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symboom
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Hydrogen from Aluminum and Water Economically
figuring out info on preforming the experiment
first i propose to start with aluminum and infusing gallium metal into the crystal lattice so the aluminum will react with water.
not sure what the ratio is for 1 pound of aluminum how much gallium is need to cause the protective layer on the aluminum to be disrupted so all the
aluminum will react.
generating hydrogen gas
2 now the reaction of aluminum and water forms aluminum hydroxide
"does the gallium react along with aluminum" being more surface area.
and separation: boiling it out cant work gallium metal 3999 °F unlike mercury 674.11 °F but i think liquid gallium should pass right through a
filter right?? any suggestions for this?decant off solid from liquid?
then comes the recycling part using molten calcium chloride at 1422F and at that temperature decomposing the aluminum hydroxide to aluminum oxide with
loss of water. as aluminum oxide is formed it dissolves in the molten calcium chloride
the + and - electrodes made of carbon argon gas should shield the reaction as the aluminum is molten at 1220F and the CaCl2 is at 1422F
to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing
[Edited on 19-9-2011 by symboom]
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blogfast25
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You want to sacrifice one of the most expensive metals (gallium) to make hydrogen 'economically'???
Listen son, get some clean Al scraps or some Zn cladding. Add dilute cheap drains unblocker (H2SO4) or cheap patio brick cleaner (HCl) and think of an
apparatus to dry and clean the generated hydrogen. Presto!
You even get to keep the resulting salts, for FREE!
[Edited on 19-9-2011 by blogfast25]
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Endimion17
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He probably read that old media scam article about a guy/team making a car that "runs on water". There was only one detail - it required
aluminium-gallium alloy that reduces the hydrogen from water to its elemental state. 
Forget gallium, aluminium is far more important here. Just consider the enthalpies. Making freaking aluminium to use it for ... omg I feel so
ineffective right now.
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blogfast25
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Endi:
You're relatively new here but I'm sure you've figured out that we have 'broad church' here, including people that believe uranium rocks are all over
the place, one who thought beaches are made of rutile (some are: they're called mines!), one filling up a latex balloon with hydrogen from Al + NaOH
and other phantasmagorical schemes. Synboom has previouses, by the way...
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bfesser
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symboom, try doing a little research before posting nonsense.
Ziebarth's doctoral <a href="http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI3417965/">thesis</a> on the subject.
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bquirky
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use aluminium as a anode in an electrolysis cell
the bubbling mechanically removes the oxide layer allowing allowing more aluminium to oxidize, eventually you have a beaker full of a white gell mess
and more hydrogen than is possible from electrolysis alone.
use it to bug a thermodynamisist. I hate those guys 
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symboom
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Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25  | You want to sacrifice one of the most expensive metals (gallium) to make hydrogen 'economically'???
Listen son, get some clean Al scraps or some Zn cladding. Add dilute cheap drains unblocker (H2SO4) or cheap patio brick cleaner (HCl) and think of an
apparatus to dry and clean the generated hydrogen. Presto!
You even get to keep the resulting salts, for FREE!
[Edited on 19-9-2011 by blogfast25] |
i said to recycle the gallium to alloy more aluminum
and the reaction is with water not acid i dont want to deal with the acid. mostly want to try it for the recycling.
and recycling is the most important cause yes galllium is expensive
and the ffc cambridge process for processing metals from their oxides and no it wont be 100% efficient i know this .
separating the gallium metal from aluminum hydroxide from the dead reaction mixture? galium metal can't be heated because it oxidizes in air and
gallium oxide cant be reduced in the ffc cambridge process either.
only pure aluminum oxide
[Edited on 19-9-2011 by symboom]
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by symboom |
i said to recycle the gallium to alloy more aluminum
and the reaction is with water not acid i dont want to deal with the acid. mostly want to try it for the recycling.
and recycling is the most important cause yes galllium is expensive
and the ffc cambridge process for processing metals from their oxides and no it wont be 100% efficient i know this .
recycling the gallium |
Blahdiblahdiblah. Except... that you'll never do this of course!
| Quote: Originally posted by symboom | then comes the recycling part using molten calcium chloride at 1422F and at that temperature decomposing the aluminum hydroxide to aluminum oxide with
loss of water. as aluminum oxide is formed it dissolves in the molten calcium chloride
the + and - electrodes made of carbon argon gas should shield the reaction as the aluminum is molten at 1220F and the CaCl2 is at 1422F
to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing
[Edited on 19-9-2011 by symboom] |
Apart from the almost complete non-feasibility for a hobbyist, do you have any proof that alumina dissolves in molten CaCl2? Al2O3 dissolves in molten
Na3AlF6 (cryolite) with a low eutectic and to some extent also in molten CaF2 (fluorite). Don't you think the current Hall-Herould Process would use
CaCl2 as a solvent if it was suitable?
Even as a flux for molten Al, CaCl2 isn't very suitable because it has quite high volatility.
You don't have the foggiest idea of what you're talking about, do you?
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symboom
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do you have any proof that alumina dissolves in molten CaCl2?
and yes i do http://www.metalysis.com/
http://www.metalysis.com/products.php
shows what elements can be made from their metal oxide
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Endimion17
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Wow, this place is awesome. I feel like I'm in elementary school again.
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IrC
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No one considered that reacting the Gallium-Aluminum leaves blobs of shiny liquid Gallium at the bottom of the warm water making it easy to collect? I
have done this many times. While warm and wet you can squeeze the leftover residue put into a folded piece of chamois and the Ga comes out just the
way Hg does. Try it sometime.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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symboom
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oh thanks that was exactly what i wanted to know so the gallium liquid passes right through the cloth like water? so vacuum filtering the solution of
gallium and aluminum hydroxide should clean the gallium right up. and thus separating the gallium metal to be used again and the aluminum hydroxide.
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blogfast25
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Sure. And a fantasist like you is going to reproduce the FCC in his backyard (LOL). To produce 'economical hydrogen' no less. The next Edison you
ain't, that much is clear.
| Quote: Originally posted by symboom | | oh thanks that was exactly what i wanted to know so the gallium liquid passes right through the cloth like water? so vacuum filtering the solution of
gallium and aluminum hydroxide should clean the gallium right up. and thus separating the gallium metal to be used again and the aluminum hydroxide.
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Gallium is more reactive than aluminium in many ways. The idea your gallium stays behind unaffected is a complete nonsense.
YAAaawwnn...
[Edited on 20-9-2011 by blogfast25]
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symboom
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the process is really not that hard ive already recycled the gallium and as soon as i get my Fresnel lens ill use that to melt the calcium chloride
melts at 1421F, and my welder has enough argon to last at least long enough to electrolyze the small sample of aluminum hydroxide i have.
2700F hottest temp at full focal point im sure the lens concentrates sun light hot enough.
ps i know this process is not 100% efficient that is impossible
and hydrogen is only a conveyer of energy it takes more electricity to make hydrogen than it is to burn that if it were to be used to generate
electricity again.
and btw hydrogen from electrolysis of water is what i use for if i need hydrogen.
im more doing the experiment because im interested in extraction of natural minerals from the earth manufacturing and chemical engineering
technology.
[Edited on 21-9-2011 by symboom]
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FrankRizzo
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Symboom - What Endimion17 was hinting at is that the aluminum is the most important part of this process because it takes **SO MUCH** energy to create
the pure metal from the bauxite ore initially. The amount of hydrogen that you'll extract and convert back to usable energy from this aluminum process
is a **fraction** of the energy it took to create the metal. You would be using the aluminum metal as a very inefficient battery, charging it up at
the mfg plant, and discharging it with your chemical process at a huge loss.
It would be more more efficient to take a semi load of lithium ion batteries to a power plant, charge them, ship them to their final destination, then
use that energy to power whatever you need.
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not_important
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Note that the energy loss in going from elemental Al to H2 to some sort of work is fairly high. There's some loss in generating the H2, as low grade
heat is also released. Then turning the H2 into useful energy has losses, heat engines are always below the Carnot limit, while low temperature fuel
cells do little better once all their overhead is factored in. You'd do better using the Al in a battery, or picking some other metal that could be
used in a battery; the efficiency will be significantly higher.
There have been proposals to "export" energy from sunny locations such as the Sahara or Australia via the production of elemental Al, Si, or B, then
transporting that to locations where needed.
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IrC
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| Quote: Originally posted by symboom | | oh thanks that was exactly what i wanted to know so the gallium liquid passes right through the cloth like water? so vacuum filtering the solution of
gallium and aluminum hydroxide should clean the gallium right up. and thus separating the gallium metal to be used again and the aluminum hydroxide.
|
No idea how easy to do in the way you are wanting or the scale. I never get it all back but I also add Indium. I have tried adding other metals but
Ga/In works better insofar as getting the Al to react with water goes. For a while I toyed with novel methods to produce hydrogen for a fuel cell in a
steady flow by dripping water onto my alloy ingots. A messy waste of time but it sure did give a nice controllable H2 source. This after giving up on
electrolysis to get steady hydrogen but in the end I got tired of the hydroxide mess I was cleaning up all the time. Plus recovering the Gallium was a
loss ridden pain in the ass. Not something I would consider for a power plant. I went back to the old Zn in acid route, easier to clean up and
cheaper. However if you are trying to build a power source all of these methods leave little to be desired. Plus you are never going to get ahead
energy wise. If I could I would go with a Pu-Tourmaline generator barring inventing a real Mr Fusion.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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symboom
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| Quote: Originally posted by FrankRizzo | Symboom - What Endimion17 was hinting at is that the aluminum is the most important part of this process because it takes **SO MUCH** energy to create
the pure metal from the bauxite ore initially. The amount of hydrogen that you'll extract and convert back to usable energy from this aluminum process
is a **fraction** of the energy it took to create the metal. You would be using the aluminum metal as a very inefficient battery, charging it up at
the mfg plant, and discharging it with your chemical process at a huge loss.
It would be more more efficient to take a semi load of lithium ion batteries to a power plant, charge them, ship them to their final destination, then
use that energy to power whatever you need.
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well yes i know it takes more energy to make the aluminum like i said.
just experimenting with manufacturing tech. i needed some hydrogen
and i got scrap aluminum and used it and then plan to recycle it back to aluminum with a dc power im still waiting for the lens but that will save me
from using so much power just to melt it. my arc welder could do it but that sucker goes through a lot of power and the lens should work just as good to melt it than use my small industral dc power supply.
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symboom
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Gallium is more reactive than aluminium in many ways. The idea your gallium stays behind unaffected is a complete nonsense.
what were you using Gallium is more reactive than aluminium thats nonsense. aluminum without the oxide disolves in water i am putting it in water
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IrC
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"The idea your gallium stays behind unaffected is a complete nonsense." - symboom
The idea? How about the experience. I make an ingot that looks like a piece of solid cast Al, by thoroughly melting Al, Ga, and In while mixing well
in a molten state. After it is a cool solid piece of metal which I can hold in my dry hand, wiping a wet paper towel across it produces steam from the
wet paper and the piece of solid metal gets so hot I have to drop it. I put it in water and H2 comes bubbling furiously off, leaving a crumbling
hydroxide and/or oxide, producing so much heat steam blows off. The leftover bits are mixed with globs of bright silver looking liquid metal which I
can separate out. You call it nonsense I call it experience I have done this with over a pound of my starting material. If nonsense please tell me
what the shiny liquid metal is I have left over starting with H2O, Al, Ga, In? To say 'idea' indicates to me that to you it's all theory in your mind
you have never actually done the experiment. You are the one coming here asking questions of others please do a thing before you say 'nonsense' to
someone who has actually 'done' a thing.
Edit to clarify who I was quoting.
[Edited on 9-22-2011 by IrC]
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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condennnsa
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Why not just go the NaOH solution and aluminum way?
Sodium hydroxide can eat through an amazing amount of aluminum, especially if concentrated.
I remember I once tried this and after a while aluminum hydroxide actually precipitates out , and aluminum metal keeps on reacting regardless how much
metal I added. I eventually stopped adding because the 'solution' became very muddy.
you could use a gas generator setup with aluminum chips or whatever in the bottom and conc NaOH on top, thus controlling the gas output... i should
try this sometime.
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by IrC | | To say 'idea' indicates to me that to you it's all theory in your mind you have never actually done the experiment. |
That's correct. I didn't do this experiment, I've no gallium. What you reported struck me as unusual and I was wrong. Quite amazing that an Al/Ga
alloy is so reacive to water, yet leaves behind the Ga, unreacted. But I see you comment on things w/o 'having done the experiment' too, so that's a
bit pot and kettle, don't you think?
The notion that synboom will use this to make 'economical hydrogen' by recovering the Al with FCC remains a flight of fantasy though. Read his other
threads...
[Edited on 22-9-2011 by blogfast25]
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by condennnsa | Why not just go the NaOH solution and aluminum way?
Sodium hydroxide can eat through an amazing amount of aluminum, especially if concentrated.
I remember I once tried this and after a while aluminum hydroxide actually precipitates out , and aluminum metal keeps on reacting regardless how much
metal I added. I eventually stopped adding because the 'solution' became very muddy.
you could use a gas generator setup with aluminum chips or whatever in the bottom and conc NaOH on top, thus controlling the gas output... i should
try this sometime. |
You must have used extremely concentrated NaOH for Al(OH)3 to drop out because NaAl(OH)4 is very soluble. Unless lots of CO2 had gotten to your
solution, that converts the aluminate to carbonate, with the oxide dropping out...
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IrC
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OK now I'm confused. I was quoting symboom in my last post not blogfast25.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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Melgar
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For generating hydrogen from aluminum economically, the cheapest way to do it is muriatic acid. It has to be diluted down a lot (like half water,
half muriatic) though, or else your "hydrogen" gas ends up containing a whole lot of HCl gas. You can't eliminate the HCl entirely, so if this is a
problem, the next cheapest way is with NaOH. H2SO4 doesn't work that well though, since some of it is reduced by aluminum to SO2.
You can use gallium to turn aluminum into aluminum oxide/hydroxide, but if you want to ever see your gallium again, it'd better be pure aluminum,
(most structural aluminum is in the form of an alloy) or you'll wind up with a lot of crud to separate it from. Most of that crud will dissolve in
dilute HCl faster than gallium will, but you'll still lose some gallium. Aluminum foil and wire are both pure aluminum, and you can use these to make
your gallium/aluminum alloy to good effect.
Some notes: it doesn't take much Ga at all to make aluminum react with water. A 1% Ga alloy will do just fine. Of course, the more gallium in the
alloy, the faster the aluminum will react. Also, gallium melts above 30 degrees celcius. Once your water reaches gallium's melting point, the
reaction will go MUCH faster! Possibly too fast, in fact, so it's a good idea to start with warm water so the reaction doesn't end up going out of
control somewhere in the middle. As far as recycling the gallium, a really dilute HCl solution works great for cleaning it off. So does NaOH. Keep
in mind though, that both will slowly eat away your gallium too.
[Edited on 9/24/11 by Melgar]
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