I've asked an engineer about this Genepax thing and his response is:Rather cynically I think this works as follows:
1. Declare breakthrough in energy-from-water
2. Mop up venture capital
3.
?
4. PROFIT!
Technically, all chemical energy sources rely on the idea that the absolute enthalpy (H) of the chemicals driving the reaction is greater than that of the chemicals at the end of the reaction.
H(reactants) - H(products) = dH, where dH is the difference in energy, which is what (Watt?) you can use. Efficiency of an energy source is the fraction of dH that is not heat.
Now your reactant here is water. Your product here is also water. For one mole of water then:
H(water) - H(water) = dH = 0 J/mol. No net energy output. Whatever you do, however you crack and recombine the water, if the input and the output are both water, there is NO net energy output. The mechanism they've posted is thermodynamically impossible.
If they get energy out of that suspiciously familiar-looking setup, then it's because the catalyst membranes aren't just catalysts. I'd put money on the left-side catalyst membrane being different from the right-side catalyst. The electrolyte layer is the giveaway.
They've made a battery - a plain, simple, Voltaic pile. Just like a car battery. Only they've dropped it in water to make it fizz.
The alternative would be that the can convert tiny amounts of mass directly to energy. As the Earth apparently still exists, I think this is a fairly low probability.
