Company:

OM Energy Ltd

Project:

Electro Hydrogen Generator

Year:

2008

Status:

Regional Finalist

The Electro Hydrogen Generator (EHG) was first conceived in the mid '90s by a group of scientists in Moscow universities and today OM Energy Ltd is working to turn this great idea into reality. The EHG uses a patented advanced technology to convert water to hydrogen based on the age-old electrolysis principle. In cars and trucks running today on petrol or diesel, about 40% of the energy put into the engine as fuel is wasted through the exhaust. The EHG uses both the heat and gas energy from the exhaust in the same way as a turbocharger, to drive it.Once running, hydrogen is produced from water stored in a tank in the boot and fed back into the engine.

As hydrogen is a fuel, the amount of petrol or diesel required to run the vehicle can be reduced. If the engine works harder then more waste energy is lost down the exhaust and this provides more energy to drive the device and more hydrogen is produced. Not only does the EHG save fuel but, because hydrogen is clean burning, most of the exhaust emissions are also reduced.

This system is preferable to using a tank of hydrogen in the boot because all the hydrogen is manufactured for free and as such it leaves no carbon footprint (producing hydrogen elsewhere uses a considerable amount of energy). Moreover, the hydrogen is only produced as it is required, so there is no need for a heavy storage tank with the potential risk of fire and explosion. It is also a lot easier to find a filling station to top up with water than hydrogen. The EHG could be used in ships, railway engines and industrial generators as well as cars and trucks,with a potential saving of 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon (at a conservative estimate). Considering the projected growth in the demand for greener vehicle technology, this could be a crucial stepping-stone on the way to tackling climate change.