MORE HYDROGEN HYPE

Sounds like there’s some ego on this guy’s end, too. The way these things usually work is that DOE realized the guy’s proposal was economically untenable and blew him off so he and Purdue hired a PR firm to get him some hype so he could take another run at DOE. Or, maybe, some engineer out there can write in and say this IS the idea that will save the world.

Clean energy claim: Hydrogen in your car tank; Professor says Energy Department ‘egos’ blocking breakthrough
May 18, 2007 (MSNBC News Service)

WHO
Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering and National Medal of Technology winner Jerry Woodall

WHAT
Woodall claims to have perfected a method of generating hydrogen in vehicle by adding water to a tank full of aluminum/gallium alloy pellets. Woodall claims that the hydrogen can be economically competitive with gasoline if used in hydrogen fuel cells. He claims the only obstacle to “the revolution” (except, of course, the cost of the fuel cell) is “egos at the Department of Energy.”

WHEN
The basic process was recognized by Woodall in 1967. It has been fine-tuned in recent years by Woodall’s lab.

WHERE
The Purdue University Research Foundation

WHY
- Woodall’s method eliminates two obstacles to the hydrogen economy, transporting and storing hydrogen fuel.
- The vehicle’s in-tank reaction between the alloy pellets and water produces no toxic byproducts and generates hydrogen gas, oxygen and aluminum oxide. The aluminum oxide must be recycled. Recycling drives the cost of the fuel to beyond $3/gallon.
- The reaction, associated with semiconductor performance in cell phones, solar cells, optical-fiber communications and light-emitting diodes, won Woodall a 2001 National Medal of Technology.
- Purdue and AlGalCo LLC, astartup company will share in the commercial benefits of this technology.
- DOE has refused Woodall’s funding proposals and would not comment for the article.

QUOTES
- Woodall: "The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you need when you need it…No extra room would be needed…and the added weight would be the equivalent of an extra passenger, albeit a pretty large extra passenger…It's a simple matter to convert ordinary internal combustion engines to run on hydrogen…All you have to do is replace the gasoline fuel injector with a hydrogen injector."
- Woodall: "I was cleaning a crucible containing liquid alloys of gallium and aluminum…When I added water to this alloy — talk about a discovery — there was a violent poof. I went to my office and worked out the reaction in a couple of hours to figure out what had happened. When aluminum atoms in the liquid alloy come into contact with water, they react, splitting the water and producing hydrogen and aluminum oxide."
- Woodall: "Using pure hydrogen, fuel cell systems run at an overall efficiency of 75 percent, compared to 40 percent using hydrogen extracted from fossil fuels and with 25 percent for internal combustion engines…When and if fuel cells become economically viable, our method would compete with gasoline at $3 per gallon even if aluminum costs more than a dollar per pound…"
- Woodall: "Remember that Einstein was a patent examiner and had no funding for his 1905 miracle year…Likewise, since I won my National Medal of Technology for compound semiconductors and not making hydrogen, DOE does not recognize me as a member of the club…"