[Gorzaloon]

The researchers say the technology already works, but a large-scale deployment could be a decade or more away. They hope to have a prototype available by April.

At last, a story from a credible source. But Sandia underestimates the noble quality of greed. If oil prices continue to rise, natural Capitalism will simply do a "Manhattan Project". This engineering is not more difficult than Iran's thousands of turbomolecular centrifuges, after all.

There is a LOT of work going on in this field, using the old Fischer-Tropf catalysis and variants. Here is the first hit:

Patent Agent: Air Liquide - Houston, TX, US

Patent Inventors: Paul Wentink, Denis Cieutat, Guillaume De Souza

Applicaton #: 20060116430 Class: 518726000 (USPTO)

Related Patents:

Chemistry: Fischer-tropsch Processes; Or Purification Or Recovery Of Products Thereof, Hydrogenation With Gaseous Hydrogen To Purify Or Recover

[CutePuppy]

Yes, it’s now down to just a “scale” thing... and, of course, the profitability at different scale levels. Fortunately, we know the ultimate size of the market and thus, scale.