US Purdue University professor claims to find way to turn Aluminum and water into hydrogen engine fuel.

The world’s reliance on oil might become a thing of the past if Purdue University’s Jerry Woodall has his way.

He, along with the Purdue Research Foundation, are now the proud holders of a patent that outlines a process that uses aluminum, water and a pinch of gallium to produce copious quantities of hydrogen and oxygen.

The unique process can be switched on on-demand and means that hydrogen, the key ingredient in many “fuel cell” energy makers, no longer needs to be carried around.

The process begins when water is applied to pellets of aluminum alloy that contain small amounts of gallium. Normally, when water hits aluminum it begins to react immediately however a skin of aluminum oxide forms over the metal, which slows and stops the reaction. The gallium in the alloy prevents the coating from forming so that the reaction between the aluminium and water, which produces oxygen and hydrogen from the water molecules, continues until both have been exhausted.

Woodall said that the process could be used to provide fuel to small combustion engines in applications such as emergency power generators and lawn mowers. He believes in theory that the process could also be used in cars and trucks.

While it might still be some time before we’re all driving around on aluminum, ways to commercially realise the findings have begun with an Indiana firm AlGalCo LLC picking up the exclusive rights to the process.

In an interesting twist, the discovery is actually nothing new with Woodall claiming he discovered the properties of aluminum and gallium creating hydrogen in the presence of water back in 1967 when working in the electronics industry.

"I was cleaning a crucible containing liquid alloys of gallium and aluminium when I added water to this alloy - talk about a discovery - there was a violent poof. I went to my office and worked out the reaction in a couple of hours to figure out what had happened. When aluminum atoms in the liquid alloy come into contact with water, they react, splitting the water and producing hydrogen and aluminum oxide. Gallium is critical because it melts at low temperature and readily dissolves aluminum, and it renders the aluminum in the solid pellets reactive with water. This was a totally surprising discovery, since it is well known that pure solid aluminum does not readily react with water."

His discovery at the time led to improvements in everything from light-emitting diodes to high-speed transistors to solar cell production, earning him the National Medal of Technology in 2001.

Of course, when the process reaches the UK and Australia, it will be running on aluminium instead of aluminum.