Brit firm produces petrol from air

[Blackpuddin]

So it says here anyway:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/fuel/96192...
Jury's out on the cost of doing it, though.

[AreOut]

Company officials say they had produced five litres of petrol in less than three months from a small refinery in Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside.

I wish them all the best but they won't come far with five litres of petrol...

[storminnorman]

another one of those blips that has potential but it looks like it'll need a fair bit of upscaling to be a credible choice

[Captain Muppet]

It's amazing that on PH a story about mud on the road turns in to a massive thread, but a story about renewable petrol gets a couple of comments then dies.

AreOut said:

I wish them all the best but they won't come far with five litres of petrol...

But what if they had used this proof of concept to design a plant capable of producing a tonne of petrol a day?

Which they have: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-2000...

Also:

BBC said:

In Iceland, Carbon Recycling International opened a plant at the end of 2011 drawing waste CO2 from a power station, with capacity to produce five million litres of methanol per year.

The huge advantage of synthetic hydrocarbons is that they require no changes to the current vehicle fleet or fuel delivery infrastructure. No restricted range from EVs, no cryogenic hydrogen to pump in to your Kevlar tank. Just driving, like we do now, except without worrying about the oil running out (but admittedly with the same worrying-about-where-all-the-electricity-comes-from that you get with EVs and hydrogen fuel cells).

[AreOut]

so did they produce 5 litres or 5 million?

[Captain Muppet]

AreOut said:

so did they produce 5 litres or 5 million?

One company has produced 5 litres of petrol, the other company can produce 5,000,000 litres of ethanol using similar technology.

Both can be burnt by current production engines, but ethanol has some issues with some engines, so producing petrol is a nice tweak on an existing process.

[IanMorewood]

How much electricity is required to produce 1 litre of petrol I wonder.

[andym1603]

Didn't james May (Top Gear) visit a firm in California some years ago and see this. Can't remember the process but it was very
complex for what small quantity was produced.

[anonymous-user]

I am getting extremely worried now as the govt will start to tax air & I will have to stop or cut down on breathing

[IanMorewood]

andym1603 said:

Didn't james May (Top Gear) visit a firm in California some years ago and see this. Can't remember the process but it was very
complex for what small quantity was produced.

Used a solar furnace from what I recall.

[j4ckos mate]

This will be the last we will hear of this

[fwaggie]

Can you imagine in 25 years time when the technology has been made super efficient and miniaturized?

Your car will eat its own CO2 and refill itself when it's parked up overnight!

Brilliant, I just hope that some companies are still making V8 / V10 / V12 engines by then - it'll be every petrolheads dream

[IanMorewood]

Yep that would be great although with everyone driving electrics your going to be sucking up your CO2 from coal power stations that are producing the electricity for everyone else that drives.

[Captain Cadillac]

Captain Muppet said:

AreOut said:

so did they produce 5 litres or 5 million?

One company has produced 5 litres of petrol, the other company can produce 5,000,000 litres of ethanol using similar technology.

Both can be burnt by current production engines, but ethanol has some issues with some engines, so producing petrol is a nice tweak on an existing process.

Ethanol has been in our fuel here in the US for some time, and it is nasty stuff, it can eat up the fuel systems in classics. So to counter effect that I use an additive... Bottle costs $3.99 and is good for 50 US Gallons if I remember.

[Captain Muppet]

fwaggie said:

Can you imagine in 25 years time when the technology has been made super efficient and miniaturized?

Your car will eat its own CO2 and refill itself when it's parked up overnight!

Brilliant, I just hope that some companies are still making V8 / V10 / V12 engines by then - it'll be every petrolheads dream

Exactly, petrol will never run out.

...and all it needs is loads of cheap electricity.

[Blackpuddin]

IanMorewood said:

andym1603 said:

Didn't james May (Top Gear) visit a firm in California some years ago and see this. Can't remember the process but it was very
complex for what small quantity was produced.

Used a solar furnace from what I recall.

Wasn't that to make hydrogen? As I recall it was a fairly simple process, heating water to 2500 deg or thereabouts (somehow without turning it to steam) separates the H from the O. Could be totally wrong there.
Like the poster above I've been a bit surprised by the quiet reception of this petrol creation thing.

[IanMorewood]

Blackpuddin said:

IanMorewood said:

andym1603 said:

Didn't james May (Top Gear) visit a firm in California some years ago and see this. Can't remember the process but it was very
complex for what small quantity was produced.

Used a solar furnace from what I recall.

Wasn't that to make hydrogen? As I recall it was a fairly simple process, heating water to 2500 deg or thereabouts (somehow without turning it to steam) separates the H from the O. Could be totally wrong there.
Like the poster above I've been a bit surprised by the quiet reception of this petrol creation thing.

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/whats-on/ou-on-the-bbc-james-mays-big-ideas-power-the-people

And finally, James heads off into the deserts of New Mexico to seek out some modern-day alchemists. This group of scientists are hoping to conjure petrol out of thin air, with the help of only a few mirrors.