By Noor Aftab (THE NEWS)
A Khairpur-based mechanical engineer has made such a unique claim that is apparently too hard to ‘digest’ but he is confident that a device recently developed by him can help use water as a fuel to run motor vehicles.
Mechanical Engineer Agha Waqar Ahmad Khan was quite confident when he appeared before senior officer of Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) and senior engineers for demonstration of his claim.
During the demonstration he showed a kit that according to him can be fitted with an engine that can give a mileage of 40km per litre for a motor vehicle but for a motor bike the mileage would be as much as 150 km.
He said the kit that can be attached to the motor engine use electrolysis to split the water into two component molecules — hydrogen and oxygen — and then inject the resulting hydrogen into the engine’s combustion process to power the car along with the gasoline. Doing this, makes the gasoline burn cleaner and more completely thus making the engine more efficient.
According to the PSF officials the demonstration was so strong that they brought the mechanical engineer to a meeting held under the chairmanship of Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar. The representatives of other organisations also attended the meeting including Engineering Development Board, Ministry of Industries, Hydrocarbon Development Institute and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering.
Agha Waqar told the meeting that he is working on the project for the last two years and running vehicle on water by using the kit developed by him. He claimed that his kit bears no negative impact on the vehicle and it is safe having no risk of backfire or backlash.
The participants of the meetings made different queries about safety standards of the vehicle and efficiency of the kit. Tarar encouraged the invention and guided Waqar to file an application with Engineering Development Board (EDB) of Ministry of Industries for approval to commercialise the device.
The federal secretary also directed PSF to facilitate Waqar in filing the application with EDB. The EDB representative told the meeting that on receiving the application the matter could be placed before Board for technical evaluation of the device.
Views sought from some other mechanical engineers stated that the currently accepted laws of Physic provide no way to extract chemical energy from water alone. A water-fuelled would rely on some form of electrolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen and then recombine them to release energy, however, because of the energy required to separate the elements would always be at least as great as the energy released that can be used to produce net energy.
They also said the technology is not new as it exists for as long as four years. There is simple device that can be used to convert water to a gas that has two parts — hydrogen and oxygen — and it is a high power gas that burns effectively.
Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah on Monday appreciated the technology of water fuel kit for running motor cars.
Talking to Geo News, Khurshid Shah said that it would take time to introduce the water fuel technology for running motor vehicles.
He said that a summary was being prepared by the Ministry of Science and Technology for the next Cabinet meeting where water fuel kit would be discussed in detail.
He said that President Asif Ali Zardari had also appreciated the new technology.
He said that a demonstration about the water fuel kit was held where the representatives of car manufacturing companies were also present.
The minister said that the media could play a vital role in creating awareness among the masses about the technology. (APP)