By Paras Ali
ISLAMABAD: The claim of a Pakistani mechanical engineer to have invented a water fuel kit to run vehicles instead of petrol or CNG and followed by his recent practical demonstrations in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad have on one hand shocked the world of energy while on the other hand put a direct challenge to the basic principles of energy conservation and energy generation. However, at the same time this claimed invention has generated a controversy in the country as it has divided the classified scientific brains of Pakistan into two groups.
Agha Waqar Ahmed, a mechanical engineer by profession, has invented a water fuel kit to get energy to run vehicles. While explaining his invention, Waqar said that he uses water in the kit, splits it into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis. Since hydrogen is highly combustible, it goes to vehicles carburetor and then provides energy to run engine, he further explained.
According to him, the vehicles fitted with this water kits can run upto 400 kilometers distance as he has continuously driven his 1300CC vehicle from Islamabad to Lahore in recent past.
However, a certain group of scientific experts term this invention nothing more than a stupid claim which, they argue, is absolutely against the basic principles of energy conservation and energy generation.
“You cant produce more energy than what you have put in to run the engine. We can get the equal energy or less than the used energy,” said Pakistans renowned scientist and former minister on energy Dr. Atta ur Rehman. According to him, this invention is absolutely non-sense.
While on the other hand, another scientist, Member Energy Commission and head of Thar Coal Project, Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, acknowledged this project clearly saying that this is quite feasible but only after the reservations about this kits safety are duly addressed.
Dr. Atta ur Rehman was of the view that the battery connected with this water fuel kit can hardly work for up to 20 minutes then it needs to get recharged. While the inventor Agha Waqar claimed that he has recently driven his car for up to 400 kms without any interruption.
Waqar has recently given presentations especially before the members of Pakistan Energy Board and given a practical demonstration before the relevant authorities on July 26 this year.
At the occasion of the demonstration of Waqar Ahmed at the Pakistan Science Foundation, PSF Chairman Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro showed his satisfaction over this project. Waqar was invited by the PSF for demonstration under its “Invention and Innovation Support” Programme to encourage such activities for promotion of science and technology in the country.
Dr. Manzoor had also requested MoST in this regard as he wanted to promote science and technology in the country.
It is to be mentioned here that this is not a new idea as such extensive experiments were also done in 1930s and one of those claimants was sent to jail. Presently, such experiments are also being done in Japan and America but none of the engineers has so far claimed success in this regard.
Some scientists particularly Dr Samar Mubarakmand have expressed their reservations with the safety point of view but have not rejected the formula. Rather they suggested to give the inventor Waqar Ahmed a chance to improve his device while keeping their reservations and concerns involved.
Pakistan presently is spending over $14 billion annually on petrol import which is a huge burden on the already cash-strapped country. If this water fuel kit clears experimental and approval stages, it would not only revolutionize the entire world of energy but also change the existing principles of science energy.
While talking to a private channel, Waqar said that they would get their patent registered after the government approves it and then they would go for mass production with the support either of government or private sector.
He also mentioned that the oil mafia who has done billions of dollars investments would not let his kit get passed as if this kit is approved then their huge investments on oil would raze to the ground in no time.