The Avimech Dragonfly DF1 weighs just 230 lbs and can carry a payload of up to 800 lbs. The Dragonfly is a tip-jet helicopter meaning the vehicle is powered from nozzles at the tip of the rotors. Hydrogen peroxide flows over a catalyst creating pressure and setting the rotors in motion.

Here is a video from 2009 about a test ride of the Dragonfly DF1. The company is calling the Dragonfly DF1 the first ever environmentally responsible aviation (ERA) helicopter since the only byproduct is a little steam.

In the past, I’ve talked many times about the merits of hydrogen peroxide or H2O2 as a potential future fuel for cars. It is already being used in race cars, race motorcycles, rocket ships, jetpacks and for some batteries.

Recently I’ve talked about the merits of water or H2O plus aluminum creating hydrogen for cars. In fact, many times over the past 4 years I’ve talked about this same subject. But, the last time I had talked about H2O2 plus aluminum creating hydrogen for vehicles was 2007.

Now, high purity hydrogen peroxide (90-percent plus) as opposed to low purity (10-percent) that you buy at the pharmacy, can be corrosive and unstable and must be handled with extreme care. In fact, some would argue that H2O2 is not safe enough to put directly into a vehicle other than a race car, rocket ship or jetpack. Tell that though to the Chinese who produced a prototype called the Habo No. 1 which did use hydrogen peroxide for fuel.

But, what if instead, hydrogen peroxide and aluminum (instead of silver or platinum) were used at the fueling pump to create hydrogen on demand for cars? Or at least it could be produced nearby and the resulting hydrogen could be piped or trucked only short distances.

In this regard, the people who handle the hydrogen peroxide would be the trained professionals who deliver it to the fueling stations or at the nearby off-site production locations. As in splitting H2O, the only byproduct of splitting H2O2 is a little steam and heat.

Anyway, I keep coming back to this point because I see potential in the idea but not a whole lot of development. Any hydrogen fuel producers want to take me up on this challenge?

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) that is fuel grade (90-percent or better) is a caustic liquid, that when used as fuel provides zero emissions energy. The hydrogen peroxide inside the race car typically travels over platinum or silver that is used as a catalyst and the chemical reaction that occurs splits the hydrogen and oxygen and creates a major amount of thrust.

H2O2 has been used and is being used in spaceplanes, jetpacks, race cars, regular cars, NASA rockets and backyard rockets. Like all fuels hydrogen peroxide must be handled with care.

This video shows the power of using hydrogen peroxide in a race car, the steam pouring out the back and how quickly it moves down the track. H2O2 as a fuel has been a much under researched and underdeveloped green source of energy for cars and other vehicles.

As a liquid it can travel by truck, tanker or pipeline and more research needs to be conducted on this fuel for possible use in future vehicles.

The exhaust from hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is steam and oxygen. Now, it’s no secret that NASA has used liquid hydrogen as a propellant for years. NASA has also reportedly been doing some of its own R&D with hydrogen peroxide.

And, on this blog I’ve talked about using hydrogen peroxide as a current and potential future fuel to be used in cars, racecars, jetpacks, spaceplanes and airplanes.

In fact, hydrogen peroxide is routinely used in some racecars and jetpacks. Also it has been used in one Chinese car the Habo Number 1. The problems with hydrogen peroxide are that it is difficult to handle safely and it has been long thought of as a short-term propellant rather than a long-term fuel.

For instance, the hydrogen peroxide you have in your medicine cabinet is about 10 percent hydrogen peroxide and 90-percent water. On the other end of the spectrum is the fuel grade hydrogen peroxide, which is 90-percent plus H2O2.

In relation to using hydrogen peroxide to power planes, trains and automobiles, this is a much under-researched area. The perception of H2O2 is that it has to be used to power large, powerful machinery.

But, in August 2007, I had talked about how hydrogen peroxide was being used to power a bionic arm. That fact is the fuel is clean burning, with no greenhouse gases emitted, can be transported as a liquid and must be considered as a clean fuel candidate going forward. Getting the money to do R&D on H2O2 and changing public perception, however, may be the biggest challenges.

In fact, Scott not only sailed the 1,000 ft abyss but powered his way 1,500 feet forward with fuel to spare. The stuntman with over 800 jetpack flights to his credit flew for 21 seconds with 30 seconds worth of hydrogen peroxide onboard his 135-pound jetpack.

Scott works for Jet P. I. doing stunts and promotions and has never had a failure of his jetpack while in flight. Jetpacks have been used before in a James Bond movie and a Super Bowl, but this adventure over the Colorado gorge offered some unique challenges.

According to Scott, so that he wouldn’t freefall into the Arkansas River below, while he was in flight he was in a state of constant corrections and over-corrections as the winds were not as calm as they seemed to be.

Eric Scott was flying without a parachute as he believed the hydrogen peroxide powered jetpack to be sound and didn’t want to deal with the drag on his vehicle. Carbon fiber makes the jetpack relatively light and Scott is able to achieve speeds up to 70 mph.

Here is a Youtube video of the event. Though hydrogen peroxide has the reputation for being “rocket fuel” we need to think outside the box a bit and reconsider how this clean compound made up of only hydrogen and oxygen (H2O2) can be adapted for use in the automobile industry as well.

This may take some development by the automotive engineers of the world, but if successful, we’ll all be able to breathe a bit easier.

Now, a racecar named the Bloodhound SSC will attempt to be the first in history to break the 1,000 mph barrier and do it partly fueled by hydrogen peroxide. The current world record for land speed was set in 1997 by the ThrustSSC at 763 mph with Andy Green, a British Royal Air Force fighter pilot.

Besides creating an amazing feat using green technology, one of the major points of this project is to promote the fields of science, technology, mathematics and engineering in the United Kingdom where enrollment has been declining as of late.

The Bloodhound SSC will start off using a MCT V12 800 bhp race engine before the EJ200 turbofan kicks in and the high test peroxide (HTP) is pumped to the Falcon booster rocket. In a matter of seconds, the Bloodhound SSC is anticipated to reach Mach 1.4 and the 1,000 mph barrier.

Hydrogen peroxide may not be as well-known of a fuel as compressed or liquid hydrogen, but racecars, jetpacks and even the NASA rockets are harnessing this fuel for green propulsion. Hydrogen peroxide may just be the dark-horse of the alternative fuels waiting to be noticed by the public at large.

I’ve also mentioned that hydrogen peroxide is being used in jetpacks and rocket packs as a high intensity fuel where the only bi-product of using it is water. Hydrogen peroxide when used in jetpacks (such as the James Bond variety) are usually for short duration flights for less than a minute and can be used for demonstration purposes such as Super Bowl appearances. The TAM jetpack and Jet P. I. are two examples of this.

Olympian talks about the traditional kind of jetpack, “The pressurized nitrogen is there to push the hydrogen peroxide out of the other two tanks. The hydrogen peroxide runs through a pipe and hits a silver mesh catalyst. When it hits the silver, the hydrogen peroxide immediately turns into oxygen and water. The water flashes into high pressure steam because of the heat of the reaction. The steam is then directed out two nozzles to create thrust.”

And, they go onto say, “How do you get more range from the same amount of fuel? You have to use some kind of engine to move a whole lot of air, rather than using direct rocket-like thrust. There are two ways to move a lot of air: propellers and jet engines.”

So, this is what the Martin Jetpack does. As an alternative to hydrogen peroxide jetpacks, that stay aloft for 30 seconds, the Martin can stay aloft for 30 minutes powered by carries a V4 2-stroke, 200 hp engine, which moves a couple of air duct fans.

The downside is that the Martin Jetpack is much larger than the other hydrogen peroxide fueled jetpacks and is more like strapping a 500 pound desk to your backsides.

Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful fuel that has yet to be fully harnessed or exploited to its full potential. This is especially true in the automotive industry. Made up on only hydrogen and oxygen (H2O2), however, hydrogen peroxide has the potential to be a very clean future fuel that needs to be more fully developed.

Once seen as only rocket fuel or bleach, hydrogen peroxide is getting a second look as a transportation fuel of choice. The costs for manufacturing high-grade hydrogen peroxide has been coming down and more scientists and engineers are using hydrogen peroxide to power a wide range of vehicles.

For instance, besides the World War II German Messerschmitt 163B fighter plane that ran on hydrogen peroxide, there has been another experimental high flying vehicle built that also uses H2O2 as fuel. The New Shepard suborbital spacecraft built by Blue Origin uses 90-percent hydrogen peroxide and rocket grade kerosene for fuel.

Besides aircraft and spacecraft, there have also been several cars and go carts developed that run on hydrogen peroxide. The Chinese Habo Number 1 is one such automobile. In addition, there is also the Peroxide Thunder racecar built by Arnold Neracher and Andy Ochsner and the SwissRocketMan’s hydrogen peroxide go cart.

What has been blatantly missing from this hydrogen peroxide planes, trains and automobiles scenario however are the locomotives. The steam trains of old were powered by wood or coal heating water to create steam, which would then turn a turbine to power the vehicle. It would only make sense that using current technology that a steam turbine using hydrogen peroxide fuel could also be used.

So, where are the hydrogen peroxide trains? This is anyone’s guess. Consider this a call to action upon the developers and engineers of hydrogen peroxide locomotives to get in gear and develop some clean burning and powerful H2O2 trains with zero emissions and plenty of power. There will be many people steamed, in the future, if this doesn’t happen.

Hydrogen Peroxide or H2O2 contains two atoms of hydrogen and two atoms of oxygen. When used for fuel the only byproducts are steam, oxygen and heat with zero emissions of greenhouse gases. Hydrogen peroxide is a liquid, with low-grade (up to 10-percent) solutions used for bleaching hair, teeth, wood pulp and other products. High-grade (over 90-percent) solutions are generally used for fuel.

Hydrogen peroxide can also be easily transported. Large tanker trucks or railcars are generally used to transport the liquid over long distances. Setting up a hydrogen peroxide fuel infrastructure would be similar to the gasoline infrastructure that is in place today in regard to transportation of the fuel via truck, railcar, barge or ship.

Hydrogen peroxide for many years has typically been produced using the anthraquinone or AO (Autoxidation) process. But, recent breakthroughs in using nanocatalyst technology are resulting in the building of large-scale production methodology for hydrogen peroxide. In fact, Headwaters, Incorporated of South Jordan, Utah and Degussa AG of Düsseldorf, Germany have just signed a joint venture to develop its NxCatTM nanocatalyst for large-scale production of hydrogen peroxide for one-third to one-half the typical costs.

Hydrogen peroxide fuel may be used in several different ways to power a vehicle. For instance, researchers at Purdue University have used hydrogen peroxide and an aluminum alloy to power a fuel cell that one day could be used in a car or vehicle. Hydrogen peroxide can also be electrolyzed like water to produce hydrogen and oxygen, which can then be run through either an internal combustion engine or a fuel cell to power the vehicle. A third method is to use hydrogen peroxide to fuel a turbine engine that will be used to power the vehicle.

Since hydrogen peroxide fuel could solve a key infrastructure issue in developing the upcoming hydrogen economy, this alternative needs to be given more merit, study and R&D than it is presently being given by the automotive industry and alternative energy fuel industries.

In the past, hydrogen peroxide has been used as a propellant in submarines, torpedoes, satellites and spacecraft. Today, however, there has been talk of using hydrogen peroxide to power automobiles.

The only emissions from using hydrogen peroxide as fuel is heat, oxygen and water (steam), so it’s a very green way to power a vehicle. Hydrogen peroxide is also liquid, so it’s easy to store and transport.

China has developed the Habo No. 1, which is a modified Volkswagen that runs on hydrogen peroxide. But, aside from this vehicle, using hydrogen peroxide to fuel cars is a largely undeveloped segment in the automotive industry.

A novel approach to producing hydrogen peroxide for use in automobiles is to use fuel cells to produce the chemical. Currently, most hydrogen peroxide is produced using the Anthraquinone process, but other methods of developing the chemical are currently underway.

It would be a positive step to see the automobile manufacturers pick up the baton in regard to developing more cars that run on hydrogen peroxide. Like hydrogen fuel cell cars, those that run on hydrogen peroxide emit zero emissions. Having a liquid fuel such as hydrogen peroxide would solve many storage and transportation problems inherent in building a supporting infrastructure.