In reply to Jones Beene's message of Tue, 6 Jan 2015 11:12:26 -0800: Hi, [snip] >Think about thermal decomposition of water with a newly discovered catalyst, >probably in one of these 5300 patents, plus an improved dog-bone reactor at >1300C. > >As of now, we know that water molecules split into hydrogen and oxygen at 2200 >°C at a usable rate of about three percent (this is usable since waste heat >is recycled at high efficiency) but with a breakthrough catalyst and low-cost >heat, giving something like 2% conversion at 1300 °C, plus good heat recovery, >then hydrogen becomes cheaper than battery-based electricity storage. The >amount of lithium in a Tesla battery pack could possibly power 1,000,000 >dogbones. > >We could be closer than anyone imagines to the hydrogen economy ... anyone >other than Toyota.
At 1300 °C a small steam turbine would extract a lot more energy from the heat than you would get from thermal decomposition of water. The mechanical energy from the turbine can be used directly to drive the wheels, saving on conversion losses. Better yet, if the nuclear reactions at the heart of LENR produce fast charged particles, then the potential exists for direct conversion to electricity with possible efficiencies exceeding 50%. An intermediate solution might be a form of beta-voltaic battery that is LENR powered, and where the power output can be controlled by controlling the rate at which the LENR reaction proceeds. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
