Eco Factor: Hydrogen for fuel can be extracted from water without any wastage.
Of all the sources of green energy, hydrogen seems the most promising as it burns with no harmful emissions at all. Research has been going on for decades to find the right raw material to generate hydrogen in the most cost-effective manner. Recently a research team from Ohio University concluded that clean hydrogen can be generated from urine as well. For all those who want hydrogen from a much cleaner source, a team of Italian researchers have found that hydrogen can be generated from water using nothing other than lasers.
The starting point for the technique is irradiating water with a laser, which excites the molecules in water and produces hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen atoms. The only downside is that the separation occurs for a few quadrillionths of a second before the atoms recombine into water. The Italian research team has found out a way to delay the separation, by irradiating water under high pressure conditions, which enables researchers to harvest hydrogen before it recombines into water molecules.
The researchers believe that after some more research, the process can be performed using sunlight and damp air as well. If these researchers are successful, the process can enable facilities to generate hydrogen from cleaner sources and without using any catalysts as well, which after the reaction are categorized as waste.
Via: EcoWorldly
