ChasCS
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Pee-powered fuel cells could be the future for hydrogen cars
Urine could be the next cheap catalyst idea that would allow fuel cell vehicles to become significantly cheaper.
According to new research by Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, carbon atoms recovered from human urine could replace the use of expensive metals like platinum, as a catalyst for the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen.
The scientists say they can use urine to extract carbon atoms such as nitrogen, sulphur, silicon and phosphorus, which would allow them to create metal-free catalysts.
In trials, the researchers heated samples of urine to evaporate the urine, leaving a small dried yellow deposit. Then they heated the deposit between 700 and 1,000 degrees Celsius for six hours to carbonise the urine and extract the useful deposits.
With billions of litres of urine produced every day by the planets 7 billion people, it would be a cheap and plentiful resource and a great way of turning a waste product into something useful.
Using urine in this way will also help reduce the pollutants in it from reaching water bodies and would also present an opportunity to remove traces of any drugs which haven’t been fully metabolised by the human body.
The results of the study are published in the journal Nature.
http://www.nature.com
Chas
Urine could be the next cheap catalyst idea that would allow fuel cell vehicles to become significantly cheaper.
According to new research by Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, carbon atoms recovered from human urine could replace the use of expensive metals like platinum, as a catalyst for the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen.
The scientists say they can use urine to extract carbon atoms such as nitrogen, sulphur, silicon and phosphorus, which would allow them to create metal-free catalysts.
In trials, the researchers heated samples of urine to evaporate the urine, leaving a small dried yellow deposit. Then they heated the deposit between 700 and 1,000 degrees Celsius for six hours to carbonise the urine and extract the useful deposits.
With billions of litres of urine produced every day by the planets 7 billion people, it would be a cheap and plentiful resource and a great way of turning a waste product into something useful.
Using urine in this way will also help reduce the pollutants in it from reaching water bodies and would also present an opportunity to remove traces of any drugs which haven’t been fully metabolised by the human body.
The results of the study are published in the journal Nature.
http://www.nature.com
Chas
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