MAGIC engine

bingo

 

Here Charlie's link again. Hope it works.
http://www.mitsubishi.com/mpac/e/monitor/back/0608/green.html

From there:
"The new MAGIC technology is very versatile, and has potential for use in cogeneration, automobiles, ships and many other areas. MC and the Tokyo Tech team believes it will take another three years of further research and experimentation before it is launched for commercial use."

Reaction of magnesium with water (http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Mg/chem.html)
Magnesium does not react with water to any significant extent. This is in contrast with calcium, immediately below magnesium in the periodic table, which does react slowly with cold water. Magnesium metal does however react with steam to give magnesium oxide (MgO) (or magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2, with excess steam) and hydrogen gas (H2).

Mg(s) + H2O(g) → MgO(s) + H2(g)
Mg(s) + 2H2O(g) → Mg(OH)2(aq) + H2(g)

Magnesium oxide is remarkably stable, as per:
2 [Mg 2+ (g) + O 2- (g)] → MgO (s) with an associated energy of 2 [-3916]kJ
(See "Priming the Pump for Hydrogen Fuel": http://www.news.com/Priming-the-pump-for-hydrogen-fuel/2100-11392_3-6170740.html)

Something else:
"The thermodynamically favored reaction between water and magnesium, Mg + 2H2O Mg(OH)2 + H2, is normally sluggish, but it becomes reasonably rapid when a milled composite of powdered magnesium metal and powdered iron (1-10 mol %) is used with sodium chloride solutions. Iron functions as an activator, and chloride functions as a catalyst that depassivates the outermost oxide/hydroxide layer and allows water to penetrate to the activated magnesium surface. Adding solutes such as sodium nitrate, copper(II) chloride, and sodium trichloroacetate to the reaction mixture suppresses the yield of dihydrogen. Manometric and calorimetric studies on the stoichiometry and kinetics of the reaction between Mg(Fe) powders and aqueous solutions demonstrate that short-lived, partially, and fully solvated electrons ( and ) are precursors of dihydrogen and that they and the hydrogen atoms (H) formed from them can be scavenged, resulting in suppressed dihydrogen yields."

More about magnesium and water: http://www.lenntech.com/elements-and-water/magnesium-and-water.htm

Cheers.

 

More...2004 news:

"A chemical heat pump using a magnesium oxide/water reaction system is expected to be applicable to cogeneration systems using gas engine, diesel engine, and fuel cells. The operability of the heat pump was examined experimentally under hydration operation pressures between 30 and 203 kPa. In the experiment, a reactant having high durability for repetitive operation was packed in a cylindrical reactor. The cycle of operation was repeated under various thermally driven operation conditions. The forward and reverse reactions were studied by measuring the reactor bed temperature distribution and the reacted fraction changes. The reactor bed stored heat at around 300–400 °C by the dehydration reaction and released heat at around 100–200 °C by the hydration reaction under the heat amplification mode operation. The practical possibility of the reactor bed was discussed based on the experimental results. The heat pump is expected to be applicable for load leveling in a cogeneration system by chemically storing surplus heat during low heat demand and supplying heat during peak demand. It was shown that the chemical heat pump would be able to improve the efficiency of energy utilization in cogeneration systems while also helping to reduce energy consumption and global carbon dioxide emissions."

Y. Kato, , Y. Sasaki and Y. Yoshizawa
Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors, Tokyo Institute of Technology,