West Lafayette (IN) - A 40-year old research effort by Purdue University professor Dr. Jerry Woodall has produced the world's most efficient way of creating hydrogen.  And while Dr. Woodall's invention could be used to power hydrogen-based cars, the realities are that the energy required to do so makes it an impractical solution.  The dream of the car running on water has been derailed by the science-reality alarm clock.

Dr. Jerry Woodall is most impressive.  When I had the opportunity to visit him last week I was struck greatly by a man who's devoted his entire life to science.  When he worked at IBM back in the '70s he invented some of the very circuit technologies that enable cell phones and LEDs to operate today.  His roots in computer science, and specifically the practical adaptation of exotic materials for semiconductors, have seen his name ride many patents.  The aluminum/gallium material he's developed for the water-conversion process is actually an accidental off-shoot of his early three-part work with aluminum, gallium and arsenic at IBM.

 
 
Hydrogen generation

In 1967, Dr. Woodall came across a material almost by accident.  It was a mixture of gallium and aluminum which would completely react with water, extracting the hydrogen very quickly.  The process was so complete that only a slurry of aluminum oxide and gallium was left in the mix.  This got him thinking about the practical applications.
 
He gave me a first-hand demonstration of this technology and I must say I was quite impressed.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I drove to Purdue, but what I saw was definitely usable.  Within seconds of dropping two fingernail-sized pebbles of the material into a small container of water it began bubbling like a carbonated drink that had been shaken up.  The reaction consumed the source in about 60 seconds or so with an undisclosed volume of hydrogen coming off (it wasn't measured).  The water vessel was about 1 liter and it hadn't notably increased in temperature, indicating this was a small reaction.  He told me the conversion rate generates the equivalent energy of 1.1 KWh per pound of source material.  No secret here: Large applications like cars, golf carts or submarines it would require a significant amount of source material.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Dr. Woodall told me that an adapted propane tank had been used previously as a test vessel.  It contained only a small quantity of his material that was submerged in water and capped off.  It reacted quickly inside and populated the tank's atmosphere to about 110 psi.  He then piped that gas into a simple gasoline engine with a converted carburetor so it would run on hydrogen.  It powered a 4KWh generator for ten minutes before exhausting the hydrogen supply.  It was a simple test, but one proving the gas could power an internal combustion engine.
 

 
 
Nearly blasted

Immediately after arriving at Dr. Woodall's office he drove me out to the Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories research facility.  It's located west of the Purdue campus just past the airport.  In that small group of buildings sit several rocket propulsion scientists working on several different projects.  
 

 
Nearby were some other buildings of interest that Dr. Woodall made a point of showing me.  Among the various buildings housing all kinds of rocket fuel and research experiments was an actual blast wall.  It's the kind you see on the History channel where they test-fire rockets.
 

 
While we were there looking at the wall and talking there were some young scientists and a professor outside milling around a very interesting looking contraption.  I could not help but think for just a moment:  okay, beginning of school year, rookies, danger Will Robinson, danger.  And yet, Dr. Woodall was not concerned in the slightest.  He just turned the car around slowly and drove off telling me about how the aluminum/gallium water reaction will continue giving off gas beyond the capacity of any pressure vessel to contain it.  In fact, he said it would easily exceed 10,000 psi in out-gassing pressure.
 
When we got back to his office he took me through the process from a chemistry point of view.  And it was the very basic formula everybody quoted in the comments section of our previous article.
 

 
Water and aluminum are consumed to produce hydrogen.  The math involved works out such that it takes twice as much input energy based on what you get out as both heat and hydrogen.  And for all practical purposes, you cannot reclaim the heat generated so it's really quite inefficient, especially compared to gasoline.  However, it does have advantages.  Dr. Woodall is working on projects exploiting those advantages right now.
 
For example, Dr. Woodall kept saying that this kind of energy system doesn't make sense unless you have a need for clean, portable energy.  Electricity, gasoline, these are all better sources of power.  But, if you can't run an extension cord, and you don't want to burn hydrocarbons, then you're left with something like solar power or Dr. Woodall's invention.
 
Dr. Woodall's invention has the advantage of being an on-demand power supply system that can be scaled to any volume.  All you need is more of the mix and water.  The more you combine, the more gas is given off.
 
Dr. Woodall told me a couple of interesting things about that.  First, the ability exists to store as much fuel by volume as would be required for gasoline for the same amount of power (though it's about three times the weight, including the water).  To drive 400 miles, for example, it would require a certain volume of gasoline.  With his material, the same space can be used with the only waste products being heat, water vapor and aluminum oxide.  The gallium goes along for the ride and can be completely reclaimed via a centrifugal process.

 

Read on the next page: Inexpensive gallium, low-power combination