Iron Powder based Power
Video covers an interesting idea to burn iron powder to produce energy. As many know powder burns quite well, so well that there is a major danger for wood working workshops that produce lots of sawdust which can cause a fireball. Pure iron is quite reactive and will burn well releasing energy. Burning iron produces rust which can be easily captured recycled
Benefits
- No harmful off gasses: There are no side products other then rust (Fe2O3), so ventalation isn't a major issue like with other fuels that can produce toxic gases like carbon monoxide.
- Stable: Iron is comparatively stable and easy to store, compared to other fuels. You basically just need to keep it dry and if you want pump a noble gas into the container to keep it from reacting.
- Recyclable: The product, rust, can be captured and recycled back into iron powder, making it a decent store of energy.
- Abundant and Cheap: Iron is abundant in the earth's crust, and we have a massive industry built around producing it already. This makes it fairly cheap.
- Tech needed Mostly Exists: We already have tech to move the dust around (think sand blasters) and collect the rust afterwards (cyclones). We mostly need an actual burner product to be engineered and a good method to recycle the rust.
Negatives
- Don't Breath It: If rust becomes airborne, which is quite possible with the burning process, and people breath it for a long time, they will contract welder's lung or siderosis, a form of pneumoconiosis.
- Source "The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has set a limit of 5 mg of iron oxide dust or fumes per cubic meter of air or m^3. This limit is the maximum average concentration of ferric oxide in air that a worker can inhale without requiring protective equipment over the course of a workday."
- (same Source as above) "While limited exposure to rust dust is not harmful in the long term, repeated exposure irritates the eyes, ears, nose and throat and can damage the lungs. Frequent and prolonged exposure to the dust from rusted metal can result in siderosis, a lung disease that leads to other complications like pneumonia or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."
- Basically you would want to make sure that the rust cannot go airborne because if the system is airtight it could get damaged and start leaking rust into the home.
- It would also be good to check on how fast rust settles out of the air.
- Not Portable: You cannot really use it in a motor like gas can be used. It might be usable in a steam engine based vehicle. It's mostly good for heating like air and water for home use.
Recycling Rust
See research page on sourcing Iron. There is a bacteria called iron bacteria that leaches rust out of the ground. Iron can be extracted from the bacteria slurry.
Research TODO
- Check PPM that will harm a mouse and or human adult/child.
- Check how fast rust settles out of the air.
- Check how much rust would be thrown up into the air from burning iron powder.
- Check how easy it would be to make the system undergo a dust explosion.
- How bad is iron powder to breath?
- How hard would it be to keep the system enclosed and functioning to prevent both rust and iron powder from going airborne.
- See if iron could be "burned" without a flame, just producing heat.
- Look up more info on the old steam engine cars that uses a boiler "pipe" which were super safe against boiler explostions.