"*" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 8 Apr 2004 09:44:28 +0000 (UTC), "Mike Dworetsky"
wrote:



"*" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 06:53:50 +0000 (UTC), "Mike Dworetsky"
wrote:



"*" wrote in message
.. .
Editorial comment: If you will notice the applications of this
technology
are for rockets, space travel and military. NO WHERE does it
mention
that
this technology is applicable to home use and would give everyone a
free
source of energy.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1101075201.htm

Hydrogen Peroxide Could Be Key To Future Power Sources
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Scientists and engineers from around the
world
will
meet in November at Purdue University to discuss hydrogen peroxide's
role
in
developing a new class of environmentally friendly rocket
propellants
and
highly efficient fuel cells for generating electricity.


"These are nontoxic, renewable energy sources," said Stephen
Heister,
Purdue
professor of aeronautics and astronautics who helped organize the
Second
International Hydrogen Peroxide Propulsion Conference, sponsored by
the
School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nov. 7-10.

"Anybody interested in peroxide for power applications will be
here,"
said
another conference organizer, John Rusek, an assistant professor of
aeronautics and astronautics who specializes in propulsion and power
research.

Rusek is trying to develop a high-efficiency fuel cell that
generates
electricity from hydrogen peroxide and aluminum. Such a device could
one
day
replace conventional batteries and would have many applications,
including
use by military field personnel who lug around heavy portable
electronic
equipment. He will discuss that work during the conference, which is
expected to draw an international attendance of about 150
researchers,
with
29 of them delivering scientific papers. Presentations will be made
by
officials from the U.S. Navy and Air Force, Joint Services, and the
National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as researchers from
private
industry.

Hydrogen peroxide differs from water only in that it contains two
oxygen
atoms. It might be used to replace conventional oxidizers, such as
liquid
oxygen, nitrogen tetroxide and ammonium perchlorate, which are
needed
to
burn rocket fuels.

"Nitrogen tetroxide is one of the oxidizers that we are essentially
trying
to replace," Heister said. "That's a poisonous gas. If we had some
in
the
room right now, we'd be dying or dead."

Unlike the drugstore version of hydrogen peroxide, which is about 97
percent
water, the rocket-propulsion variety has just the opposite
concentration --
3 percent water and 97 percent hydrogen peroxide -- and it has had
critical
contaminants removed, Heister said.

This purified, concentrated form of H2O2 is broken down with
chemical
catalysts, yielding oxygen that combusts with alcohol-based fuels,
such
as
methanol or ethanol, which can be derived from corn. Such a
propulsion
system would provide an inexpensive alternative to today's
nonrenewable
hydrocarbon fuels that are processed from crude oil, Heister said.

Breaking down peroxide not only would provide oxygen for combustion
but
also
would produce steam, an important byproduct that could be used to
run a
turbine to generate electricity, Heister said.

Hydrogen peroxide has a history in aviation; for example, it was
used
in
the
German V-2 rocket and the experimental X-15 rocket plane.

"It kind of went by the wayside because, at the time, we were
seeking
the
very highest-energy propellants," Heister said. However, new
technologies
are promising to revive its potential.

Beal Aerospace Technologies Inc. in Texas is planning to develop a
complete,
three-stage launch vehicle that uses hydrogen peroxide as an
oxidizer.
Its
first-stage engine would be the largest rocket engine ever built,
producing
more than three million pounds of thrust. Meanwhile, NASA and the
Air
Force
are working to develop lower-cost rocket engines using hydrogen
peroxide
as
an oxidizer.

###

Related Web sites:

Hydrogen Peroxide Propulsion Conference:
http://aae.www.ecn.purdue.edu/AAE/co...nperoxide.html

Beal Aerospace Technologies Inc.: http://www.bealaerospace.com

John Rusek:
http://aae.www.ecn.purdue.edu/AAE/Fa.../Faculty/rusek

Stephen Heister: http://Roger.ecn.purdue.edu/~heister


They are making it sound innocuous. I can recall reading that the
Germans
used hydrogen peroxide in experimental rocket fighters during the
closing
stage of WW2, and discovered that any accident in which H2O2 was
released
had the unfortunate tendency to dissolve the pilot.

It needs proper handling, boys and girls. Not "water with merely
another
oxygen".

Building rockets is a futile attempt at space travel. All they're
going
to
do is blow people up.

It's only safe and practical application is in a fuel cell to generate
electricity for home use. But leave it to the defense contractors to
try
to
capitalize on science for profit.


I'm wondering what wonderful method you would propose for getting into
space
without rockets?

My point is that it has potential serious dangers for fuel cell use
also--at
least as dangerous as gasoline/petrol, which should not be stored in a
home.

Riiiiiight. Batteries (fuel cells) aren't safe, right?


Ordinary batteries are perfectly safe (unless you toss them in a fire). But
when fuel cells include tanks of dangerous chemicals they are not
completely safe.

But such arguments about safety aside, such energy would not be free. Why
do you think that it would be? H2O2 cannot be manufactured and handled
without some cost and hazard involved.

After all, if it were cheaper and safer to make our own electricity with
home generators, we would all be doing it. The reason we don't is the cost
and inconvenience (including the hazard of having to store fuel, and the
problems of air pollution). Fuel cells might be better, but the actual
capital and running cost per household would probably make it impractical.

--
Mike Dworetsky

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