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Hydrogen Peroxide and Sugar
Most people know that Hydrogen
Peroxide (H2O2) is commonly used for cleaning cuts and sores, and
that a bottle of hydrogen peroxide can turn a brunette into a blonde.
Yet, how many people know that hydrogen peroxide can also be used as a
powerful
rocket fuel? And how many people know that hydrogen peroxide accelerated
the jet car Peroxide
Thunder to 450 mph in 3.4 seconds?
Hydrogen peroxide is commonly used (in very low concentrations,
typically around 5%) to bleach human hair, hence the phrases "peroxide
blonde" and "bottle blonde". It burns the skin upon contact
in sufficient concentration. In lower concentrations (3%), it is used
medically for cleaning wounds and removing dead tissue. Combined with
urea as carbamide peroxide, it is used for whitening teeth.
Hydrogen peroxide tends to decompose exothermically into water
and oxygen gas. The rate of decomposition is dependent on the temperature
and concentration of the peroxide, as well as the presence of impurities
and stabilizers. The use of a catalyst (such as manganese dioxide, silver,
or the enzyme catalase) vastly increases the rate of decomposition of
hydrogen peroxide. High strength peroxide (also called high-test
peroxide, or HTP) must be stored in a vented container to prevent
the buildup of pressure leading to the eventual rupture of the container.
In the 1930s and 40s, Hellmuth Walter pioneered methods of harnessing
the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in gas turbines and rocket
engines.
Hydrogen peroxide works best as a propellant in extremely high
concentrations of 90% or higher.
Hydrogen
peroxide - Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) can store energy in the form of chemical energy,
similar to hydrogen. However, H2O2 has the same problem that hydrogen
has - that is, hydrogen peroxide - H2O2 - does not exist naturally in
large pools like crude oil: H2O2 is not a source of energy like oil; we
can't go out and explore for it or drill for it. Hydrogen peroxide is
manufactured by a process that consumes energy, and/or other chemical
resources.
Hydrogen peroxide, when used to produce energy, creates only pure water
and oxygen as a by-product, so it is considered a clean energy
like hydrogen. However, unlike hydrogen, H2O2 exists in liquid form at
room temperature, so it can be easily stored and transported. Hydrogen
peroxide has been around for a long time, so there is a long history of
industrial handling and storage. Scientists are familiar with hydrogen
peroxide.
Scientists know that hydrogen peroxide can be prepared by the
anthraquinone process. This conventional chemical process requires
very large and expensive installations, so there are relatively few manufacturers
around the world. As a result, transport costs increase the price, making
it uneconomical to deliver in small quantities or remote areas.
However, the variable and raw material costs for the anthraquinone process
are low, says chemical engineer Erik Bengtsson.
"The variable cost of production (raw materials, electricity
and steam consumption) in modern plants is typically $150/ton H2O2,
which corresponds to 34 cents/gallon for 50% conc. water solution of
H2O2. Added to the variable costs, there are the fixed costs of production
which are the capital cost, - around $150/ton at 15% return on investment,
and the fixed costs of maintenance and operation, -around $50/ton. The
sales price to big customers, like pulp bleaching plants vary from $350
up to $600, depending on the demand/supply balance on the market. Right
now I believe the sales price is around $550/ton or $ 1.25 per gallon
for 50% product. The much higher sales prices one can see on the market
is for small quantities to small customers. The cost of production would
decrease if there was a new big market area, like your suggested fuel
market, because of the economy of scale.
"More than half of the variable cost is for hydrogen. The
hydrogen is typically produced from natural gas, but it can also be
produced from electrolyses of water, if the electric power is cheap
enough.
"The anthraquinone process is a very smart process: It uses
the anthraquinone to combine hydrogen and oxygen from the air to form
H2O2, in a safe and efficient way, but the anthraquinone is not consumed,
it is recycled in the process. And, as I said before, one can use renewable
electricity for producing the hydrogen needed. One can also use bio
gas."
— Erik Bengtsson
www.PeroxidePropulsion.com
Recent advances in electrochemistry have demonstrated the
feasibility of producing hydrogen peroxide by the electrochemical reaction
of oxygen and hydrogen in a fuel cell. The new process could significantly
reduce the cost of producing hydrogen peroxide and provide an opportunity
to make the H2O2 from hydrogen and oxygen generated locally with renewable
resources.
Patent# 6,685,818
Process for the electrochemical preparation of hydrogen peroxide - February
3, 2004
One of the problems Engineers must solve when designing a process for
making hydrogen peroxide is the high loss of energy. The typical energy
conversion efficiency is less than 50% because the formation of H2O2 produces
heat as a by-product.
In the future, Microreactors may be used to solve this problem:
Microreactors could redefine chemistry, nanodrip by drop
Research Scientists at the University of Liverpool, England have another
idea: To realize hydrogen peroxide’s full potential, industry
needs a simple production process which can be implemented at the point
of use, and provide high energy conversion efficiency...
We’ve all heard about the automotive industry’s efforts
to replace the internal combustion engine with a more environmentally
friendly alternative. The most promising approach involves a new kind
of battery – the ‘fuel cell’. Chrysler and Volkswagen
are already using fuel cell technology in some of their vehicles; powered
by a conventional electric motor which is quieter and simpler than the
internal combustion engine, they deliver similar acceleration –
and no noxious exhaust emissions.
The fuel in question is a mixture of hydrogen and air. Together, they
generate a controlled chemical reaction in the fuel cell, producing
electrical energy, and water as a by-product. There are two stages to
the chemical reaction: at the end of the first stage, hydrogen peroxide
is produced; in the second stage, the H2O2 is converted to H2O –
ie water.
In road vehicles, engineers try to maximise the energy output by avoiding
the formation of H2O2. It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination
to recognise that it might be possible to tweak the chemical reaction
to produce H2O2 instead of H2O – and to maximise the production
of H2O2 rather than electrical energy. A US research group has already
sought patent protection for a fuel cell designed to generate H2O2 in
a two-stage process – but it has not yet worked in practice.
One-stage process
In 1999, it struck a group of electrochemists in Liverpool University’s
Department of Chemistry that it should be possible, using fuel cell
technology, to generate H2O2 in a one-stage process. "Our idea",
explains Professor
David Schiffrin Director of Liverpool University’s Centre for Nanoscale
Science, "was to prevent the conventional reaction in the fuel
cell from proceeding to the second stage, which converts H2O2 to H2O
– and to use a quinone rather than platinum as the catalyst."
At their very first attempt, the research partners achieved their goal
– with 98% efficiency. They soon increased this to 100% efficiency.
In the process, they made an important discovery: it is possible to
get hydrogen to produce electrons automatically – within the reaction,
but physically separate from the oxygen producing the hydrogen peroxide.
Having demonstrated the feasibility of the electrochemistry, the next
step was to incorporate it within a fuel cell. "Our approach should
enable hydrogen peroxide to be produced using a clean technology –
with surplus electrical energy as its by-product", comments David
Schiffrin. "It could also give Europe an opportunity to secure
a lead in the development of fuel cell components and systems for electrosynthesis."
Taken from:
A New role for fuel cells
When scientists talk
about hydrogen peroxide as a fuel, they use the word "decomposition"
instead of saying the fuel is "burned". When hydrogen peroxide
is used as a fuel, energy is released in the form of heat during the rapid
decomposition of H2O2 to H2O, creating steam and oxygen. In the case of
high concentration H2O2, much of the energy takes the form of an enormous
thrust - propulsion - as demonstrated by the jet car and rockets.
Hydrogen peroxide "decomposes" into pure water: the H2O2 molecule
changes into H2O + 1 free O (water + 1 free oxygen atom) creating a lot
of heat in the process. H2O2 was used during World War II as fuel for
underwater torpedoes because it "burned" without the need for
an outside air supply. The trail of air bubbles that can be seen behind
the H2O2 powered torpedo is evidence of the free oxygen released during
decomposition of the H2O2 into H2O.
H2O2 decomposition releases pure oxygen as a by-product. Scientists
found that the pure oxygen by-product could be used for "burning"
carbon during the H2O2 decomposition—the heat would cause the carbon
and free oxygen to ignite and "burn". In this way, the heat
energy of the H2O2 fuel can be increased significantly.
Delchev Fuel:
An inventor, who lives in the Mojave
desert near Death
Valley California, has developed a renewable
fuel made from a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and sugar.
The inventor's name is Nick
Delchev.
Delchev Patent#4,698,965
Hot gas source and fuel therefor
A method, apparatus and the fuel therefor for creating a hot gas
jet from hydrogen peroxide in a maximum aqueous solution of 55% to which
is added a burnable substance. The mixture is passed through a permeable
mass of catalytic material such as manganese dioxide in the form of
granules of natural pyroluside where the hydrogen peroxide is broken
down into water and oxygen. The oxygen thus formed is combined with
the burnable substance which may be sugar, coal dust, alcohol, gasoline
or other common fuels. Water is added to the mixture to insure storage
stability of the hydrogen peroxide.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The field of the present invention is means for generating hot gas.
Since at least as early as World War II when the German V-2 rocket
employed hydrogen peroxide in combination with permanganate as catalyst
to run a turbine, the concept of rapidly converting hydrogen peroxide
to water and oxygen for use as a source of hot gases has been known
and used. More recently, a land speed record vehicle employed a permeable
mass of catalyst in the form of silver screens through which hydrogen
peroxide was forced. The steam and oxygen created by this process was
then used as a pure rocket to drive the vehicle to several hundred miles
an hour. However, difficulties exist with the use of hydrogen peroxide
because of its rather unstable nature when found in substantial concentration.
Consequently, this substance has found little utility in more mundane
uses for creating such a high temperature, pressurized gas.
The resulting products from the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide
are water and oxygen. These products are advantageously harmless to
both the environment and humans. Thus, use of such a source in confined
or controlled areas does not present a problem from the standpoint of
the generated exhaust.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a hot gas source and the fuel
therefor using hydrogen peroxide in combination with other substances
presented in a safe form to realize maximum power benefits
from the hydrogen peroxide. The concept of passing hydrogen peroxide
through a catalyst to rapidly decompose the substance to water and oxygen
has been combined with the introduction of a burnable substance. This
substance may be one of a very large variety of substances which can
be oxidized in the environment of the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.
Among the possible substances which may be combined with the hydrogen
peroxide are alcohol, sugar, coal dust, gasoline and other common fuels.
To stabilize the hydrogen peroxide, it has been found that a substantial
amount of water may be added to the hydrogen peroxide. This additional
water is converted to steam in the process.
The introduction of the hydrogen peroxide and burnable substance makes
use of the free oxygen which is a product of the decomposition of hydrogen
peroxide. In fact, it is believed that the oxygen is atomic rather than
molecular, as it first separates from the hydrogen peroxide. Thus, the
oxygen is even more susceptible to combining with the burnable substance.
If a proper mixture is used, such that a near stoichiometric ratio is
combusted, the resulting combusted gases include steam, carbon dioxide,
and oxygen. Consequently, the system is very clean burning in that carbon
monoxide and free hydrocarbons can be virtually eliminated.
Furthermore, as air is not employed in this system, no NOx
would normally be formed.
Thus, a high energy, practical and polution-free hot gas source
is created by the present invention. Accordingly, it is an
object of the present invention to provide an improved source of hot
gases including both a device and the fuel used therewith.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION...
The fuel contemplated for this device is, as stated above, a
stable hydrogen peroxide in combination with a burnable substance.
The burnable substance is preferably in a concentration near but below
the stoichiometric ratio. By providing combustible material below
the stoichiometric ratio, full combustion of that material is insured,
with a portion of the oxygen remaining uncombined. As a result, with
the exception of impurities in the fuel mixture, hydrogen peroxide
and a hydrocarbon or carbohydrate will create water and carbon dioxide
with oxygen left over. At or above the stoichiometric ratio, not all
of the burnable substance will be properly oxidized to these simple
and harmless substances. The amount below the stoichiometric ratio
needed to insure clean burning depends to a substantial extent on
the mixture and particularly the burnable substance used. Empirical
observation is best used to determine the exact ratio most advantageous
to each mixture.
The decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide by itself does not
create the temperatures contemplated by the present invention. A 50%
aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide passed through the manganese
dioxide catalyst will raise the temperature of the device to approximately
395.degree. F. However, with the addition of the burnable substance
such as listed above, the operating temperature of the device is in
the range of 1000.degree. to 2000.degree. F, depending in part on
the fuel employed, its concentration, the nozzles employed and the
rate of feed. As a result, the combustible material adds significantly
to the coloric output of the system. Additionally, in order to achieve
full combustion in such contemplated burnable substances as alcohols
and sugar, for example, it is necessary to raise the temperature of
the device to something above 800.degree. F. For this reason, it is
advantageous to simply provide a glow plug to initiate localized combustion.
The optimum combination found to date limited by maximum thermal
output and mixture stability is 40% hydrogen peroxide, 40% water and
around 20% burnable substance approaching the stoichiometric ratio
of the material selected. In the case of sugar, 20% sugar by weight
has been found highly satisfactory with 40% hydrogen peroxide and
40% water. This may generally be prepared, either before reaching
the combustion chamber or at the combustion chamber, by mixing an
aqueous solution of 50% hydrogen peroxide with sugar to arrive at
the foregoing percentages by weight. If a higher percentage of hydrogen
peroxide in the fuel mixture above about 42% is employed, (55% aqueous
solution with burnable substance added) an insufficient margin of
safety exists. Aqueous hydrogen peroxide in percentages of 63 1/2%
or greater are generally unstable. At lesser percentages of hydrogen
peroxide, the thermal advantages are reduced. The minimum necessary
to support burning under ideal conditions has been found to be 19.7%
hydrogen peroxide, 7% sugar and the rest water, by weight.
The utility of the method and apparatus defined here is substantial
and varied. As with the aforementioned land speed record vehicle,
the device may be used as a simple propulsion rocket. The device may
also be used to drive turbines, to fill voids with hot steam, to provide
a source of steam, or to provide a source of heat. Thus, the present
apparatus and method have wide utility and allow the clean burning
of a very wide range of materials.
While embodiments and applications of this application have been
shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the
art that many more modifications are possible without departing from
the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not to
be restricted except by the spirit of the appended claims.
U.S. Patent# 4,698,965
Nick Delchev
— Inventor
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Nick Delchev standing next to his prototype H202
turbine engine that he built to demonstrate his invention in a modified Volkswagen.
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As the Sugar web page shows,
every community in America has plenty of waste biomass that can be converted
to sugar. And, as the patents on this page reveal, renewable electricity
or off-peak electricity from nuclear energy can provide a non-carbon energy
source to make fossil-free hydrogen peroxide.
The mixture of sugar and hydrogen peroxide produces a
renewable liquid fuel that can be stored for long periods - weeks,
months, years - and used when needed to power automobiles or to heat homes,
factories and office buildings, or to power steam turbines for producing
electricity during peak-time demand. The H2O2+sugar "Steam on demand"
can be used as backup power to insure a level output from renewable energy
sources such as wind energy, thus enabling wind and other intermittent
energy sources to offer a guaranteed steady electrical supply for the
grid 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Much attention has been given to ethanol, and less has been given to
sugar as a combustible fuel additive. The extraction of the sugar molecules
from biomass is much less expensive than the fermentation of the extracted
sugar into ethanol. This is because the fermentation process requires
one or two days, tying up the production line. In contrast, the sugar
extraction process requires only a couple of hours. If a sugar extraction
facility is dedicated to only producing sugar from the cellulose and hemicellulose
portions of biomass, freed from the fermentation to ethanol process, the
facility could produce far more sugar and provide a higher return on investment...
If there was a market for the low-cost sugar.
For 20 years, Nick Delchev has dreamed about and worked toward the development
of a car that will run on Hydrogen Peroxide and sugar. Nick Delchev has
built and demonstrated a steam engine powered by his fuel mixture and
invention. The fuel is about 40% H2O2 by volume (after the sugar and pure
water have been added). A 40% H2O2 solution will burn the skin upon
contact, but if people are careful, it is not dangerous—the
40% solution is stable (though you would still need to be careful, just
as you would be with gasoline).
Three gallons of the Delchev fuel equals about the same BTU's as one
gallon of ethanol. At 65 cents per gallon, three gallons of the Delchev
fuel would be competitive with the cost of one gallon of ethanol (providing
about the same thermal combustion energy). But... Nick's invention combined
with a steam turbine engine would produce more power from two gallons
of his H2O2+sugar fuel than one gallon of ethanol would produce in a normal
piston engine. So, two gallons of the Delchev fuel could produce the work/mileage
of one gallon of ethanol, in a car designed to run on the Delchev fuel.
Are people willing to double the size of their fuel tanks, if doing so
would free America from dependence on oil?
In addition, the Delchev fuel burns cleaner than ethanol. Virtually all
carbon monoxide and NOx would be eliminated, making the Delchev fuel as
clean as hydrogen, because the CO2 would be recycled
from the atmosphere when new biomass is grown to supply the sugar
extraction facility.
The Delchev fuel (the H2O2 + sugar mixture) provides an opportunity to
merge biomass energy with wind, solar and hydro energy by making the H2O2
from the renewable electricity. And in so doing, the Delchev fuel acts
as storage for the wind, solar and hydro electricity.
The Delchev fuel can completely replace home heating oil. No need for
boilers - steam is the product of H2O2 decomposition. The H2O2+sugar fuel
can produce steam that will also power a turbine for electricity and provide
heat from the steam as well.
The Delchev fuel can also power a modified diesel engine (converting
the diesel engine into a steam engine), for example, replacing the huge
diesel motors that drive the pumps that push our water through large aqueducts
up and over mountains and hills.
The Amendola patent, described below, may offer a possible replacement
for diesel engines, eliminating the need for diesel fuel used by commercial
trucking.
Amendola Patent# 6,250,078
Engine cycle and fuels for same
An engine cycle that is carried out in a reciprocating piston/cylinder
engine consists of a working stroke in which exothermic decomposition
of at least one liquid compound is caused to occur without combustion
so as to produce a gaseous product of the decomposition that drives the
piston along the cylinder in one direction and an exhaust stroke in which
the products of the decomposition are exhausted from the cylinder upon
return movement of the piston.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a high power, high
efficiency engine cycle that is carried out in a reciprocating-piston
engine. Another object is to provide an engine cycle that operates with
no pollution or very low pollution by virtue of the nature of the "fuels"
used. By utilizing a different set of fuels in combination with an engine
constructed to utilize the power cycle of the present invention, many
problems common to today's fossil fuel, air-aspirated, piston engines,
are eliminated. The engine cycle of the present invention has been named
the "Amendola cycle," and an engine operating with the Amendola
cycle is sometimes referred to hereinafter as the "ACE."
... Another advantage of the engine cycle of the present invention
is that the expansion ratio can be made quite high if desired for high
efficiency engines. In existing engines the expansion ratio is the same
as, and therefore limited by, the compression ratio, which in turn,
is limited by the quality of the fuel used. This fuel quality is expressed
as an "octane number" for spark ignition engines and a "cetane
number" for compression ignition engines. Most spark ignition engines
rarely exceed compression ratios of 12:1 with between 8:1 to 10:1 being
the most common. With compression ignition 20:1 ratios are possible
with 14:1 to 18:1 being the most common. However, the more efficient
compression ignition engines are only efficient at rather steady conditions
and respond poorly to load changes. This lowers the desirability of
using diesels in transportation since they emit large amounts of pollutants
while the load conditions are changing.
With the ACE, since there is no compression stroke, there is no preignition
of the fuel (the key limiting factor of compression ratio) and the expansion
ratio can be made as high as desired. The only limitation is the mechanical
ability to make a large expansion ratio. In practice the ideal efficiency
for a 10:1 system according to equation (1) would give work of, RT(2.3).
A 100:1 system would give RT(4.6). So a ten-fold increase in compression
ratio doubles the extracted work. However, even just going to 30:1 gives
RT(3.4), a 50% increase in work output.
The Amendola patent is describing a piston steam engine
powered by H2O2.
If it is true that a steam engine does not need a compression cycle,
therefore allowing the expansion ratio to be increased significantly,
then, I ask, have existing steam engines been designed to take advantage
of the higher expansion ratio described in the Amendola patent?
Because the steam engine has existed for more than a century, why do
we need a new patent? It seems to me that by combining the Delchev Patent
(described previously) with a known steam engine design, you would have
all the benefits described by the Amendola patent. Am I missing something?
Information Links:
Introduction
to Hydrogen Peroxide
The History of Hydrogen Peroxide Propulsion
When was
H2O2 discovered and how is it produced?
Nanostructures
for Energy and Chemicals Production
Patent# 6,807,805 Hypergolic fuel system - October 26, 2004
Patent# 6,712,949 Electrochemical synthesis of hydrogen peroxide
Novel
high performance steam engines - a better solution than Fuel Cell and
ICE?
Patent# 6,592,840 Highly pure aqueous hydrogen peroxide solutions, method
for producing same and their use
Patent# 5,645,700 Polymer membrane based electrolytic cell and process
for the direct generation of hydrogen peroxide in liquid streams
Hydrogen Peroxide web sites:
www.PeroxidePropulsion.com
Experimental Rocket Propulsion
Society
Recommended reading:
Our Energy Challenge
by Nobel Laureate Dr. Richard E. Smalley
Zero Interest Financing —Investment Capital for American Energy Independence
Projects
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