[bigtoona]

Sounds like using corn for fuel, it will probably take more energy input than what you get out of it.

[House Atreides]

“........Company officials say they had produced five litres of petrol in less than three months from a small refinery......”
*********************************************************************

Five liters in less than three months? I’m sure this will really be cost effective and completely eliminate the need to actually drill for oil. I expect Obama & crew to announce an award of 1/2 billion dollars to these folks any day now.

[bolobaby]

Oh my god! This is funnier than something from the onion! My wife and I couldn’t stop cracking up.

[randog]

Sounds like the Solyndra execs have setup shop in the UK.

[dsrtsage]

Somehow, just somehow, even if they can truly do this, I will bet one hundred and eleventy billion dollars that it requires much more energy (just from the electrolysis part alone), than you actually get from the petrol. But with the word “climate change” inserted eleventy billion times, they are sure to get lots of free government money to develop it, and will retire in the bahamas just before the government realizes it isn’t worth the investment.

[RockyMtnMan]

Nothing like using a couple of megawatts to produce a few kilowatts of energy, but hey we are saving the planet.

[gunnut]

Since plants need carbon dioxide to live, if this technology really works well won’t we potentially be reducing plant growth by reducing CO2 levels?

[Rembrandt]

I have discovered a way to make bridges from sparrow farts. It takes a little while depending on the length of the fart and the bridge. Contact me with your bank data right away and we’ll work something out.

[RedElement]

Such a deal! Especially when you live in a place, like the UK, where they have unlimited, free electricity to such all this ‘petrol’ out of the air for free......

[Spktyr]

British Engineers Produce Something Completely Impractical In The Real World.

[smokingfrog]

No thanks. I'll just keep my car that runs on sea water.

[jazusamo]

Yikes...Be really afraid, they’re going to go after huge sums of taxpayer money in subsidies.

Hopefully Obama will be long gone.

[HangnJudge]

It’s a lot easier to create “Petrol” from Coal
The Germans worked it out in WWII

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_gasification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch_process
http://seekingalpha.com/article/850891-a-new-vision-the-potential-for-coal-gasification-and-coal-chemical-industry-development-in-mongolia

[steve86]

I am really excited about carbon-neutral gasoline /sarc

[verum ago]

The technology, presented to a London engineering conference this week, removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The “petrol from air” technology involves taking sodium hydroxide and mixing it with carbon dioxide before "electrolysing" the sodium carbonate that it produces to form pure carbon dioxide. Hydrogen is then produced by electrolysing water vapour captured with a dehumidifier.

The company, Air Fuel Syndication, then uses the carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce methanol which in turn is passed through a gasoline fuel reactor, creating petrol.

The above process is seriously energy-intensive. From the first Law of Thermodynamics they're obviously not going to get the same energy out of the 'petrol' that they put into making it (duh), but reading the above I'm wondering just how bad the gap between energy-in and energy-out is for this. Might not even be the same order of magnitude.

I love how they put "electrolysing" in quotes like it's a made up term.

[verum ago]

hmmm, if the Brits decide to go through with this, I should buy stock in their electric companies!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

How much energy in for how much energy out?

Envirofascists never want to answer that question.

[Syntyr]

That’s all fine but I have the true revolutionary fuel. There are these small round things made from nickel and copper. And you can make energy with NOTHING but electricity. You put electricity in them and they store it. Then you hook these things up to am electric motor and BAM you can propel your car with electricity!

I think I am going to apply to nObama for a billion dollar financing. I think I am going to call these things.... Batteries.... Yeah that sounds right...

[faucetman]

And I have developed a process for turning dog turds into gold bars.

[Moonman62]

I vote that this is a scam.