(Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

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Harald_Consul
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(Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Harald_Consul »

I have just looked in Ebay for an (heavy water) electrolysis cell. Most of them do not seem to be trustworthy at all. Any tips? (Did not find an electrolysis FAQ in the forum.)
John Futter
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by John Futter »

Any demo fuel cell will do a good job with a little plastic plumbing custom made
Rex Allers
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Rex Allers »

Here's a link to one I bought a few years back. Just tried the link and it and looks like they are still selling them.
Horizon Mini PEM Electrolyzer
http://fuelcellstore.com/horizon-mini-p ... s-fcsu-010

This is an "Electrolyzer". I think it is slightly optimized vs the Fuel Cell version. (But either can be used.)

There was a lot of discussion on these forums about electrolysis of Deuterium Oxide several years back -- maybe 3 - 5 yrs. So there are lots of posts on the subject. Your challenge is to find a way to search for them. Unfortunately the software here doesn't support searching on short 3-letter words, otherwise PEM would a great tag to look for.
Rex Allers
Harald_Consul
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Harald_Consul »

Ameen Aydan
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Ameen Aydan »

I really wouldn'wouldn't try using that method of electrolysis as it is dirty and will result in multiple problem that you really just don't want to deal with. A PEM cell is perfect for this use as it doesn't even require an electrolyte. Look at this website --> fusor.eu

That is a website of a person named Fred who basically shows everything on how to make a fusor. If you look far enough you will find a tutorial detailing how to use this method.

Ameen Aydan
Jim Stead
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Jim Stead »

You can search for short tags in Fusor.net using Google. Just add "site:fusor.net" after your search tag. IE: Google "PEM site:fusor.net"
Harald_Consul
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Harald_Consul »

I do not like the demo PEM cells, cause they do not have gas connectors.

What do you mean with "dirty" electrolysis, Ameen Aydan? Any electrolysis cell will produce clean (heavy) hydrogen, regardless its material, or not? If the anode/kathode material is unfortunate, it will just require more energy to perorm the electrolysis, I guess. (This problem is usually solved by palladium galvanising the hydrogen electrode).
Rex Allers
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Rex Allers »

Jim, thanks for the tip on searching with short tags.

I knew about the ability to limit the external web searches to a site but I guess I forgot about using it here.
(add "site:fusor.net")
Works on Duck Duck Go too, and probably others.
Rex Allers
Rex Allers
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Rex Allers »

Harald, sorry but you don't seem to be getting some things that really matter.

That device you posted an ebay link for:
"KEMCO HHO Hydrogen Generator Add-On Wet Cell Unit for HHO System Browns Gas"
is absolutely useless for making D2 for a fusor (or even H2).

Looking at its pictures, I didn't see any way they were separating H and O from two electrodes. So I did a search.

HHO and Brown Gas are both terms that mean they are allowing the two gasses to mix after electrolysis which creates them. The result is a perfectly explosive mixture of H2 and O2. This is definately not a gas mixture you want to insert into a fusor.

You said, "I do not like the demo PEM cells, cause they do not have gas connectors."

That's wrong, and a strange thing to arrive at.
A couple pics to help elucidate basic information that should be easily found on the web.

Cell top.jpg
Cell side.jpg

I'll see if I can't put together a post on a PEM cell setup for H2 or D2 that I made.

---
So the device you use needs to separate the two gases from electrolysis. Usually the O2 is just vented and D2 is gathered for what we want for fusion. Several people who did fusion used a traditional electrolysis setup with two electrodes in the liquid.

Here's one of those:
D2 Electrolysis
Andrew Seltzman
http://www.rtftechnologies.org/physics/ ... olysis.htm

Most who recently have used electrolysis to get D2 for fusion have used PEM cells.
Here's a pretty good link with some people who used PEM.
PEM fuel cell deuterium generator
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9435&hilit=generator#p63674

----
Advantages of using a PEM cell for electrolysis (with focus on D2O) vs
standard method (2 electrodes in liquid with isolation of the 2 molecular gas streams)
  • No conduction facilitator (acid or salt) needs to mixed in the water/D2O
  • Liquid is only on the O2 side of the membrane. Keeps H2 or D2 much drier than standard method where H/D bubbles through the liquid.
  • The volume of liquid needed in the cell is very small. Nice for not wasting costly D2O.
  • Not usually employed, but the H/D side can generate some positive pressure.
----

I've never done fusion myself yet but I've taken several steps along the way. I'm getting old and slowing down. Oh well, it is what it is.

I can't speak from "been there, done that" experience, but from your posts, I think you need to do more studying on some practical implementation issues.
Rex Allers
Harald_Consul
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Re: (Heavy Water) Electrolysis Cell

Post by Harald_Consul »

It's been a language problem (I am not a native speaker).

I have ordered the Horizon FCSU-023 Mini PEM Reversible Fuel Cel, now.

Thanks
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