From concept to company

Inventor ready to put hydrogen fuel system in vehicles

Saturday, November 10, 2007

By JOHN R. PULLIAM

The Register-Mail

MONMOUTH - The unassuming look of the metal building in Monmouth is much like the founder of the company housed within. To look at the exterior of the research and development home of Akvo Energy America, one would not dream of its potential to turn the world upside down.

Nine months ago, James Hunt, 37, was a student at Carl Sandburg College and founder and president of the school's Inventors Club. Now, as Hunt's hydrogen fuel generation system, intended to power internal combustion engines, power plants and desalinization facilities, nears reality, he is on the verge of joining an elite club of people, such as Bill Gates, who can change the lives of millions.

The interior of the research and development center for Akvo - Esperanto for water - looks like a warehouse, although offices and a test room have been built since the company moved here in October.

Hunt, wearing blue jeans, a work shirt, jacket, tennis shoes and a baseball cap, is almost giddy at the events he set in motion such a short time ago.

"We went from concept to company in nine months," he said.

After separating operations from CSC, the company donated $25,000 to endow a scholarship for future members of the Inventors Club.

Hunt believes his invention, first reported in The Register-Mail in April, has the potential to solve the nation's dependence on fossil fuels, specifically foreign oil. That's good news for anyone who watched as local gasoline prices soared 22 cents a gallon overnight earlier this week.

The process involves hydrogen extraction from water via plasmatic induction, a form of electrolysis. In a video shot in the infant company's test room, a small amount of electricity is combined with ordinary drinking water to release the hydrogen. Water from a reservoir tank is hit with electricity. A bright flash of light occurs each time the electricity strikes. Within seconds, the hydrogen released causes the water in the reaction tube to bubble - a few small bubbles at first, then a steady bubbling throughout the tube.

Once the system is installed into the 1995 Civic, a 1980 fire truck, a pickup, a 1976 Corvette Stingray, a Hummer, or any of the other vehicles in Akvo's R and D facility, the hydrogen gas will be ported into engines, providing fuel. The system also uses reserve batteries and solar cells. Non-radioactive carbon rods are part of the system that Hunt said will power a vehicle for 1 1/2 years on one fill up. Emissions from the vehicles are water vapor.

"Zero (pollutant) emissions for every transportation vehicle within the country," Hunt said.

The young company has a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and what Hunt calls "a couple of pending contracts." He said two major universities are testing his process, although he said he can not reveal the names of the schools.

"One that's close and one on the (West) Coast," he said with the hint of a smile and an apology for not being able to say more.

How did the company come this far, this fast?

"We got sponsored by an individual angel investor, who gave us enough money to do all this," Hunt said. "Then we started to get contract work. ... We've already talked to GM. They're ready to license us right now. We're just doing additional research."

Two shifts of employees - six on day, six on nights - work around the clock at the Monmouth facility. Akvo has a total of 15 employees.

"I've been working so hard, I haven't left this building but for eight hours for the past week," Hunt said.

The firm, which includes all four original members of the CSC Inventors Club, has the look of the early Apple and Microsoft operations. A large area in the middle of the building is surrounded by a blue tarp, forming a temporary break room. There are two couches and a number of chairs inside, as well as computer monitors and five PlayStations networked together, so employees can relax whenever they feel like it.

"They all make the same amount of money," Hunt said. "We have full insurance."

For now, even once the vehicles are converted, they can't be driven on streets and highways. First, the process must be certified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"You have to use third-party labs," Hunt said. "We use two public institutions to verify that (the process works and is safe) and back it up."

An employee backs the sparkling '95 Civic into the area under the blue tarp.

"This is running off of gasoline," Hunt said. "It won't be in a week or two."

As to the future ...

"We eventually want to move back to Galesburg and try to convince (GREDA) to give us the Maytag building. It's a big enough building. If we get a manufacturing plant in Galesburg, we'd have more than 1,000 (employees) for production," he said. "We'd have more than one plant, plus distribution."

Building in Logistics Park-Galesburg is another possibility.

He said that could happen in as little as 18 months, although Hunt said it could take longer.