# Pee powered generator...possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669 "2012-12-01T13:19:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/1 "2012-12-01T13:19:01Z")
Sorry for poor formatting, posting from a phone. **Cal Meechum** posted this a little while back:[FVriday News Roundup -- Pee-Powered Generator, Breastfeeding Doll - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=671723) Specific story this post is about: > **[Yahoo News: Latest and Breaking News, Headlines, Live Updates, and More](https://www.yahoo.com/news/)** > > The latest news and headlines from Yahoo News. Get breaking news stories and in-depth coverage with videos and photos. > [@](#): > > Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which separates out the hydrogen. The hydrogen goes into a water filter for purification, which then gets pushed into the gas cylinder. The gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas. This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator. > And as for delivering the fuel itself? Well, we’ll leave that up to the consumer. My first thought was the pee powered generator is hokum, as it uses an electrolysis cell to liberate flammable gas from the urine. But just maybe it is possible to generate more power than is consumed by the electrolysis, as urine is not water. Urine has some ammonia in it for example, which burns well enough. Chemistry was never my strength though. The claims seem pretty OTT though. The generator shown in the photo will only run an hour or so on a litre of gasoline, yet they claim 6 hours on a litre of pee. Anyone know if this is remotely possible? ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/2 "2012-12-01T13:25:49Z")
Apologies for mangling CalMeacham’s user name above. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/3 "2012-12-01T13:34:04Z")
From the description, it sounds like they’re filtering out the hydrogen pretty carefully, so it doesn’t sound to me like they’re getting any benefit by using urine vs water. People keep announcing these things, and no one in the media ever seems to catch on to the fundamental problem of how they claim to be getting free energy from nothing. The electrolysis is always going to take more energy than you get from the hydrogen. Always. ---
**Author:** ![Enochian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b77776/32.png) [@Enochian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enochian)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/4 "2012-12-01T17:52:24Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > From the description, it sounds like they’re filtering out the hydrogen pretty carefully, so it doesn’t sound to me like they’re getting any benefit by using urine vs water. People keep announcing these things, and no one in the media ever seems to catch on to the fundamental problem of how they claim to be getting free energy from nothing. The electrolysis is always going to take more energy than you get from the hydrogen. Always. Which isn’t a problem if the primary energy source used is solar or wind and not a plug in your home. Then it comes down to storage. Can you store more energy from the sun in hydrogen or batteries within the same volume and weight? A catalyst can be used to safely store hydrogen in a liquid form if safety is a concern. I think energy vs volume and weight, hydrogen wins over bulky batteries. Hydrogen is definitely cleaner too. I think we are close to cheaper energy. ---
**Author:** ![Enochian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b77776/32.png) [@Enochian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enochian)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/5 "2012-12-01T17:54:46Z")
Check it out. Catalyst Helps Store Hydrogen In Liquid Form for Simple, Safe Future Fuel Use: > **[Catalyst Helps Store Hydrogen In Liquid Form for Simple, Safe Future Fuel Use](https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/new-catalyst-helps-store-hydrogen-simple-safe-future-fuel-use/)** > > A future powered by hydrogen fuel, whose only byproduct is water, has long been an eco-friendly dream too difficult to realize. Storing and transporting hydrogen can be difficult and dangerous, and hydrogen production methods can also produce... ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/6 "2012-12-01T19:27:07Z")
Clicking through the links, I found the [source paper (PDF)](http://www.suttonfruit.com/pics/urea_electrolysis.pdf) for urea electrolysis, published in Chem. Communications, by The Royal Society of Chemistry. It looks legit, although I’m not really qualified to judge. > [@](#): > > The generator shown in the photo will only run an hour or so on a litre of gasoline, yet they claim 6 hours on a litre of pee. A picture in one of the links showed it hooked up to a single light bulb, although there were also a couple of unused outlets wired in as well. Possibly, even the light bulb isn’t on, and it’s just the generator idling. ETA: it is just a science fair project, so that’s not really unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/7 "2012-12-01T20:40:24Z")
As I said in that thread, they didn’t claim to generate more power than they consumed, so it’s not hokum, Think of it as a way to get rid of unwanted urine and providing yourself with oportable energy as a sideline. Don’t worry about mangling my _nom de internet_. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/8 "2012-12-01T20:54:18Z")
> [@Enochian](#): > > Which isn’t a problem if the primary energy source used is solar or wind and not a plug in your home. Then it comes down to storage. I can store about 4 oz of urine pretty easily. It’s having to get rid of it that may be problematical. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/9 "2012-12-03T01:19:23Z")
They’re missing out on the energy that could be generated from the _flow_ of urine, using a hydro generator (a miniature of [the ones used at dams](http://www.riverlakes.com/hoover%20dam%20generators.jpg)). Some research into this was done last century by Nobel-prize-winning scientist [Richard Feynman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman) and mentioned in one of his books. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pee-powered-generator-possible/642669/10 "2012-12-03T03:30:31Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > From the description, it sounds like they’re filtering out the hydrogen pretty carefully, so it doesn’t sound to me like they’re getting any benefit by using urine vs water. People keep announcing these things, and no one in the media ever seems to catch on to the fundamental problem of how they claim to be getting free energy from nothing. The electrolysis is always going to take more energy than you get from the hydrogen. Always. What process requires this? People talk all the time about getting hydrogen fuel out of electrolysis of water. How is this different? Someone pointed out in the comments section in an article about this that there are both endothermic and exothermic reactions.