Desalination plants everywhere could be producing hydrogen gas from seawater if the right device were to be installed. This is the word from physicist Roberto De Luca from Italy’s University of Salerno.

De Luca has run laboratory tests where he has forced salt water (containing sodium and chlorine ions) through a thin rectangular pipe that has two metal electrodes on the sides. A traverse magnetic force was applied to the salt water producing an electromotive force.

At one of the electrodes oxygen and hydrogen gas are produced from the water. The electricity produced in this process could be used to partly power the desalination plants, which are typically powered by oil.

The hydrogen could be sold for use in cars, or it, too could be run through a fuel cell and used to partly power the plants. In time when sustainability is not only a buzzword taught in schools, but one being adopted as a fact of life, it is this kind of thinking that will provide a greener and more economically sound future for all.

Filed under: Hydrogen Fuel Production