Urine-powered generator unveiled at international exhibition
Ron Czapala
Posts: 2,418
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/urine-powered-generator-unveiled-international-exhibition-234718329.html
Four African girls have created a generator that produces electricity for six hours using a single liter of urine as fuel.
The generator was unveiled at last week's Maker Faire in Lagos, Nigeria, by the four teens Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, and Faleke Oluwatoyin, all age 14, and Bello Eniola, 15.
So how exactly does the urine-powered generator work?
Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which separates out the hydrogen.
The hydrogen goes into a water filter for purification, which then gets pushed into the gas cylinder.
The gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas.
This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator.
And as for delivering the fuel itself? Well, we'll leave that up to the consumer.
The Maker Faire is a popular event across the African continent, drawing thousands of participants who travel to Lagos to show their inventions and other practical creations.
Four African girls have created a generator that produces electricity for six hours using a single liter of urine as fuel.
The generator was unveiled at last week's Maker Faire in Lagos, Nigeria, by the four teens Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, and Faleke Oluwatoyin, all age 14, and Bello Eniola, 15.
So how exactly does the urine-powered generator work?
Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which separates out the hydrogen.
The hydrogen goes into a water filter for purification, which then gets pushed into the gas cylinder.
The gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas.
This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator.
And as for delivering the fuel itself? Well, we'll leave that up to the consumer.
The Maker Faire is a popular event across the African continent, drawing thousands of participants who travel to Lagos to show their inventions and other practical creations.
Comments
"Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which separates out the hydrogen." Is this done catalytically? because if it's not and instead it's just straight electrolysis, then you're using electricity to generate the hydrogen.
The photo shows what looks like a normal generator to me. You're running that thing for six hours like that? seriously?
EDIT: You might want to take a look at this: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/african-girls-pee-powered-generator-raises-questions-1C6956099
"What these kids are doing is taking urea electrolysis and making hydrogen and then using that hydrogen to make electricity,” Gerardine Botte, a chemical engineer at Ohio University who invented the urea electrolysis process, told NBC News when asked to comment on the generator..... “You will never get more energy out than you put in because you are treating urea … but it is a unique and elegant way to treat urine waste, which will allow you to co-generate electricity,” she said."
Seriously, I enjoy the efforts of young thinker and I applaud these efforts - only more understand and new ideas will come from it.
My hat's OFF to the Girls!
Eldon - WA0UWH
That's hysterical! I laughed so hard at that, I almost peed my pants. (Free electricity for everyone! Yippee!)
My own idea for generating electricity from urine: if your aim is true and you can pee hard enough, then you can get this thing to turn at high speed:
I guess you can work backwards from the BTU content of hydrogen required to run the generator for 6 hours and begin to determine how much urine might be required to do so.
If this were to work out, my dog could become a major power contributor. It is difficult to believe that one liter of urine has the BTU content to provide electricity for 6 hours - that's some potent urine.
The fact that the hydrogen 'gets pushed' into a canister indicates some use of pumps to compress the gas. The electrolysis process used in the beginning may have an outside energy addition as well, maybe using electrical mains.
It is a bit awkward to think that one liter of urine has a significantly higher hydrogen content than one liter of water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine#Compositiona
One critique here http://nathan-lee.com/blog/2012/11/07/urine-powered-generator-theyre-taking-the-Smile/
I'd like to see the maths. Gasoline in => electrolysis => hydrogen => burn hydrogen. Energy losses each step of the way. Electrolysis is about 50-80%. In general terms, every time energy is transformed you lose energy. So the best option is the least number of steps - ie use the generator to make electricity and use the electricity as it is made.
Also, what would be the benefit of passing hydrogen through a WATER filter ? I could believe solar for electolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, but enough to run even that generator? With no compressor or cylinder to hold the hydrogen under pressure?
Hoax......
Well November 1st is 6 months from April 1st. Maybe it is a below the equator event. I am surprised that an Aussie like you wouldn't consider the possibility. A half April 1st. I don't know how you can celebrate Christmas in the middle of summer.
Not to Smile in your Cheerios (pun intended), but Oct. 1st is 6 months from April 1st.
Christmas is a 40 degree C day (104F), cracking cold beers, barbeque with prawns, sunnies, board shorts, jumping in the pool, hot sheilas in bikinis and playing cricket with "over the fence, 6 and out" rules. You bloody beauty mate!
Beats the heck out of sub-freezing temperatures, driving snow, several layers of winter clothes to hazard a drive to the relatives house after chipping ice and scraping snow off your car to complain about how miserable winter has already been and there's no hope of it letting up for at least 3 more months. Kids trapped inside for 10 days of Christmas break, trips up and down the driveway with the snowblower so relatives can visit (hoping nobody slips on ice patches in your driveway); the hauling wood in for the fire so you can sit in front of the crackling fire and sweat and then watch all your precious (expensive) heat escape up the chimney until the fire is dead and you can close the flu in the middle of the night.
HO, HO, HO!
Where do I sign up for Australian Rules Christmas??
I guess I am missing all the fun.
4/1 plus 6 equals 10/1. But I really did try to count on my fingers and started with May. Hmmmm. Using the mind is safer.
Nothing.... absolutely nothing drives me more crazy that getting up on a freezing morning and having to dig out an auto, then scrape the ice off the windshield, and to get into what is a sub-zero freezer to go someplace. It always seems the auto only gets cozy warm as we are arriving wherever we have to go.
Sir, what you need is a urine-powered seat-warmer. It's rumored to have been invented by an enterprising 20-month old who used her mother's couch as a prototype.
Brilliant!!!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/15/10-ohio-police-officers-reportedly-reprimanded-for-urine-bucket-incident/?test=latestnews
C.W.
To serve and protect!
Another proud day to be an Ohioan!!