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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."

7 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Only if they relax the drunk-driving laws. I don't see any other way the economics can work.

  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. 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"
  4. Re:urinine by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  5. Re:New waste recycle plants? by Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And therein lies the rub. It's way too expensive and inefficient to recover from natural sources (it makes up ~2% of urine, mixed in with ~3% "other"), so we make it synthetically from ammonia. Which is made via the Haber process. Which in turn use coal or natural gas as feedstocks. Gee, that's really going to solve the efficiency problem right there...

    --
    All them years of priest training, taken out by one bounty hunter.