Posted on 07/19/2007 11:12:13 AM PDT by Uncledave
From Wales, a box to make biofuel from car fumes
By Michael Szabo Thu Jul 19, 7:22 AM ET
QUEENSFERRY (Reuters) - The world's richest corporations and finest minds spend billions trying to solve the problem of carbon emissions, but three fishing buddies in North Wales believe they have cracked it.
They have developed a box which they say can be fixed underneath a car in place of the exhaust to trap the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming -- including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide -- and emit mostly water vapor.
The captured gases can be processed to create a biofuel using genetically modified algae.
Dubbed "Greenbox," the technology developed by organic chemist Derek Palmer and engineers Ian Houston and John Jones could, they say, be used for cars, buses, lorries and eventually buildings and heavy industry, including power plants.
"We've managed to develop a way to successfully capture a majority of the emissions from the dirtiest motor we could find," Palmer, who has consulted for organizations including the World Health Organisation and GlaxoSmithKline, told Reuters.
The three, who stumbled across the idea while experimenting with carbon dioxide to help boost algae growth for fish farming, have set up a company called Maes Anturio Limited, which translates from Welsh as Field Adventure.
With the backing of their local member of parliament they are now seeking extra risk capital either from government or industry: the only emissions they are not sure their box can handle are those from aviation.
CAPTURE RATE
Although the box the men currently use for demonstration is about the size of a bar stool, they say they can build one small enough to replace a car exhaust that will last for a full tank of petrol.
The crucial aspect of the technology is that the carbon dioxide is captured and held in a secure state, said Houston. Other carbon capture technologies are much more cumbersome or energy-intensive, for example using miles of pipeline to transport the gas.
"The carbon dioxide, held in its safe, inert state, can be handled, transported and released into a controlled environment with ease and a minimal amount of energy required," Houston said at a demonstration using a diesel-powered generator at a certified UK Ministry of Transportation emissions test centre.
More than 130 tests carried out over two years at several testing centers have, the three say, yielded a capture rate between 85 and 95 percent. They showed the box to David Hansen, a Labour MP for Delyn, North Wales, who is now helping them.
"Based on the information, there is a clear reduction in emissions," Hansen told Reuters.
"As a result, I'm facilitating meetings with the appropriate UK government agencies, as we want to ensure that British ownership and manufacturing is maintained."
The men are also in contact with car-makers Toyota Motor Corp of Japan and General Motors Corp. of the United States. Houston said they have also received substantial offers from two unnamed Asian companies.
Both Toyota and General Motors declined to comment.
SECRETS
If the system takes off, drivers with a Greenbox would replace it when they fill up their cars and it would go to a bioreactor to be emptied.
Through a chemical reaction, the captured gases from the box would be fed to algae, which would then be crushed to produce a bio-oil. This extract can be converted to produce a biodiesel almost identical to normal diesel.
This biodiesel can be fed back into a diesel engine, the emptied Greenbox can be affixed to the car and the cycle can begin again.
The process also yields methane gas and fertilizer, both of which can be captured separately. The algae required to capture all of Britain's auto emissions would take up around 1,000 acres
.
The three estimate that 10 facilities could be built across the UK to handle the carbon dioxide from the nearly 30 million cars on British roads.
The inventors say they have spent nearly 170,000 pounds ($348,500) over two years developing the "three distinct technologies" involved and are hoping to secure more funding for health and safety testing.
Not surprisingly, the trio won't show anyone -- not even their wives -- what's inside the box.
After every demonstration they hide its individual components in various locations across North Wales and the technology is divided into three parts, with each inventor being custodian of one section.
"Our three minds hold the three keys and we can only unlock it together," said Houston.
Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
three fishing buddies in North Wales “after drinking 13 pints each at the local pub” believe they have cracked it.
All fixed now!
Making Biofuels from Whales?......Greenpeace & PETA will never go for this......
every time the price of gas goes up, gadgets like this appear from thin air. notice how they are lokoing fo rinvestors. if thie really worked, they’d go to a bank, or an investment firm, demonstrate the device, explain how it works, adn they’d be millionaires already.
also notice that the aren’t telling how it works. trust them, send them your dough.
right.
“they can build one small enough to replace a car exhaust that will last for a full tank of petrol.”
So you have to put a new one on af each fill up? Then what do you do with them? Put them in a mine shaft?
Shoot them into the sun?
“Our three minds hold the three keys and we can only unlock it together,” said Houston
That line sounds like a line from the Sting - Sounds like a con job to me... But then again I’m a cynic from way back.
No disrepect to these inventors, but Anthropogenic Globalwarming is a myth.
As long as they don’t call it Wales Oil they have a chance of attracting venture capital.
OK Larry, I have this great way to save the planet..."
Sorry, picture didn’t work
Uh huh. So the CO2 is captured in the box. What happens to the CO? The other residue from the controlled explosion in the engine?
Sounds like a better solution is to invent something that is NOT the internal combustion engine.
This added weight plus the weight of the recovery system, should really drive down gas mileage creating even more demand for new oil production resulting in destruction of the pristine arctic and added pollution created by mining the Canadian oil sands.
Fishing buddies? Sounds like a fish story to me.
Why do all the renewable energy hype stories sound too good to be true?
CO2 is a gas. The only way to capture it is to fix it in another state. If there is some catalyst or chemical reaction, fine, but what is it? They don’t say.
There is always a catch to these schemes, eg the materials needed in the greenbos cost $1,000,000 per refill, or it weighs 1,000 lbs or the reaction smells like rotten eggs.
After all, if it is a great idea, why not put it on coal-fired power plant smoke stacks?
It amazes me the sheer level of conceited arrogance in this particular thread. Nobody here knows if this could possibly work or not, yet everyone has a negative opinion of it.
Thank God folks like Edison didn’t listen to any of your kind. America would still be a backwater agricultural experiment.
It amazes me the sheer level of conceited arrogance in this particular thread. Nobody here knows if this could possibly work or not, yet everyone has a negative opinion of it.
Thank God folks like Edison didn’t listen to any of your kind. America would still be a backwater agricultural experiment.
The algae don’t care where the CO2 comes from. There are already prototypes of systems for using the CO2 from coal fired power plants. Large, stationary systems attached to power plants would be far more economical. Here’s a FR thread about one of these systems: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1773030/posts
And 95% of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere consists of
WATER VAPOR.
bttt
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.