|
Aluminum Pop Can Energy Source |
 |
| Is it possible to
convert the aluminum in a pop can into pure heat energy with high efficiency? How
much heat could a bag of crushed cans produce? |
 |
 |
I imagine a stainless steel barrel
filled with a solution of water and sodium hydroxide. Aluminum cans would be fed
into the barrel, though an air lock. The exothermic chemical reaction inside
the tank would dissolve the aluminum, which produces both heat and hydrogen gas.
The hydrogen gas is immediately burned in an open flame, producing more heat.
No carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide is produced so the system could be
positioned in the middle of a room with no vents. Virtually all the energy
stored in the can would be used to produce heat. Fins on the steel barrel
would help dissipate the heat produced by the reaction and from the hydrogen
flame into the surrounding area. |
|
| How much energy does aluminum
have? One Internet source claims that the energy content of aluminum is
about 10 kilowatt-hours per kilogram. Now, 1 kilowatt-hour is worth 3413
BTUs of heat so 1 kilogram of aluminum should generate about 34,130 BTUs of
heat. An aluminum can weighs 13.6 grams.
So a small bag containing 74 crushed cans would have one kilogram of aluminum. |
 |
|
 |
A typical home furnace might
produce 100,000 BTUs of heat in one hour and should be able to heat at least 5
rooms in a house. So, to heat just one room, about 20,000 BTUs would be
needed. If you had a large bag of crushed cans, weighing perhaps, 10
kilograms, you might indeed be able to heat a room for most of the day from the
heat produced by oxidizing aluminum.
The aluminum oxide powder could later be
recycled and turned back into aluminum. I’m not sure how practical this
whole process would be but if you had a source of a metric ton of crushed cans
for free, you could in theory heat a room for 3 or 4 months. |
|
| In another thought
experiment, if you could convert just 10% of the energy from that metric ton of
aluminum into electricity you could crank out 1000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
If you could sell it at the going rate of $0.10 per kilowatt-hour, then you could
make about $100. |
|
|
|
