Between terror attacks, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods or firestorms, it’s easy to imagine entire urban areas left without power or potable water for weeks or months. An amazing new technology may be the answer to both.
A scientist at Purdue University has developed an aluminum alloy that can be used to fuel a mobile operation providing water and power for areas without either. The technology converts non-potable water into drinking water, while at the same time extracting hydrogen to generate electricity.
Such a technology might be used to provide both power and drinking water to disaster areas, as well as for mobile military operations and remote off-the grid regions, said Jerry Woodall, a Purdue professor of electrical and computer engineering.
The alloy contains aluminum, gallium, indium and tin. Immersing it in foul water causes a spontaneous reaction, splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The hydrogen is then fed to a fuel cell to generate electricity, producing water in the form of steam as a byproduct, Woodall said.
“The steam kills any bacteria contained in the water, and when it condenses it’s purified,” he said.
Low-cost and non-hazardous, aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there are more than 12 billion tons of aluminum in reserves. That’s enough to produce over 25 trillion kW hours of electricity using the Purdue technology, or enough to power the United States for 50 years.
The aluminum hydroxide by-product is non-toxic and can be disposed of safely in landfills, or, if we start to run out of aluminum, it can be refined back into aluminum by commercial smelters.
(Gallium, indium and tin are expensive compared to aluminum, but because they aren’t consumed by the process, they can be mechanically recovered.)
There’s more. The technology also works in saltwater, so it might have marine applications, such as powering boat motors and robotic underwater vehicles. The technology also can be used to desalinate water cheaply.
The technology is so new it remains unnamed, though Woodall calls the water-splitting alloy Alumoline. A patent on the design is pending.
Woodall estimates that potable water could be produced for about $1 per gallon, and electricity could be generated for about $0.35 per kilowatt-hour.
“There’s no other technology to compare it against, economically, but it’s obvious that $.34 per kW hour is cheap compared to building a power plant and installing power lines, especially in remote areas,” he said.
“It works,” Woodall told Homeland1. “There is no downside.”
A unit including the alloy, a reactor and a fuel cell might weigh less than 100 pounds. Such a unit would contain around 20 kg (44 lbs.) of aluminum and would make 40 liters of water and about 70 kWh of electricity, depending on the fuel cell’s efficiency.
Woodall is waiting on funding to build a prototype. Besides the technology being fairly new, there’s a simple reason no venture capitalist has jumped on the idea.
“There is a large, profitable fossil fuel industry out there already,” Woodall said. “It will take a few years before the world realizes this technology is the way to go.”
Since the technology has obvious homeland security application, initial funding might come from the departments of Defense and/or Homeland Security, to equip strike forces and stock FEMA trailers, Woodall surmises.