New Aluminum-Rich Alloy is Developed

U.S. scientists have developed an economically competitive aluminum-rich alloy that produces hydrogen from water.

We now have an economically viable process for producing hydrogen-on-demand for vehicles, electrical generating stations and other applications, said Purdue University Professor Jerry Woodall, the inventor of the process.

Woodall said his new alloy contains 95 percent aluminum and 5 percent of a mixture of the metals gallium, indium and tin. Because the new alloy contains significantly less of the more expensive gallium than previous forms of the alloy, hydrogen can be produced less expensively, he said.

When immersed in water, the alloy splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, which immediately reacts with the aluminum to produce aluminum oxide, also called alumina, which can be recycled back into aluminum. Recycling aluminum from nearly pure alumina is less expensive than mining the aluminum ore bauxite, making the technology more competitive with other forms of energy production, Woodall said.

The researchers are to present their findings Tuesday in Cocoa Beach, Fla., during the Materials Innovations in an Emerging Hydrogen Economy conference.