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Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars?

Posted by timothy on from the use-every-part-of-the-animal dept.

thecarchik writes with this interesting excerpt: "It takes a lot of energy to split hydrogen out from the other atoms to which it binds, either in natural gas or water. Which means energy analysts are skeptical about the overall energy balance of cars fueled by hydrogen. Ohio University researcher Geraldine Botte has come up with a nickel-based electrode to oxidize (NH2)2CO, otherwise known as urea, the major component of animal urine. Because urea's four hydrogen atoms are less tightly bound to nitrogen than the hydrogen bound to oxygen in water molecules, it takes less energy to break them apart."

14 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. Urea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    first piss!

  2. Hmm... by XPeter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sperm and now urine? I'll take a guess and say the next article will be about crap.

    --
    "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
    1. Re:Hmm... by hansraj · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll take a guess and say the next article will be about crap.

      I suppose that will be a shitty article.

    2. Re:Hmm... by amp001 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll take a guess and say the next article will be about crap.

      I suppose that will be a shitty article.

      Now, now -- there's no need to get pissy about it.

  3. Take that you punk kids! by greatica · · Score: 4, Funny

    Try pissing in my gas tank now!

  4. Humm, if Bio Diesel Cars smell like French Fries by Virtucon · · Score: 5, Funny

    The cars powered by this will smell like Bourbon Street.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  5. Way Cool by flaming+error · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cool. We burn our pee in the car, collect pure water from the tailpipe, drink the water and pee again.

    Perpetual urination FTW.

  6. Re:New waste recycle plants? by Electrawn · · Score: 4, Funny

    Urea is a common component in a lot of industrial applications, notably cosmetics, soap and animal feed. No need to really source it from the sewer, industrial vats make this stuff every day.

    Telling women what exactly "Urea" is in the ingredients of their makeup case is great fun...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea

  7. urinine by goombah99 · · Score: 4, Funny

    the fuel will be called urinine, because after a lot of beer, I'm way way past urin8

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:urinine by Tanktalus · · Score: 4, Funny

      My urine goes to 11.

    2. Re:urinine by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Funny

      You guys should get together and form your own country. You can call it the Uri-nation.

  8. It burns when I pee by bperkins · · Score: 4, Funny

    but in this case it's a good thing.

  9. Re:The problem.... by evanbd · · Score: 4, Funny

    Every time I see people complaining about hydrogen storage, I find myself wondering what's so hard about it. You can store hydrogen fairly densely and easily by just attaching it to carbon atoms in a roughly 2:1 ratio. What's more, we already have the infrastructure in place to transport and use hydrogen that's been stored in this manner. And, even better, no high pressures, low temperatures, or special materials are required!

  10. Re:The problem.... by jameskojiro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, but that relys too much on using dangerously toxic carbon ....
    .
    I've heard that a few grams of carbon injected into a polar bear at 100m/s can kill it instantly.
    .
    Way to dangerous to use in cars and vehicles.

    --
    Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...