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: cars, automobile, greentech | Themes: Business
Instead of heading to the gas pump, in the future automobile owners may just need to plug in the outhouse.
While astronauts are recycling urine and sipping the results in plastic cups (or wine glasses, whatever they use up there), automobile owners may be powering cars with urine in the future. According to Dr. Gerardine Botte, an Associate Professor from the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department at Ohio University, extracting hydrogen from urine--using electrolysis--will cost less than extracting hydrogen from water.
Ouch.
To discover if the theory was indeed possible, Botte and her group of scientists formulated fake pee--or rather synthetic urine--for the initial tests. The idea is that the urea molecule incorporates four hydrogen atoms that are not quite as adhesive as they are with water molecules. Electrolysis easily oxidizes the urea molecule with an inexpensive nickel-based electrode using a voltage of 0.37V; 1.23V is needed to split water. However, Botte eventually received clearance to play around with real human pee although it's unknown whether the scientists donated personal samples, or received a batch from external sources.
"It took us some time to get clearance to work with human urine - which held up publication of the research," Botte told the Royal Society of Chemistry.
For now, it doesn't look as if the technology will be readily available anytime soon, as the method is "expensive and inefficient." The process of ridding the urea molecule actually sounds like an unpleasant experience, as urea naturally "hydrolyses" into ammonia before generating gas phase ammonia emissions. From there, the stink just gets worse, and could lead to asthma attacks, chronic bronchitis, and premature death.
Currently Botte and her group are conducting long term stability studies on their electrolysis systems as well as conducting "computational" experiments. One source of waste Botte plans to harvest is sewage plants. Upscaling the electrolysis technology wouldn't be the problem--she's afraid that there may be a lot of salt content.
One expert applauds Botte's attempt to find a more efficient way to obtain hydrogen without splitting water. Bruce Logan, an expert in energy generation from wastewater and director of Pennsylvania State University's H2E Center and Engineering Environmental Institute, not only cautioned that urea converts to ammonia by bacteria rather quickly, but believes that the earth's population should start shelving jars of pee, in the basement, or out in the barn.
"You have to remember about the P [phosphorus] in pee--globally we need to start thinking about conserving phosphorus for fertilizer, because, just like oil, one day the deposits are all going to run out and we need to start building phosphorus recycling into our infrastructure," he told the RSC.
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AWESOME!!! NOT!!! someone's urine goes in my car. gross
I have no problem with this.
But it will happen the same time the ultra-cells come out, so whats the point?
[/sarcasm]
Vaporware.
Might as well just make an engine that works on water. What if you run out of "gaz" and don't feel like peeing? You're screwed. You gotta drink water and wait until it goes through your system.
adds new meaning to the phrase "what's that smell"
Waste Management 101:
Num 1 - Done
Num 2 - ToDo
hey, anybody else smell that
Great - now instead of filling up at the gas pump we'll be chanting "Who's for another round?" at the local pub...
ROTFLMAO
beer powered road trip anyone?
Options:
1) Pay for gas
2) Piss
No more going to garbage gas stations on long trips, portable urinal & fuel - two birds one stone
This would be great for Las Vegas, NV where I live, since our local govt deems it safe to dump our waste into our drinking water supply.
You know those long road trips were you got to piss really bad, but have no good place to pull over and piss? Problem solved! Pull a hose out from under the drivers seat and piss right into the fuel tank. Awsome! Also, I workout a lot so I drink about 4 lt. of water a day. As a result I piss a lot, so I guess I could open my very own fueling station. :-)
This would seriously rock if you could get a system designed that could work with both water OR piss. Piss of course being the optimal fuel source requiring far less voltage.
i can only imagine the smell of following behind such a vehicle...
Damn this could be handy on road trips! when you really gota go just go for a wiz into the tank
I can just see it now when you're driving down the highway. Every so often on the side of the road you see a guy with his pants around his ankles with his crotch pressed against the side of the car.
"Just needs some fuel buddy!"
This begs the question though; how would women drivers refuel? (something tells me I don't want a response to that...)
Everyone thought I was crazy for pissing in my gas tank all these years. Who's crazy now?!?!?!
I have just been informed it's still me.
Good thing they didn't chose water thought, this is a fact:
Fresh water is going to run out in another 25 yrs. using water cells would make that even worse
sucks to be a girl
How is the fresh water going to run out if it keeps raining and snowing? The rivers and lakes here in PA look full to me. The great lakes have quite a bit of water too.
There might be problems in the southwest and other desert regions. Once it gets bad enough people will start leaving until the population becomes sustainable again. 350 sunny days a year are nice but drinking water is nicer.
Well people used to use week old urine to do laundry. Up until soap was invented it was actually a commodity that had value. The Fuller would pay for quantities of urine, let it age and then pour it on clothes in a big vat. Barefoot slaves would walk around the vat mixing it all together. The chemicals in the stale urine would help clean the cloth and then it would just require rinsing (a lot of rinsing I hope...).
Perhaps we have found another use for it... Maybe it will even be taxed again...
Just don't call it urine pumps etc and you may have something. It just made working with cars make you feel even dirtier then usual.
Cant wait till I just pee into my gas tank!
The idea isn't so bad really. Cows provide milk, which sells for so little the neanderthaler living on the farm can barely make his rounds. If he could sell teh cows' urine to someone that makes energy from it, perhaps they'll get positive figures again?
maybe in like 10 years this will work..
I recall that old diesels could get extra mileage, from pissing in the tank when one ran dry, however that was more likely because otherwise unaccessible diesel was made accessible.
About the invention I doubt anyone other than the space bureaus will be interested, as most ordinary people will get grossed out by the thought and expected smell of the process.
It would make more sense to use this technology in a combination waste treatment/power plant scenario: basically an unlimited fuel source to power turbines to make electricity. They could sell the ammonia byproduct to companies that could use it.
It would make more sense to use this technology in a combination waste treatment/power plant scenario: basically an unlimited fuel source to power turbines to make electricity. They could sell the ammonia byproduct to companies that could use it.
girls are screwed !
I wonder if clear pee has a higher octane rating than yellow pee?
Water doesn't have as many minerals as urine. You separate H20 and you get hydrogen and oxygen. Urine or the structure of urea has residuals of Carbon and Nitrogen that have to go somewhere (that when built up will produce solids). So...there will probably have to be some sort of filter to catch these waste products.
So...where are they going to store all the piss cakes?