HHO gas

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HHO ("Hybrid Hydrogen Oxygen") is a gas created by a patented electrolysis process from ordinary water. Its unverified patent claims it has special properties. Some of these properties would break the established laws of physics, and have not been verified by independent scientific literature.

Aquygen is the trademark for this gas commercially used by Hydrogen Technology Applications, Inc., which sells gas generators for use in welding and cutting torches. HTA also claims that the gas is useful as a "primary fuel source or a fuel additive", enhancing the fuel efficiency of gasoline, diesel and aircraft turbine engines.

James Randi and others point out that the technique was invented earlier by Rhodes and Brown in the 60s and 70s, and that similar dubious claims have been made about Brown's gas and water-fuelled cars in the past, but have proven to be hoaxes.

Properties


HHO gas is odorless, colorless and lighter than air, with many properties identical to oxyhydrogen or Brown's gas. According to HTA and Ruggero Maria Santilli of the Institute for Basic Research there are many unique and unusual properties that distinguish HHO from oxyhydrogen, Brown's gas, water vapor, and other variants.

Its commercial proponents claim that HHO gas exhibits a widely varying "energy content", and that the flame changes temperature in the presence of different materials, ranging from a relatively cold flame (259°F) in open air to over 10,000°F, "instantaneously" sublimating tungsten and melting brick. All normal fuels have a fixed value of energy content (Santilli measures in BTU/scf).

HHO gas allegedly does not follow the fundamental PVT law for gases, changing from a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen into liquid water at 150 psi. The fact that this would require a chemical change in addition to the state change is not addressed.

HHO gas is supposed by its believers to demonstrate an anomalous adhesion to gases, liquids and solids. They claim that HHO gas bonds to gaseous fuels (such as natural gas, magnegas fuel, and others) and liquid fuels (such as diesel, gasoline, liquid petroleum, and others).

Magnecules
Based on the claims of variable energy content and flames which can "melt instantaneously tungsten and bricks", Santilli wrote in the 2006 International Journal of Hydrogen Energy that HHO gas has a unique structure with a chemical composition that cannot be described by modern science. He claims that gas chromatography-mass spectrometry experiments show evidence of stable clusters composed of individual H and O atoms, their dimers H–O, and their molecules, and H2O. According to Santilli these atomic and molecular bonds cannot entirely be of valence type. He proposes, instead, that the gas contains an oxygen-hydrogen hybrid, which he names a "magnecule", in a structure which has yet to be understood. HHO is described to have the structure (H×H)–O where “×” represents Santilli's magnecular bond and “–” the conventional molecular bond. The transition from the conventional H–O–H configuration to the new (H×H)–O species is explained as being a change of the electric polarization of water caused by the electrolyzer. These claims have not yet been verified through multiple independent research studies nor are they endorsed or held by any scientist of repute in the field.

News coverage
Klein and his gas have been featured in many popular science newspaper articles and television programs.

Hydrogen Technology Applications Inc. has donated several HHO gas generators to Kentucky universities and technical training centers during its introduction program.

Water-fuelled car
Many news programs present HHO as an "energy source" or "alternative fuel", and refer to HTA's demonstration vehicle as a "water-powered car" (a common hoax/urban legend that exploits popular misconceptions about the energy balance involved in electrolysis and combustion). This flaw in reasoning has been explained by Dr. Ali T-Raissi, Hydrogen Research Director of the Florida Solar Energy Center, and Sieglinde Kinne, Energy Efficiency Engineer for the Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center.

Although HTA does not actually claim a water-powered car, they do state that HHO can be used as a "primary fuel source or a fuel additive", and that water is the "source of HHO's energy". They claim that HHO gas can be injected into a normal automobile gasoline engine to increase fuel efficiency by 30-50%, eliminate CO2 from the exhaust, and can increase the "thermal content" of liquid fuels like gasoline and diesel. They describe their own demonstration vehicle as a "1.9 liter engine with little modifications".