[NewCandle] Physical Methods Of Water

[Jones Beene]

Keith, Nick and Al (et al?),

 > > but even if you used stronger magnets and higher flow rates, I 
don't think you could get much (it would probably recombine first).

 > KN: Absolutely, it [H2} would recombine, bear in mind the equivalent 
circuit would be a pair of matched electrodes with AC across them.

Yes good observation ... but... (he sez, arching his hairy eyebrows)

If either of you want to experiment with the virtual electrode concept 
(irradiated nano-catalyst) in a non-competitive way, here are some 
suggestions, which I can offer: taylored so as to avoid NDA concerns.

Since we are convinced that HOOH is preferable as a monopropellant - 
since it is strorable and far more energetic then its "heat content" 
numbers suggest, and since it can (perhaps) be produced very cheaply 
using ambient heat energy for perhaps half of the net energy required, 
then it is obvious that we do not want nor intend-to open the Pandora's 
box of H2 generation

--- ERGO ---

...there is a big niche available for some of these hard-won findings 
and ideas to be implemented towards generating H2 - IF - (big-if) the 
"recombination" problem can be ameliorated.

That would be your task, Special Agents, and maybe Tom Cruiser will 
purchase for big-bucks the 'Mission Impossible' film rights, should you 
have any success <g>

To offer these insights therefore, I will assume that your goal is as a 
*hydrogen generator* and that you will not pursue peroxide.

Water: Use distilled water stored in polyethylene jugs. It is helpful 
but not imperative to "precharge" the water when it is in storage (more 
on that later) so long as it is NOT in contact with glass or aluminum, 
unless it is Pyrex (quartz)glass.

A am finding that for an eventual mass-production situation, fully 
demineralized water "might be" preferable to distilled, but there is 
clearly a problem with calcium and other minerals found in "pure water" 
and even in some distilled water - particularly if stored (and/or 
precharged) in glass jugs. Calcium leaching out of glass, for instance. 
Calcium and who knows what else deactivates the catalyst ! This took me 
a full month of frustration, nail biting and very valuable time to 
figure out. That is what I mean by "hard-won".

Catalyst: To have a chance at splitting water for H2, you will need to 
find a semiconductor (transition metal oxide) colloid with a band gap of 
over 2.5 volts. We have found the our preferred catalyst MnO2 will not 
generate hydrogen, even though its bandgap is high enough - but I think 
that I know of one which might accomplish this - Zirconia. Here is an 
abstract of a relevant document on increasing the bandgap in zirconia :

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16414247

How to avoid recombination ??:

First thing to try is high g force.

Easier said then done - but start with a tubular cell, maybe 5 cm dia, 
and supported by ball-bearings on either end - and connected to a high 
RPM motor at the bottom (mount vertically) - spin rapidly. RF should be 
pumped from an "antenna/cathode which protrudes down from the open end 
(top) IOW it is an axial DC-biased electrode/antenna biased to less than 
one volt negative.

This becomes an axial cathode to attract freed protons, which will 
effectively "feel" much less-force per atom of the g-force of 
centrifugation. The antenna is a conductive stiff wire which becomes 
bare once the water and catalyst begin to spin rapidly.

When spun rapidly this setup might allow H2 to be generated and to 
escape out the open-end but before recombination.

Just a wild idea... which assumes that the "current efficiency" of the 
cell is still Faradaic but that the zirconia band gap provides the 
necessary water-splitting potential and that the RF which is introduced, 
is able to recycle (drop) the band gap of the semiconductor back down to 
the valence level, and expel temporarily-bound extra-hydroxyl radical, 
but after a tiny time-delay. Therefore the AC supplied to the "exciton" 
(i.e. the nanoparticle of zirconia) by the RF would "act like" it was 
real amperage instead of photonic (and very low eV equivalent). The cell 
should chill rapidly, despite the heat induced by RF and might need to 
be heated externally.

Clear as mud ?

Jones