Running on Water: Real Time Production of Hydrogen and Oxygen Optimized to Power a Motor

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of this research was to demonstrate that real-time production of hydrogen & oxygen could safely and efficiently be generated using electrolysis, and to identify design factors to optimize production to power a motor. Methods/Materials A custom device was designed to allow for easy and repeatable adjustment of experimental inputs (voltage, electrolyte, water temperature, water flow rate) and measurement of the resulting hydrogen & oxygen production rate. In addition, the experimental setup was designed to safely produce and capture high rates of hydrogen & oxygen gas, and redirect that gas to a motor for real-time combustion. Results The results demonstrated a significant increase in production by increasing voltage, water temperature, electrolyte and in some cases flow rate. Both voltage and temperature drove a linear increase in production rate, when other variables were held constant. Increasing electrolyte concentration drove an exponential increase in production rate. Flowing water through the plates increased production rate when the electrolyte was near or above the saturation point, and had no impact at lower electrolyte levels. Conclusions/Discussion As we struggle to reduce carbon emissions, hydrogen offers a promising alternative to gasoline but poses concerns as hydrogen storage is considered unsafe. However, using real-time production of hydrogen and oxygen minimizes this concern. In this experiment, I leveraged this technique to safely power a small motor, using a water temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, non-reactive washing soda (10 mL NaCO3) as the electrolyte, and a 12 volt car battery to power the electrolysis. In addition, I created a novel innovation, running water through the system to clear gas bubbles from the plates so more reactions could occur, improving the production rate when near or above the saturation point of the electrolyte. Future research is needed to collect more data to validate and fully understand this effect.

Competition history

• CSEF 2015 Chemistry · Entry S0612

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Chemistry projects
• CSEF Chemistry projects
• Every CSEF 2015 project