Four girls from Nigeria showcased a urine powered generator system they developed at the Maker Faire Africa just held in Lagos.
Here is how it works:
- 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 then pushed into the generator.
I am very skeptical about the alluded ratio of 1 litre of urine generating 6 hours of electricity; it is highly unlikely. Nonetheless, this is a great start for the girls and given the right tools and guidance they could be headed for great things.
Sources: makerfaireafrica.com/2012/11/06/a-urine-powered-generator/
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13 comments
Aren’t they diesel n’angas??? LMAO,
i think this is good for city council and not individuals.
Agreed that for young scientific minds, its brilliant thinking and application of knowledge.
But they are using energy to create energy(though the electrolytic cell). What is the efficiency of conversion there?
Hahahahahahha11 Laugh as we may but this is wowfully amazing…. from Africa!!! 14 year old girls… man cumon! I’ll buy this generator nomatter how much it costs.. hahaah 1 litre of urine to 6 hurs of Electricity who wouldn’t, as soon as it comes out officially i”ll ask ZESA to disconnnect me permanently!
Something didn’t look, sound or smell right.The label on the generator tells us it(generator) is urine powered. The article seems to allude to some electrolytic process being used on the urine – where does the power needed for electrolysis come from? The same generator using urine power?. The article also says that the generator uses purified hydrogen gas, that looks like a regular zhing zhong petrol generator – unless it has been modified to use pure hydrogen. Ok whatever the source of power for electrolysis is we need to have greater out put from the generator than from the input source, dont we? What’s happening on/in that gas cylinder again? The connections…..
Great stuff girls, keep up the innovation.
I wouldn’t call this a urine-powered generator. Its a hydrogen powered generator. I believe all they did was copy and paste a way to make hydrogen from urine. I say copy and paste because its been done before world over. We also did a similar experiment in my A Level biology class down there in dusty, forgotten Gwanda over a decade ago!!
I would love to know the source of energy for the electrolysis. I also have a feeling this is some “clever” Biology/Chemistry/Integrated Science teacher hiding behind 14-year old girls. And the 6 hr of electricty…thats a “reckless” statement…..a 12V 600H fully solar-charged car battery can light up 5 8W light bulbs for over 6 hours….my point being, how much electricity can the 1L urine provide….
However, I still commend and respect such innovation. Great work ladies.
Some scientific ideas are not ‘thought’, they are ‘inspired’, like I believe was happening to Albert Einstein.
Well they may become “filthy” rich :-D….I couldnt resisit…haha
Well done girls you will make it, surely africa will rise and shine. God bless Africa
you want to drain us dry
What a wonderful achievement ! I heard about this once on radio and another time on TV. I could not believe what this African young girls have done! it is miracle! God bless you sisters!
[…] human and animal waste, dead animals, agricultural residues and more. You might remember the urine-powered generator developed by Nigerian girls a while back – that is biomass-powered as […]
[…] human and animal waste, dead animals, agricultural residues and more. You might remember the urine-powered generator developed by Nigerian girls a while back – that is biomass-powered as […]