[Keelynet] Backyard hydrogen project

[Phillip Mark]

Hello.  I've been studying how easy or difficult it would be to produce 
supplemental automobile fuel through the use of water electrolysis and gas 
production for my car.  Seems fairly straight forward.  I plan to route the 
hydrogen/oxygen (Browns' Gas) into my air cleaner where it will mix with the 
gasoline/air mixture already in place.  (My car has an old-fashioned single 
barrel carburetor and no on-board computer.)  This contraption will be 
similar in construction to those being currently offered for sale on ebay.  
By combining the H & O with the gasoline in the intake manifold before 
combustion, I hope to reduce embrittlement caused by the hydrogen 
interacting with the steel in the piston chambers.  I also hope to decrease 
the gasoline required to run the engine while also producing electricity for 
electrolysis by way of the stock car generator.

Here's the game plan:  I'll build a 2 quart container out of PVC plastic 
pipe to house the Brown's gas generator.  I'll use concentric circles of 
metal mesh within the hydrogen generator to set up alternate terminals with 
maximum surface exposure for gas bubble production.  I'll allow the 
resulting Brown's Gas to collect and build up a small amount of pressure, 
enough to force its way through a fire arrestor and into the air cleaner 
housing to be used as fuel.

I'll put the 12 volt car electricity going into the gas generator on a 
circuit that can only be accessed while the car is running.  I'll also put a 
simple switch to over-ride the gas generator and turn it off if needed while 
the car is running.  My few experiments on the work bench shows that half a 
cup of battery acid mixed into the water within the gas generator allows for 
more electric flow which produces much more gas production than straight 
water.  Or baking soda mixed into the water increases current strength 
through the electrolysis machine as well.  I may run a heater coil from the 
car radiator through the gas generator to increase the water temperature 
within if experiments or quick internet research in water temp vs. gas 
production indicate increased production.

My fear is that my 15 amp. electric generator in the car won't offer enough 
electricity to make it all fly.  I've read on Keelynet that experiments in 
pulsed square wave forms of high voltage and low amperage seem to enhance 
decomposition of water.  Since I'm a dullard with electronics, I'll either 
have to have the control board made or try to suffer soldering the 
components myself.  However, hooking up a couple of 30 kv automotive spark 
coils and making them charge wire mesh electrodes underwater seems like fun. 
 A simple set of points and a condenser hooked up to a small bench motor 
should give me a steady supply of high voltage.  I wonder if it will work?  
Regardless, I'm about to build my first electrolysis chamber and will post 
results as they come in.



It seems to make sense that a repeated high voltage spike will rip the 
electron bonds of H2O in a different way than straight 12 volt voltage.