Posted on 04/27/2015 11:16:12 AM PDT by Hostage
Audi is making a new fuel for internal combustion engines that has the potential to make a big dent when it comes to climate change – that's because the synthetic diesel is made from just water and carbon dioxide.
The company's pilot plant, which is operated by German startup Sunfire in Dresden, produced its first batches of the "e-diesel" this month. German Federal Minister of Education and Research Johanna Wanka put a few liters of the fuel in her work car, an Audi A8, to commemorate the accomplishment.
The base fuel is referred to as "blue crude," and begins by taking electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar or hydropower and using it to produce hydrogen from water via reversible electrolysis. The hydrogen is then mixed with CO2 that has been converted into CO in two chemical processes and the resulting reactions produce a liquid made from long-chain hydrocarbons – this is blue crude, which is then refined to create the end product, the synthetic e-diesel.
Audi says that the carbon dioxide used in the process is currently supplied by a biogas facility but, further adding to the green impacts of the process, some of the CO2 is captured directly from the ambient air, taking the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmag.com ...
The real question is can it make a profit on it’s own merits without unfair financial advantages.
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I’m not sure that I care any more about this argument because of the simultaneous need for energy independence and the great good that that comes from killing the price of oil.(Dirt cheap oil defunds the middle east and various other bad actors.)
The Navy system would get energy from the carrier’s nuclear reactors for making jet fuel. While more expensive than Jet-A, the cost differential shrinks when eliminating underway logistical requirement (either eliminating the AOE or more space on the AOE for munitions).
Jet fuel is a bit lighter distillate compared to diesel.
> “why am i skeptical?”
Because you’re smart, or burned enough times to be able to remember.
They made an energy-storage medium, not a fuel.
Exactly. These nut jobs won’t be satisfied until all carbon dioxide loving plants are dead.
I like the Navy’s approach and yes they have the nuke power plants afloat to make a refueling ship possible using seawater as feed stock.
Love my military scientists.
Yep. But ***they say*** they are using renewables such as wind, solar blah blah blah.
Fact probably is they haven’t got enough energy generation from renewables to run a plant that produces as amount that makes for an economic argument.
Does anyone know how much CO2 in the atmosphere is too much? How much is too little? Where such measurements should occur and why?
However, they may be in competition with diesel fuel made from natural gas, which can be just as clean-burning--and petroleum engineers have a way better handle of gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel conversion from natural gas.
It’s actually a him.
No joke.
> Nothing new in Germany.
That was my first thought.
The Germans have been on to synthetic fuels for a long time.
Well you’re giving them credit and they probably deserve some credit.
The real story I think is this is a very costly process especially with the collapse in oil prices making this diesel product very expensive now in comparison to regular refined diesel.
And this tech is sold as ‘clean’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ etc. So they can’t very well purchase nuke energy or regular fossil fuel power generation to make their hydrogen feedstock supply. So they have to tout renewables and I would guess with high confidence that the availability, reliablilty and cost of renewables is a hard fact to face.
Hence, Audi got themselves some fine tech here with some fine engineers and the economic argument is falling on itself. Hence again, Audi trying to pawn it off on government to keep these eco-warriors in business.
Yeah. This is just a latter day iteration.
They certainly had a precursor industry.
Nothing wrong with looking at this path. The usual Energy Balance questions will always come up - how much energy did it really cost to encapsulate some in this liquid? - but if the price is competitive, then great. It’ll work.
And this time we hope they don’t use it to fuel Royal Tigers.
Ewww! I’ve seen several youtube vids of him/her/it. Never thought it was a ‘he’.
Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished..... 
If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST jut FReepmail me..... This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....
I thought that Texas A&M was already working on something similar. Wait, no, Texas A&M was using algae to make diesel and ethanol fuel.
Either way, these guys and Texas A&M have the same problem: a NEGATIVE energy to production ratio! Basically, if it take 5 gallons of fuel to make 1 gallon of fuel, then you need Government subsidies. And their answers are ALWAYS the same, “But, HEY! This is ‘green energy’ fuel!”
Until they can make it CHEAPER, it is a BAD product. At least in my mind!
It's got ELECTROLYTES!................
No way!.............
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