Methods for generating heat and electrical energy from aluminum waste and other inexpensive aluminum products

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Briefly, my invention consists of providing a reaction chamber wherein aluminum pieces of various shapes and sizes, up to a certain maximum predetermined size, may be introduced upon demand and reacted with an aqueous electrolyte solution to generate heat, electricity, and aluminum hydroxide.
The aqueous solution is usually strongly acidic of strongly alkaline, but alkaline electrolytes are usually preferable.
The electricity may be generated either directly, by having said reaction chamber forming part of an electrochemical cell, or indirectly, by first generating hydrogen in said reaction chamber, and thereafter consuming the hydrogen in a fuel cell.
The heat generated in said chamber is carried away by a circulating fluid and used for space heating and other applications.
The aluminum hydroxide reaction product is removed from the system and recycled in the production of fresh aluminum.