Inventor ready to put hydrogen fuel system in vehicles

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 č 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&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 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.


SIDEBAR

Alternative energy source answers old problems
Hydrogen conversion system non-polluting, designer says

MONMOUTH — James Hunt, who was a jet mechanic in the Navy for eight 
years, was just taking classes at Carl Sandburg College to transfer 
to Western Illinois University when he came up with a practical way 
to extract hydrogen from water. Events at Akvo Energy America have 
moved at light speed since.

Hunt, the company’s president/owner, is an example of dreaming no 
small dreams. A 1980 fire truck, which he has dedicated to his 
wife’s grandfather, Bud Wilkins, is his pride and joy.

“This truck is special,” he said, not just because of its 
namesake, a former Galesburg Fire Department deputy chief, who 
retired in ... 1980. “We’re going to turn it into a mobile power 
plant, a desalination unit.”

Hunt said the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is a good example of how 
his non-polluting, inexhaustible power source could help, in addition 
to reducing the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and cutting down 
greenhouse gas emissions.

“They needed power, they needed fresh water,” Hunt said of New 
Orleans residents. He said his hydrogen fuel generation system could 
have addressed those needs.

“Using our process on a larger basis, you could terraform the 
Earth,” he said, “turn the desert into a prairie. Think about the 
Third World countries we can get power to,” providing fresh water to 
villages and farms. “There’s so many applications this has started 
up.”

When The Register-Mail first reported Hunt’s invention in April, 
there were some naysayers. Hunt knows there are still people who will 
not believe his process can work.

He listened intently as one e-mail sent to the newspaper in April, 
following publication of the article, was read to him. The writer 
wrote, in part, “The ‘create’ hydrogen at the ‘point of use’ 
is, from an energy-efficiency standpoint, nonsense.”
Hunt said the science cited by the writer is sound.

“You can’t generate hydrogen. We use a small amount of electricity 
to release hydrogen from water,” he said. “We don’t generate, we 
convert. ... The newest system I’m working on, it will triple that 
output.”

Another e-mail called Hunt’s invention “old news.” The writer 
compared it to a hydrogen/carbon monoxide blend known as “bingo 
fuel,” popular in Europe during World War II.

“This method of fuel gas production is not carbon neutral, as the 
carbon monoxide portion of the gas is toxic, and when burned it 
produces carbon dioxide,” according to the writer of the e-mail. 

“This causes greenhouse gases, just like any other hydrocarbon 
fuel.”

Hunt again said the science cited was sound but not valid in this case.
“We already took that into consideration a long time ago,” Hunt 
said. “He hasn’t seen my system. He thinks we let that gas go, but 
there’s an entire additional process that doesn’t allow the carbon 
dioxide to be released.

“There’s a lot of hydrogen systems out there. They all produce 
chemical wastes in the end or release gases,” Hunt said, also 
pointing out that hydrogen fuel cell systems are incredibly dangerous.

Hunt did not want to discuss how oil companies may feel about his 
process but said, “Oil does a lot for this world. I’m not trying 
to stop oil production. We need it for plastics.”

But there’s no doubt he totally believes in his hydrogen generation 
system. Pointing to a small generator, he said, “That will power my 
house. I won’t pay any heating bills this year.”

The generator will use the hydrogen conversion process.
Hunt said it would take more than 32 years to convert all vehicles 
now in existence to the new fuel system, but “any new vehicle could 
have our system. They’re spending billions every year at GM and we 
did this at the college for less than $22,000.”

Dave Kniss, one of Akvo’s employees, as well as Hunt’s father-in-
law, said being part of the new company is “very exciting. I just 
look for new surprises every day. It’s really come to fruition, 
hasn’t it?”

For those who don’t think Hunt’s process will ever be feasible for 
everyday use, he looks at it philosophically.

“The world will decide if they want to use something that’s 
feasible and works,” Hunt said. “It has the merit to at least be 
considered. The truth of it is, we want to get it out there.”