urine powered electricity generator at maker faire africa

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Nov 09, 2012

first image

'urine powered electricity generator' at maker faire africa
images courtesy of maker faire africa

making its debut at maker faire africa 2012 in lagos, nigeria, a group of teenage girls have developed a urine-powered electricity generator.
the system works by separating the hydrogen from the 'yellow stuff' with an electrolytic cell. a gas cylinder then pushes the hydrogen into a liquid
borax container, removing the moisture from the substance, resulting in a purified version of the gas that can be used for fueling the machine.
conceived using one-way valves as a security measure, the energy source provides six hours of electricity for every liter, which isn't too bad
considering how often humans go to the washroom.

extracting the hydrogen from the urine

view of the set up and its components

via

rodrigo db

11.09.12

Why am i 100% sure this is a scam?
is it the 2 fuel tank CLEARLY visible? … maybe not, maybe they are financed by the notorious prince form the area the has way too much money.

Alex says:

Nov 09, 2012

Reply
Umm…why not just use water?

Sam says:

Nov 10, 2012

Reply
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/news/2009/july/02070902.asp for alex

chris says:

Nov 10, 2012

Reply
Thanks so much, Chris…would that the rest of the commenters on this site contribute according to your example.

Chaszr says:

Nov 11, 2012

Reply
When do people learn that hydrogen is not an energy source, but just a way to store energy? In the situation above is electricity required to make fuel for the generator (hydrogen), which generates electricity again…

Simon says:

Nov 11, 2012

Reply
it isn’t a scam although I am surprised at the output, the key component is the electrolytic cell, it requires electricity but far less than extracting hydrogen from water [which would use all the energy and some more from the generator]. So the input is electricity [how much, I don't know] makes the hydrogen which fuels the generator. Scientists are working on a fuel cell where urine [urea] combines across a membrane with oxygen to produce electricity without combustion.

jules says:

Nov 14, 2012

Reply
Thanks for the article chris, but even with the improved efficiency of extracting hydrogen from urea, you are still producing hydrogen at a loss. It require more electric energy than the hydrogen energy you can get out.
using the electricity to charge a battery is still more efficient than this. so it’s not even a good way to store energy.

So unless the fuel cell shown as a COE of more than 1, it is not useful. The internet is full of stuff like that.
Also, fuel tank

Alex says:

Nov 15, 2012

Reply
if it is worth why cant be used for substitution for petrol

radhakrishna bhat says:

Feb 08, 2013

Reply

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