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Friday, 19 October 2012

British engineers produce amazing 'petrol from air' technology

A small company in the north of England has developed the “air capture” technology to create synthetic petrol using only air and electricity. Experts last night hailed the astonishing breakthrough as a potential “game-changer” in the battle against climate change and a saviour for the world’s energy crisis.

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

The fuel that is produced can be used in any regular petrol tank and, if renewable energy is used to provide the electricity it could become “completely carbon neutral”.

The £1.1m project, in development for the past two years, is being funded by a group of unnamed philanthropists who believe the technology could prove to be a lucrative way of creating renewable energy.
While the technology has the backing of Britain’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers, it has yet to capture the interest of major oil companies.

But company executives hope to build a large plant, which could produce more than a tonne of petrol every day, within two years and a refinery size operation within the next 15 years.
Tonight Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) officials admitted that while the described the technology as being “too good to be true but it is true”, it could prove to be a “game-changer” in the battle against climate change.

Stephen Tetlow, the IMechE chief executive, hailed the breakthrough as “truly groundbreaking”.
“It has the potential to become a great British success story, which opens up a crucial opportunity to reduce carbon emissions,” he said.

“It also has the potential to reduce our exposure to an increasingly volatile global energy market.
“The potential to provide a variety of sustainable fuels for today’s vehicles and infrastructure is especially exciting.”

Dr Tim Fox, the organisation's head of energy and environment, added: “Air capture technology ultimately has the potential to become a game-changer in our quest to avoid dangerous climate change.”
Peter Harrison, the company’s 58 year-old chief executive, told The Daily Telegraph that he was “excited” about the technology’s potential, which “uses renewable energy in a slightly different way”.
“People do find it unusual when I tell them what we are working on and realise what it means,” said Mr Harrison, a civil engineer from Darlington, Co Durham.

“It is an opportunity for a technology to make an impact on climate change and make an impact on the energy crisis facing this country and the world.
"It looks and smells like petrol but it is much cleaner and we don't have any nasty bits."

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

61 comments:

  1. While the world is breaking grounds technologicaly,primitive muslims in nigeria are dragging the nation backward,by shedding innocent blood,just because they think western education is evil.even the few that found their way to the top are best known for their backward policies,a typical example is the Mallam of CBN.

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    1. Honestly thinking,I pity the people from the middle east. They don't want education yet they cannotsurvive on their own, everyday the west is trying so hard to be less dependent on them for fuel, same as africa. We will soon go back to agriculture!

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    2. myNameiSnotLindaIkeji19 October 2012 at 12:12

      Must you say something negative about your country? Why not applaud human ingenuity and be inspired instead of vilifying Nigeria

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    3. Who really hurt you?

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    4. Leaders i̶̲̥̅̊n nigeria wud never invest i̶̲̥̅̊n tins like Ʈђi§. Instead d̶̲̥̅̊ε̲̣̣̣̥γ̲̣̣̥ will cont τ̅☺ deposit our national wealth overseas. Were d̶̲̥̅̊ε̲̣̣̣̥γ̲̣̣̥ r used 2 develop dia country
      Have U̶̲̥̅̊ visited http://naijamustchange.blogspot.com 2day?

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    5. I dey tell you, those boko people are just 2backwards and stupid.

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    6. Absolutely amazing!!

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    7. Y'all were asked 2 comment nd ur talkin abt boko haram.una no get sense at all.

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  2. That is good news. But they should make frantic efforts to start producing it in massive quantities as soon as possible. Our planet is in danger. As for countries that are still depending heavily on petrol like Nigeria, time is running out for you people.

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  3. I tot u'r going to end ur story wt when wl Nigeria engineers develop something like these? Our engineers cannot think this line cause they r thinking of kidnappers, armed robbers, petrol scarcity, electricity nd all d madness our country breeds smh

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  4. whitemen ar oracles.wondaful.God help us.

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  5. Thank God for your life Linda.Its no longer about guys and babes n who is looking good or not.
    Here is something refreshing for serious minded people.Something educative and enlightening.Kudos to you.
    Hope we can see more of this on your blog.Not just showing us Kim kardashians derriere.lol!

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    1. Ur right my bros, at list lets start thinking ahead.

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  6. 2 NaOH + CO2 → Na2CO3 + H2O
    CO + 2 H2 → CH3OH
    To become petrol.....heheheheheh..habana

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  7. Wow! Naija, wake up o and use ur oil resources to build ur country before no one needs u anymore! Sorry, dat's all I can see right now!

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    1. My thinking exactly;

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    2. Hmm, I'll wear my sceptical hat (as always) and point out that this technology won't replace crude oil (in the near term at least), if that's what you're alluding to. There are numerous other bi-products of CO which serve vital puposes the world over and until there are suitable replacements for all these too, nothing spoil for naija (just yet).

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  8. Aweome!! Brilliant!!! I wonder where this would leave our economy and those like ours in the scheme of things...we better start getting used to the N5000 note...

    ♠HisRoyalFlyness♠

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  9. society that thinks and not the one that loots the same God made them all ooo one for positive creative energy and the others impoverishing,bewitching its people with poverty

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  10. Amaogechukwu says....

    This is good discovery, this is what we should engage in but will our government want to sponsor it. It'll help clean our polluted air and we can have "refined" fuel from the atmosphere.

    Hmmm....think nigerian youths think.....

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  11. Dis is actualy 2gud 2b true. Dey shld pls carry out subsequent experiments 2mak sure d petrol is nt one dat wld combuste or knock engine wile som1 is drivin. Bt if dis is actualy true and tested den its a gr8 break throug in technology cos i ve bin tinkin abt anoda alternative 2crude lik trappin energy frm d sun. Lolzzz. D Whites cnt stop 2amaze me

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  12. Crickey!....now that's indeed ground breaking!!!

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  13. Who say;s they is no alternative source of having the major player(petrol)in technology?pleas come nd hear this break through nd start praying 4 our dear country 2 attain that 0ne day.

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  14. Nigeria, take note. They are seriously trying to reduce their dependence on oil rich countries. Good job!

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  15. The West is gradually pulling the rugs under our feet. What happens to 'obsessed and mono-economic oil wealth dependent' nations like Nigeria? Pervasive poverty I guess? The FG better start taking economic diversification more seriously. Enough of these proliferation of moribund policies everyday by policy makers...

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  16. Wow! Dis is wonderfull...I hope dia wld b no side effect o!also on d plants cos D̶̲̥̅̊ε̲̣̣̣̥γ̲̣̣̥ breath carbon,..mhmm dat means dem go begin tax d air we breath na...ℓøℓ

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  17. ONOME says.....
    Hailings o;Oyinbo:)
    My people are more interested in women falling from the skies and neonates being born with prayer beads and what nots and hands in d roof during revivals and women giving birth to horses. BTW when are we "patenting" these miraculous beg your pardon;scientific discoveries????
    Hailings o;fellow Nigerians!

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  18. This is going to be another road-to- no-where. They have been trying all this stuff for years(cars powered by electricity, green algae fuel, petroleum obtained from sand in Canada, etc) and none have proven to be cost effective. No wonder the oil majors are not wasting their time on it. Nothing beats crude from the ground baby!!
    http://consumernewsng.com/

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  19. There's something not being pointed out:
    Far more energy is being used to generate the petrol than the amount of energy contained in the petrol itself
    Secondly, why convert methanol to petrol when methanol is already a good enough source of energy? This leads to more wastage

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  20. This is a great discovery they should produce it in massive quantities.

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  21. A beg! yawning....one liter na how much?

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  22. Heeeey! We are in trouble; where will 9ja get revenue if this becomes a reality ? *all those thieving government officials,na how una go dey see free money* make we all go back to d farm and those wey no sabi hold hoe and cutlass mek we begin learn, agric 101

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  23. In 10 years time the USA will be the largest producer of natural gas and oil in the world...countries like nigeria will soon be submerged financially..let's keep buy cars and new kitche

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  24. Wow, I need to start researching on this so I can have monopoly on the African continent! I don find my niche ohhh! ~ Lese

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  25. Bodiaye,

    Brilliance in the making!!! Energy Alternative?
    Nigeria biko Nu wake up. Let's start investing in our children.Education is Key and Extremely Important. All naija need is Love and Unity! Shikena. Oluwa shanu fun wa.

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  26. Hmmmmm nocomment juicylips say so lol

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  27. u r a replicate of our leader,money conscious when they world of innovation is talking here.thunder strike u if u reply me

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  28. Nigeria my beloved country this is a wake up call; sooner than we expect the white man will no longer depend on us and other countries ( the Saudis should take special note too) for petrol any more.

    They have been trying frantically to find alternative(s) form of not just energy but renewable ones and they are getting closer to achieving this aim by the day. BP has set acres of land aside in America to grow grass for bio-fuels that will take care of 25% of her oil consumption.

    I wonder what our lot will be as a country since a chunk percentage of our revenue is from crude oil.

    Linda please put more sensible posts like this up.

    Wicks

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  29. mogbe! e don be for us Nigerians. Who will buy our fuel now? This is the beginning of poverty

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  30. only when the person who first commented on this article gives an example of mallam sanusi's backward policies, will i stop regarding him/her as a religious bigot and ignorant fool. what have you contributed to your nation? blaming other people for your problems is pathetic. religion is your opiate!

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  31. This is a break through as Nigeria will develop through individual effort instead of depending on natural resources.akin

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  32. 5litrs in 3 months!
    Abeg hw many litrs of NaOH was used?
    Need i say more abt d electrical energy consumed?
    Abegii anoda failed venture

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  33. Wow... This means dat nigerias oil wuld soon become irrelevant? We better start developing other sectors of the economy...

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  34. Atutuboyoyo Says So19 October 2012 at 14:11

    Yes, this can be done.
    But No, it is not viable nor economical. It is EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE. More expensive than similar Fischer-Tropsch type processes. Not worth it unless oil is over $300 a barrel or so.
    So my guess is that this technology will never go commercial due to the staggering expense involved.

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  35. Nnamdi can methanol combust in ur Car or Gen?

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  36. Linda we need more of gists like dis one....

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  37. proud to be british !

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  38. Brilliant...e be like sey i go change my dissertation topic to this oo..whether this oyigbo people go employ me *wide grin*

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  39. wow..... This is rilly outta dis world mehn... Now this our oil dat has rendered so many places useless can now become extinct... So dat we can now look @ other potential money making sector.... Am Excited

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  40. White men ALWAYS breaking new grounds, while Nigerians are busy committing GENOCIDE.

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  41. Hahahaha!! Whoz fooling who? Is it not obvious that these 'hypocrites' are only after 'economic empowerment' "too good 2 be true my black yoruba ass! "Unamed philantropists" my Ibadan beards! Is this not how they hyped 'crude oil' n "nuclear" power back then? As long as we continue to adjust our environment to suit us instead of 'adapting' to it, we will continue to see d nasty consequences! N all u Nigerians applauding dis, u beta wake up from ur ignorance, dem English people dnt care if d whole Naija gets flooded, they just want to take away d "oil money"\power completely from us.............

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  42. Biko , can this same engineers develop a technology that makes corrupt leaders use stolen funds for structural investments like mass housing , security , mass transportation programmes etc?

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  43. Yeeeeee! They stole ...its my work... Haaaaaa! Linda help!

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  44. Now this is something u don't see everyday on LIB

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  45. but gasoline is C8H18...hows methanol gon be processed to give octane

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  46. @sakara, when is Nigeria going to give the engineers £1.1m to do research? When soup sweet, na better money. The same Britain has committed £500m to the next Olympics in 2016. You see why they must excel? Our leaders have not provided basic facilities for any meaningful research to take place. QED.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the comment writers alone and does not reflect or represent the views of Linda Ikeji.

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