Internal Combustion Engine gas mileage improvement using Hydrogen

A few years ago I successfully increased the effective miles per gallon performance of my old 1998 Subaru Outback. My car would normally get about 25 miles per gallon on a long highway trip. With the addition of hydrogen into the intake, it achieved over 32 miles per gallon. I used a crude, poorly controlled method to add the hydrogen gas to the intake. With a more accurate hydrogen control system, I am sure that the mileage could be improved further. Since hydrogen burns faster than gasoline, it may also require a different spark timing for the engine. The method I use generates hydrogen at a slow rate. This is safer than having to carry a potentially dangerous hydrogen tank. Now, you have to ask, where did I get the hydrogen. I made it using commonly available materials. In this post, I will describe how to do it.

WARNING! Hydrogen is a small molecule, and escapes easily. Replicating my experiment may be dangerous. Do so at your own risk.

The basic method for generating hydrogen is to oxidize aluminum metal using sodium hydroxide and water. This reaction is effective because it only produces hydrogen. If you search online, you will find other people using electrolysis of water to generate hydrogen. One mistake I see people make is that they feed both the oxygen and the hydrogen into their car's intake. Besides being more explosive, it will not increase the fuel economy of the car. If you only add hydrogen to the intake, most modern fuel injected cars will lean the mixture, because the hydrogen will consume some of the oxygen and thus the oxygen sensor will tell the car's injectors to lean the mixture. Essentially, the hydrogen is part of the injected fuel now. One possible concern is that the lean mixture will cause the car's valves to get hotter. This is because the gasoline is actually cooling off the valve when being injected over the valve. Another concern is that it may increase engine knocking due to increased rate of burn.

For my experiments, I used a 2 gallon plastic kitty litter container with a 2 inch screw on plastic lid. I put about a gallon of water in it. Added several tablespoons of lye (sodium hydroxide) and allowed it to dissolve. I added a 3/8" pipe adapter to the lid. I used a long 3/8" clear pipe that went from the car's intake area through the firewall and placed the container in front of the passenger's seat. It would be wiser to place the generator in the engine cavity for safety. The aluminum I harvested from soda cans. I cut the top and bottom off the can, then cut down the side to make a rectangular aluminum sheet. I lightly sand the sheets, then pass the sheet through a rugged paper shredder. Then I wrap the shredded aluminum with aluminum foil into a burrito sized tube that would fit in the container hole.

To operate the hydrogen generator, just drop the burrito into the container and it will start making hydrogen. It is a little slow initially, but after awhile it speeds up as the water temperature increases. The intake vacuum will continue to draw in hydrogen from the generator. If you stop the car it is wise to vent the generators output outside the car using another pipe. I did have one instance where I forgot to do this. I went on a short trip and stopped at a store, when I came back and started the car, there was an explosion. Thankfully not much damage was done. The air filter and holder blew out of its latches. I simply reinstalled it and all was well. In any case, it is wise to be careful with hydrogen and the container that generates it. If there is oxygen in the generator container you could have the explosion go all the way there. So, in a normal setup, it is wise to have the generator container in the engine area, not inside the car. Bubbling the hydrogen through a second container with water can help prevent any explosion reaching the generator. You have been warned! If you want to attempt this, DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

With use, the bottom of the generator will begin to collect a heavy white powder. Also, you will need to keep adding water, and sometimes lye, as the hydrogen is generated from the water. My guess is that the product is aluminum oxide or aluminum-sodium oxide of some sort. I assume this material could be recycled since it contains a lot of aluminum.

I envision that the future hybrid automobile design could be a Gasoline-Hydrogen Hybrid, not the present Gasoline-Electric Hybrid. One way this could be implemented is that a normal car has a Hydrogen Generator Pod accessory. The pod would contain the Aluminum, sodium hydroxide, and water with a control system. The car's computer would then control how much hydrogen is generated. Once the pod has oxidized all the aluminum, it would be returned to the "Gas" station for exchange. The pods can be reused, and recharged using electricity at a processing plant. In the future, it may be possible to actually recharge the pod in the car by plugging in the car just like and electric vehicle today.