Can this man save the world?

[mustang84]

This sounds pretty incredible...let's hope this guy can make it work!

Montreal Gazette

From the article:

Smaller than a DVD player - small enough to sit comfortably under the hood of any truck or car - it could be big enough to solve the world's greenhouse gas emission problems, at least for the near future. In fact, it could make the Kyoto protocol obsolete. Basically, the H2N-Gen contains a small reservoir of distilled water and other chemicals such as potassium hydroxide. A current is run from the car battery through the liquid. This process of electrolysis creates hydrogen and oxygen gases which are then fed into the engine's intake manifold where they mix with the gasoline vapours.

Williams claims he has achieved this with his H2N-Gen. His product, he said, produces a more complete burn, greatly increasing efficiency and reducing fuel consumption by 10 to 40 per cent - and pollutants by up to 100 per cent.

Most internal combustion engines operate at about 35 per cent efficiency. This means that only 35 per cent of the fuel is fully burned. The rest either turns to carbon corroding the engine or goes out the exhaust pipe as greenhouse gases.

The H2N-Gen increases burn efficiency to at least 97 per cent, Williams said. This saves fuel and greatly reduces emissions.

It also means less engine maintenance and oil changes. The only thing the vehicle owner has to do is refill the unit with distilled water once every 80 hours of engine use.

[Drew Dowdell]

According to the little computer in my car, I average about 23mph when I'm doing my normal routine. That means after 80 hours I will have traveled about 1800 miles. If he can increase the tank to the point there I can get 3000 miles out of it, it simply becomes an oil change item.

[agman25]

I read through the whole article and still can`t figure out how it works. Does this thing add hydrogen as an additive to gas. I did not know that could lead to fuel savings. If so it should not be a difficult thing to do in any car.

[Drew Dowdell]

Yes, it adds hydrogen into the combustion process allowing for a much more complete burn of the fuel.

[thegriffon]

35% efficiency has very little to do with how much fuel is burnt, and a lot to do with friction, pumping and heat losses etc., as well as the inherent inefficiencies of the otto cycle in even "ideal" conditions. A modern engine already burns practically all the fuel, as well as a most ingested smog and other gases in the atmosphere. Improvements in combustion for improved power and emissions are relatively minor (going from 99.9% fuel burn to 99.99% is a tenfold reduction in unburnt fuel, but less than a 0.1% improvement in efficiency). Major efforts to increase efficiency center on lean mixtures and high compression ratios to extract more power from the combustion process.

[cmattson]

On that note, I could've swore that I read somewhere that GM was working on a compression-ignition system (think diesel) for their gasoline engines. I wonder how far along they are on that techology..