On Mar 11, 2010, at 4:54 AM, OrionWorks - Steven Vincent Johnson wrote:
Vorts,
I got spammed this morning with an eMail from a startup company called
AlumiFuel Power Inc. Don't know how I got on their preferred
customer list.
http://www.alumifuelpowerinc.com/
They claim to deliver five times the energy density (runtime) of
lithium
batteries.
I'll be curious to hear what the Collective might have to say about
their
bold claims, particularly the process.
The lower right photo of one of two "cartridges" looks like a pristine
aluminum soda can, sans printed labeling. It even seems to possess
a pop-top
opener. Perhaps it's cheap to buy in bulk! ;-)
---
Steven Vincent Johnson
www.OrionWorks.com
www.zazzle.com/orionworks
What they don't tell you is what it takes to "recharge". Aluminum
metal requires vast amounts of energy to create.
Following is a 2002 post of mine on this subject.
Subject: Down with hydrogen economy, up with aluminum economy
On Feb 6, 2002, at 4:22 AM, Horace Heffner wrote:
Here is some fuel for thought! 8^)
The CRC Handbook gives the Gibbs energy of formation for Al2O3 and
H2O in
kJ/mol as follows:
Al2O3: -1582.3 kJ/mol
H2O: -228.6 kJ/mol
Given atomic weight of Al is 26.98, and H is 1.007, we have the
following
output per gram of input for the two fuels:
Al2O3: (-1582.3 kJ/mol)/(2 * 26.98g/mol) = 29.32 kJ/g
H2O: (-228.6 kJ/mol)/(2 * 1.007g/mol) = 113.5 J/g
Though only about 1/4 as efficient as hydrogen for energy storage by
weight, aluminum is far easier and safer to store and transport,
and 29.32
kJ/g, or 30 MJ/kg, is very acceptable. At 7.14 g/cm^2 density, Al
provides
(30 kJ/g)/(7.14 g/cm^3) = 4.11 kJ/cm^3, or 4.11 MJ per liter of Al,
a very
acceptable amount. That's 1.14 kWh, or 1.52 hp hours, enough to
run a 1.52
hp motor for an hour. At a typical 7 hp cruising speed that is a fuel
consumption of (7 hp)/(1.52 hp h/l) = 5 l/hr. If the vehicle
maintains 50
mph, then the fuel consumption is (50 mi)/(5 l) = 10 miles per
liter of
fuel. A 100 mile fillup would consist of 10 liters of fuel, or
71.4 kg of
fuel.
If we obtain the energy from the aluminum by pyrolisis, then we
have the
side benefit of obtaining hydrogen for either immediate
recombination with
air, or for temporary high pressure storage. Electrolysis, a bit
mysteriously, seems to work just as well, or even better, in terms of
mol/amp and mol/J, at high pressures as at low pressure. Using
pyrolisis
also permits us to more directly obtain energy from breaking and to
convert
it to heat, which can be used to drive a motor for charging a
battery, and
to produce high pressure hydrogen for storage.
Since the pyrolisis of Al removes the oxygen from water, the
hydrogen is
evolved at the rate of 3 mols of H per mol of Al, thus 3(-228.6 kJ/
mol) is
produced for each (-1582.3 kJ/mol) of Al, or an extra 685.8 kJ per
1582.3
kJ produced from Al oxidation, or an about 43.3 percent extra
energy from
the evolved hydrogen. This raises the apparent energy output of
the Al to
41.93 kJ/g.
All the heat produced in a well insulated pyrolisis cell, including
resistance heat from the electrolysis current, is converted to
either steam
or evolved gas. If effective use of the steam can be made to drive an
engine, then the process should be very efficient for transportation
purposes. Energy tapped off the output to drive the pyrolisis
would be fed
back to the input side. The vehicle efficiency then depends fully
on the
efficiency of the steam engine or sterling engine employed.
The powdered aluminum oxide effluent that is produced can be
filtered and
collected for recycling at fill-up stations.
Magnesium would work too, but is toxic, and berylium would provide
more
kJ's per gram, and the largest MJ/m^3 of any chemical fuel, but is
toxic.
Aluminum is common. Even aluminum cans can be recycled into fuel.
Up with the aluminum economy!
Hope I got all the right. 8^)
Regards,
Horace Heffner
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
