Urine flammable gas and Urine powered generators

[TinselKoala]

it doesn't sound like it is a new idea:

http://www.ohio.edu/engineering/ceer/research/urea.cfm

Would you please provide a sketch or a reference for a "urine molecule"? Urine is not urea. Urine contains only 2 to 4 percent by weight of urea. Most of the rest is ordinary water. There is no such thing as a "urine molecule".

[qtrhack]

Would you please provide a sketch or a reference for a "urine molecule"? Urine is not urea. Urine contains only 2 to 4 percent by weight of urea. Most of the rest is ordinary water. There is no such thing as a "urine molecule".

above my pay grade to analyze it ... i just produce

just passing along what i found looking into it and again it doesn't look like it is something new - going back to 2009.  the following states that 'The group initially tested their process with 'synthetic' urine made of dissolved urea, but also showed that the process works just as well with real human urine.':

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2009/July/02070902.asp

[markdansie]

Actually none of this is new. It actually takes less energy to break down urine or urea in solution into hydrogen than with water electrolysis, there is a lot of well documented work on this at Universities. However I thought this was a good tongue in cheek story. It was not meant to fire up the lynch mob lol
Mark

[TinselKoala]

No lynch mob, exactly! Just the usual complaints about proper use of terminology ("urine molecule" cracked me up) and the examination of the numbers.

For example the concentration of urea, OCNH₂NH₂ , in "non-turbo" urine is pretty small, like 4 percent or so, and the urea molecule masses 60 Daltons of which only 4 are the 4 hydrogens. So less than 10 percent of the urea, by mass, is hydrogen. So that is not much hydrogen from the urea in normal urine, I think. So perhaps it is easy to split off the hydrogens, or some of them, leaving things like ammonia and perhaps free oxygen or even HCN behind. But how much hydrogen and other (very toxic) gases are you going to get from urine, really?
Does the urea somehow catalyze the electrolysis of the water itself? That would be cool but I don't see how it could happen. But I'm no electrochemist after all.

[Pirate88179]

All you really have to do is to pee on an electric fence.  I have done it...I do not suggest anyone else try this.  Ah, I miss the old college days.

Bill