Seperating Hydrogen and Oxygen

I am interested in separating the Hydrogen and Oxygen after it has been produced. I saw a couple of posts but my idea on the topic is a little different than the posts about using membranes … I am not a chemist so feel free to correct me if I go wrong somewhere… My thought is that oxygen is 16 times heavier than hydrogen (a glance at the atomic weight). So as the gas is produced hydrogen will always be on top. Like oil and water don’t really mix I am guessing the HHO gas will always consist of H on top of any container it is captured within? Also the H component will be twice the volume of the O component. If this is right then I am thinking a very simple solution would be to have a vertical tube of some volume with the inlet somewhere in the middle with an outlet at the top of the tube for H and an outlet at the bottom of the tube for O? I have not tried this but does anyone know why this might not work? My other question is besides HHO, what other gasses might we be producing if I am using potassium hydroxide?

Hi Tim,
I've thought many many times about the method you propose for separation of gases but always come back to- "If it were that easy then everyone would do it that way." I realize that this is not the definitive answer that you were hoping for, but I imagine that the mixing (if not left undisturbed for quite a long period of time) would preclude this method for any kind of timely delivery system. That being said, separator reactors are easy enough to to build- not much more involved than adding separator membranes to a unipolar reactor and some extra gaskets.
Using KOH or NaOH render only H2 and O.

Ciao Tim,
for me the best way to separate H from HHO is to find something that adsorb Oxygen like a sponge, for release it in another chamber...or something that adsorb oxygen in a reaction without releasing "nocive" elements . . for example ATCO oxygen adsorber ..any ideas? :)
(ps: sorry for some words if i didn't wrote the exact name but i'm italian and dunno how to wrote theme in english :o) )

hi guys . i have the imoression that the bond of hho cannot break with simple physics and any mechanical way.

The key for me is to collect in different storages, meaning that the only easy way is to take them apart during the electrolysis.

I am interested in separating the two gasses, but I would like to attempt to keep them separate as they come off the plates. Not allowing them to mix in the first place. I might try using tyvek house wrap as a means to separate the plates and keep the bubbles separate as they come off the plates. I'm thinking of trying this in a wet cell only because I'm not sure how to do it in a dry cell.

Hi TG,
Welcome to the forum.. Keeping the gasses separate as they come off the plates is the generally assumed method, with only minor "polishing" possibly taking place in more expensive arrangements as it requires extremely dry gas and catalytic scrubbers. Double layers of Rip-Stop Nylon or heavy tight weave Dacron serve well as low cost ionic membranes. As long as you keep a tiny bit more pressure built up on the hydrogen side, and vent your oxygen (because it will have a tiny bit of hydrogen in it) you'll do fine. I can't imagine how you would make a separator wet cell- and why? Separator cells by their very nature are best served by a unipolar dry cell arrangement, it's the most efficient by ease of gas separation and power consumption. If you do decide to build a wet separator cell, please post photos- we love photos... have fun.

your thought are correct, hydrogen goes up, oxygen goes down. I've think about it too, 1 tube with 2 holes at top & bottom, hydrogen exit from top, oxygen exit from bottom. but... there are some problems
1st is h2 volume is 2x o2, the 2 holes will not work.
2nd is time problem, you can imagine water and oil, it separated by weight, but if you mix them, you will require some time to make them settle separated, the problem with H & O is you cannot see them as easy as water & oil.
3rd is pressure problem, if you don't have same pressure between the holes, they will exit from the same hole. for example you close the 2 holes, then you give some HO gases with 2 bar pressure. open just one of the hole, let say the top. then the result you get is the h & o exit from there until the pressure is 0.

I solve this problem by creating what I call SHOGEN, you can see in my video here that I've sucessfully separate the gases http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf8h6_JzqVk


your 2nd question is depend on the purity of KOH & water. if they are pure there will be no other gas produced. if you have use NaCl or KCl, than you'll produce Cl2