Topic: Researchers at Audi are making synthetic diesel fuel using only water and air.
Meowth started this discussion 11 years ago #41,523
The German automaker announced it has created the first batch of liquid "e-diesel" at a research facility in Dresden. The clear fuel is produced through a "power to liquid" process, masterminded by the German clean tech company and Audi partner Sunfire.The process uses carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, which can be captured directly from air. Carbon dioxide is created largely by burning fossil fuels and contributes to global warming. Now Sunfire said it can recycle the gas to make a more efficient, carbon-neutral fuel.
Unlike conventional fossil fuels, the "e-diesel" doesn't contain sulphur and other contaminants. "The engine runs quieter and fewer pollutants are being created," Sunfire's Christian von Olshausen said.
The fuel is produced in three steps. First, the researchers heat up steam to very high temperatures to break it down into hydrogen and oxygen. This process requires temperatures of over 800 degrees Celsius (1,472 Fahrenheit) and is powered by green energy such as solar or wind power. Audi said using that's is more efficient than conventional techniques.
Second, they mix the hydrogen with carbon dioxide under pressure and at high temperature to create so-called blue crude. Lastly, the blue crude is refined into fuels in a similar way fossil crude oil is refined into gasoline.
Audi (AUDVF) said its lab tests have shown the "e-diesel" can be mixed with fossil fuels or used as a fuel on its own.
The new fuel was tested by German Education and Research minister Johanna Wanka last week. She put the first five liters into her official car, and declared the project a success.
"If we can make widespread use of CO2 as a raw material, we will make a crucial contribution to climate protection and the efficient use of resources, and put the fundamentals of the green economy in place," she said.
Sunfire said its plant is set to produce more than 3,000 litres of the "e-diesel" over the coming months. The company said it was aiming for a pre-tax price of between 1 and 1.20 euros per liter ($1.10 to $1.30), compared to the current German pre-tax price of around 0.6 euros per liter of gasoline.
CNNMoney (London) April 28, 2015: 2:30 PM ET
Killer Lettuce !!iNo3FkiZx joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 11 minutes later[^] [v] #551,869
Good to hear.
We'll need something like this sooner or later, and in glad this sort of research is happening sooner.
We'll need something like this sooner or later, and in glad this sort of research is happening sooner.
Anonymous C joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 1 hour later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #551,875
sounds grate, but why would they aim for double the price-per-litre of regular fuel?
Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 3 hours later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,894
This is 2015. Where's my fucking hoverboard?
Syntax joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 22 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,897
@OPSeems like a lot of trouble although I applaud anything that rips CO2 out of atmosphere.
Photo is one of several Cars being manufactured that run on just plain Air - Simply compress air in2 a tank and use as stored energy. This works best when power comes from Clean Nuke energy plants.
Airpod on the Island of Sardines near Italy is 100% full of such air. French Peugot is doing a Hybrid so it has a lot of French perfumed air and back up of fuel made from plain old leaves and Dinosaurs
squeegee joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 41 minutes later, 6 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,901
@551,875 (C)
sounds quite expensive to make and requires a lot of infrastructure to scale up. probably it's way more expensive than that and they hope to bring the cost down to only double the price of regular diesel.
probably they are more hopefull it's used asan additive and not the primary fuel. gas would go up, but not drastically and it would maybe be "greener."
but as a primary fuel it just sounds too expensive to make right now to sell at the cost of petroleum based products
sounds quite expensive to make and requires a lot of infrastructure to scale up. probably it's way more expensive than that and they hope to bring the cost down to only double the price of regular diesel.
probably they are more hopefull it's used asan additive and not the primary fuel. gas would go up, but not drastically and it would maybe be "greener."
but as a primary fuel it just sounds too expensive to make right now to sell at the cost of petroleum based products
(Edited 17 seconds later.)
Syntax replied with this 11 years ago, 6 minutes later, 6 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,904
@previous (squeegee)
The concept is only valid using Wind or Solar energy to produce the fuel. Other then of course pulling ugly C02 out of atmosphere.
Locally lots of people are growing algae to turn it in2 bio fuel.
The concept is only valid using Wind or Solar energy to produce the fuel. Other then of course pulling ugly C02 out of atmosphere.
Locally lots of people are growing algae to turn it in2 bio fuel.
The Owl !KThEOwLwbU joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 26 minutes later, 6 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,908
> 0.6 euros per liter> £0.43 per litre
squeegee replied with this 11 years ago, 3 minutes later, 7 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,909
@551,904 (Syntax)
alt fuels are ONLY about efficiency. there are now tons of sythetic and alternative fuels buy nothing can compete with plain old petroleum based products becuase of cost. improve efficiency enough and the margins will be there to decrease consumer prices to that of current products. but until then all this synth fuel business is going nowhere.
it's good there's another alt fuel, but it's the infrastucture that prohibits its use.
alt fuels are ONLY about efficiency. there are now tons of sythetic and alternative fuels buy nothing can compete with plain old petroleum based products becuase of cost. improve efficiency enough and the margins will be there to decrease consumer prices to that of current products. but until then all this synth fuel business is going nowhere.
it's good there's another alt fuel, but it's the infrastucture that prohibits its use.
Syntax replied with this 11 years ago, 14 minutes later, 7 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,912
@previous (squeegee)I have to admit this Airpod surprised me. It was supposed to be in production and on dealer floors last year. Don't have a clue wots holding it up. And all the news releases in print never said anything about it going hybrid.
Production model
In September 2013 it was claimed that the vehicle will be on sale from summer 2014 with a base model with 100 km range starting at 7000 Euros, and one with an improved engine, that uses some fuel in addition to the compressed air, giving 250 km range for 8000 Euros. The vehicles will be manufactured in Bolotana, Sardinia, Italy. In August 2014 MDI posted photos of a partially completed demonstration assembly line in their Carros R&D facility, and illustrations and descriptions of the proposed finished assembly line.
In September 2013 it was claimed that the vehicle will be on sale from summer 2014 with a base model with 100 km range starting at 7000 Euros, and one with an improved engine, that uses some fuel in addition to the compressed air, giving 250 km range for 8000 Euros. The vehicles will be manufactured in Bolotana, Sardinia, Italy. In August 2014 MDI posted photos of a partially completed demonstration assembly line in their Carros R&D facility, and illustrations and descriptions of the proposed finished assembly line.
This Indian version called Tata is also in the running for supposedly this year
http://auto.ndtv.com/news/tata-motors-air-car-airpod-might-launch-in-2015-736949
Anonymous H joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 26 minutes later, 7 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,919
cool, this owns, unfortunately house of saud will try everything in their power to prevent people from moving to alternative sources of fuel, partly because if their oil stock dips down, saudi arabia and the so called "house of saud" will cease to exist, which should be good news to everyone on the planet that isnt a part of the fucked up monarchy what has control of the middle east
Killer Lettuce !!iNo3FkiZx replied with this 11 years ago, 1 minute later, 7 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,920
Anonymous H replied with this 11 years ago, 5 minutes later, 7 hours after the original post[^] [v] #551,921
@previous (Killer Lettuce !!iNo3FkiZx)
> The smart move would be to get behind this sort of thing themselves.
oil is really the only thing they have to stand on, it would be a smart thing for them to get behind it but unfortunately there has been so much money pumped into oil reserves that even if they did there is absolutely no way for them to really make any money, they can make money from oil because they already have a shitload of it and the global demand for it is at an all time high, if people all of a sudden decided to go "woah well we can just use this alternative fuel which is way cheaper and just better in every way" the monarchy would collapse totally, the only reason why they are able to build things such as dubai etc. is because of oil money, take the money away or even replace it with something else- it just wont work and they will do everything in their power to prevent people from using alternative sources of fuel.
now if they had decided to research their own alternative fuel sources maybe it would have been alright but they have wasted waaaay too much time not doing it, it would be futile for them to start.
> The smart move would be to get behind this sort of thing themselves.
oil is really the only thing they have to stand on, it would be a smart thing for them to get behind it but unfortunately there has been so much money pumped into oil reserves that even if they did there is absolutely no way for them to really make any money, they can make money from oil because they already have a shitload of it and the global demand for it is at an all time high, if people all of a sudden decided to go "woah well we can just use this alternative fuel which is way cheaper and just better in every way" the monarchy would collapse totally, the only reason why they are able to build things such as dubai etc. is because of oil money, take the money away or even replace it with something else- it just wont work and they will do everything in their power to prevent people from using alternative sources of fuel.
now if they had decided to research their own alternative fuel sources maybe it would have been alright but they have wasted waaaay too much time not doing it, it would be futile for them to start.