Getting Electricity From Urine

Posted by John Farrier in Science & Tech on July 10, 2009 at 8:00 am


Don’t dispose of that liquid gold, there’s money to be made from the hydrogen in it. Hydrogen can be an abundant source of energy, but it’s hard to store inexpensively:

Gerardine Botte, an Ohio University professor, sees the liquid as a solution thanks to the particular composition of its major component, urea. Its make-up, a 2-to-1 ratio of hydrogen and nitrogen, is convenient because hydrogen can be extracted from nitrogen using much less electricity than that needed to, say, pull apart hydrogen and oxygen. (It’s a matter of 0.037 Volts versus 1.23 Volts, if you really need to know.)

Botte has recently come up with a nickel-based electrode that can do just that: dip the electrode into urine, apply electrical current, and voila, hydrogen is released. While the research is still in an initial phase, it’s possible that urine could power cars, homes, and various devices in as near of a future as six months from now.

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12 comments to "Getting Electricity From Urine"

  1. Skipweasel
    July 10th, 2009 at 10:08 am

    So, who's taking the p___?

  2. phoghat
    July 10th, 2009 at 10:13 am

    his was in the Riverworld series by Phillip Jose Farmer.
    They got hydrogen and the nitrogen was used to make gunpowder. To Your Scattered Bodies Go is one of my favorite books.

  3. CheeseDuck
    July 10th, 2009 at 11:26 am

    The next time I pee in my fuel tank, I can free assured that I am saving the environment.

  4. Scooter
    July 10th, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    gives a new meaning to Fill'r'up.

  5. A Noun
    July 10th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    ...and then water went up to $4 a gallon.

  6. Alex
    July 10th, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    ... and then they'll tax your urine, just like Emperor Nero did.

  7. sumdumguy
    July 10th, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    pee power :P

  8. strangepork
    July 10th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    If Bio-diesel smells like french fries, does that mean Pee powered cars will smell like a urinal?

  9. Christophe
    July 10th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

    from Wikipedia : how to produce potassium nitrate
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_nitrate

    Historically, niter-beds were prepared by mixing manure with either mortar or wood ashes, common earth and organic materials such as straw to give porosity to a compost pile typically 1.5 meters high by 2 meters wide by 5 meters long.[3] The heap was usually under a cover from the rain, kept moist with urine, turned often to accelerate the decomposition and leached with water after approximately one year. The liquid containing various nitrates was then converted with wood ashes to potassium nitrates, crystallized and refined for use in gunpowder.

    Urine has also been used in the manufacture of saltpetre for gunpowder. In this process, stale urine placed in a container of straw hay is allowed to sour for many months, after which water is used to wash the resulting chemical salts from the straw. The process is completed by filtering the liquid through wood ashes and air-drying in the sun.[3] Saltpetre crystals can then be collected and added to sulfur and charcoal to create black powder.[4] Potassium nitrate could also be harvested from accumulations of bat guano in caves. This was the traditional method used in Laos for the manufacture of gunpowder for Bang Fai rockets.

  10. Nick
    July 18th, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    pee power :)

  11. Pee-rific
    July 19th, 2009 at 10:10 am

    I am headed out to buy a funnel and a beer bong right now.

  12. Ravindra S Rao
    September 30th, 2009 at 11:29 am

    I tried passing electric current through urine and there was an explosion similar to what happens when current is passed through water. Along with hydrogen some oxygen is also liberated and the combination of the two causes the explosion. Gases produced need to be collected seperately to prevent the explosion.


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