Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Water-powered Sub...

["Jacob Lauser" <sirius@riverstyx.com>]

John,

There isn't much to it. You run water into the photoelectrolysis chamber,
zap it with ultraviolet light, breaking it into hydrogen and oxygen, and
then bleed off the two gasses for use in the PEM fuel cell. Because of the
formula H2O, you will get twice the amount of hydrogen as oxygen from the
reaction. Then you pass the hydrogen through the PEM and utilize it to
generate electricity. At the output of the PEM, you input the oxygen which
will recombine into water, which can then be recycled through the
photoelectrolysis chamber again and again. The unfortunate problem is the
the current state of PEM technology is such that you would onlt get about
4months of use from the PEM fuel cell before a replacement was needed. As I
said, it would take about 5 years for the technology to be reliable enough.
Plus, the Japanese aren't exactly spreading their secret formula for
photoelectrolysis around. It's all about capitalism you know! So, my
suggestion woul be that the entire project might be too much for one man.
You might want to narrow it down to a certain concentration. For instance,
if you could get the fuel/power system working as your project, you would
have quite an accomplishment in itself. Hope this helps, and here's a link
on PEM fuel cells: http://www.h2fc.com/tech.html

I would watch 3M and Ballard Power Systems to be the leaders in the next few
years...

- Jacob Lauser