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The Kneeslider

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Hydrogen engines

By Paul Crowe

Yesterday’s post about engines led to a comment by Doug Staab who wondered what a hydrogen engine would sound like. Well, it might sound a lot like the engines we already run. Some college students, way back in 1972, converted a Gremlin to run on hydrogen and the engine they used was a transplanted Boss 351 from Ford. The exhaust was water vapor and it actually was cleaner than the air going in. Sounds great, but …

Hydrogen is costly and difficult to produce. Steam reformation of natural gas is the current method used and that takes a lot of energy. There’s no hydrogen waiting to be drilled out of the ground. There’s been a lot of talk in the last couple of years about hydrogen power but we still need a breakthrough in technology before it makes economic sense, of course that could come at any time but it hasn’t yet. Converting our current engines means everyone wouldn’t need a totally new vehicle. Current engines can run on propane and natural gas with some modification, hydrogen might be in the same league.

Hydrogen sounds like it could do a lot and everyone from corn farmers who produce ethanol which is used to produce hydrogen to the folks who would like to reduce dependence on OPEC, (that includes most of us I suspect) are in favor of hydrogen as a fuel. Maybe one of those imaginative guys out in his garage can come up with the breakthrough we need. Then we can still use our hot rodding skills with future fuel and that’s a nice thought.

Posted on January 20, 2005 Filed Under: Alternative thinking, Engines, Science frontiers, Workshop & Tools


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