Video: the world's first sulfur powered vehicle
Turtle Island Energy claims to have made "the world's first sulfur powered vehicle." According to the video above, the vehicle was built for $2,000 with "readily available parts." The sulfur is used to produce hydrogen which fuels the internal combustion engine of the pickup truck. The sulfur "fuel cell" is made up of molten sulfur, powdered graphite with a copper and aluminum strip electrode in vats. The hydrogen created from the oxidizing sulfur is piped to a storage container and then to the motor. Why is Sulfur Island Energy doing this? According to the website "The era of plentiful, low-cost petroleum is approaching an end. The goodnews is that commercially viable mitigation options are ready for implementation." Sulfur is an alternative fuel?
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 5:40PM (2/06/2008)
I'm a little unclear as to what the waste by-products are here. Sodium, aluminium, carbon, sulfur and water can produce any number of different compounds. My guess is you end up with toxic waste along with your oh-so-green hydrogen.
Besides, if you need to load up your truck bed with an active chemical plant just to get moving, perhaps you've missed the point about that whole "personal mobility" thing.
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Architeuthis 5:57PM (2/06/2008)
"I'm a little unclear as to what the waste by-products are here."
Sulfuric acid is the primary one. This does not strike me as one of the less lame ideas out there.
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BlackbirdHighway 6:08PM (2/06/2008)
But at least sulfur has that great "rotten eggs" smell. So having that go everywhere you drive would be a big plus.
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stevefazek 6:32PM (2/06/2008)
this is such crap. Sodium hydroxide AKA Commercial Bleach and DRAINO. Not exactly nice chemicals i would want to be driving around cause its a serious hazzmat when you crash.
This reaction consumes aluminum at a rapid rate. I remember when i was a teenager i would make draino bombs. You mix draino with tin foil and put in a soda bottle it would make a ton of hydrogen gas and heat. hot enough to melt the bottle and if you left it near a camp fire it would make a small fireball.
Remember the aluminum it would consume and the sodium hydroxide would never be environmentally friendly. Lets not forget all the sulfite's this reaction emits can you say acid rain?
I will say this now Cellulose based ethanol and algae based biodisel are the future out green mobile energy.
I can see in the next few years a emerging market of leasing batteries for EVs. Rabid charging stations are coming there is no single solution be we need to seriously rethink out energy infrastructure in the next 10 years unless we want a new dark age.
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Karkus 6:35PM (2/06/2008)
In addition to the great smell and safe byproducts, you forgot to mention that sulfur chunks are just laying around in great quantities all over the place, so anyone can just pick them up and fuel their car for free !
These guys should get a Nobel Prize or something for saving the world!
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Mort 6:56PM (2/06/2008)
Egad.
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Dad 7:18PM (2/06/2008)
"Sulfur is an alternative fuel?"
very cool.
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brn 8:58PM (2/06/2008)
I enjoyed the video and considered it educational (I'm far from a greenie, but I try to be realistic). After watching the video, I had quite a few questions and concerns. Your posts helped. I don't visit autbloggreen all that often. Mostly because there are very few comments, so it's difficult to get the real story. For this blog entry, it was different. Thank you.
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Derek 7:19AM (2/07/2008)
Wow, (at least) two gaping big holes in that video!
First at 1:30. "here we have about 1/4 amp". No, you have about 1/4 Volt as the meter is clearly in voltage mode. Duh. 1/4 volt is about enough to power... uh...
Second at 3:15. Wow, you've got a little tube supplying hydrogen going into the intake snorkel. How about convincing me that the gasoline supply is cut off? While any gas engine can be converted to run on hydrogen, just holding an unregulated supply of hydrogen over the air intake does not do anything to control the air/fuel mixture like a spark ignition engine needs.
I love how the guy is wearing rubber gloves throughout the video too...
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dean 3:13PM (2/07/2008)
Yeah, I'm also concerned about the byproducts. Neat home-made battery idea, but too dirty. I think that hydrolysis is better (can be done with renewable energy, new methods of electrolysis that require much less electricity are being discovered/developed).
I also agree that we should have a free, diverse fueling method. Relying on one fuel is dangerous. Cellulose ethanol, algae biodiesel, and electric cars with tons of trickle charge sites and fast charge sites are the way to go, with hydrogen eventually phasing out the other liquid fuels.
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stevefazek 8:12PM (2/07/2008)
Hey Derek your right it reminds me of mythbusters. Since hydrogen is pure fuel with no byproducts it takes a Crap load of it to burn with out melting the engine. BMW spent millions of dollars on their h2 cars. The flow of h2 needed to make this car run would be several cubic feet per min. I mean come on i love how all these nut jobs have claimed to bypass the laws of thermodynamics
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Alex 7:51PM (4/16/2008)
First, "blackbirdhighway" there is no rotten egg smell because this is done in solution. Second, why don't you try it "derek" and "stevefazek" Anyone can do this and I have. It's not pure Hydrogen, but has Methane as well. And yes, it will run a car.
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