Not since Dr. Emmet Brown dropped garbage into the flux capacitor (Back to the Future) has raw material to fuel made such a fast transformation as what’s reported in this Reuters story on CNN.com.
It looks like researchers are trying make it possible to add aluminum and gallium to a fuel tank of water to produce hydrogen:
In the experiment conducted at Purdue University in Indiana, “The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you need when you need it,” said Jerry Woodall, an engineering professor at Purdue who invented the system.
Woodall said in a statement the hydrogen would not have to be stored or transported, taking care of two stumbling blocks to generating hydrogen.
For now, the Purdue scientists think the system could be used for smaller engines like lawn mowers and chain saws. But they think it would work for cars and trucks as well, either as a replacement for gasoline or as a means of powering hydrogen fuel cells.
Hydrogen fuel costs about the same as $3-a-gallon gasoline, but of course, it burns much cleaner with the exhaust being water. And you don’t even have to stretch a wire across main street and produce 1.21 jigawatts to get it going!