Don't write off the ICE just yet

[tonupkid]

Liquid fuel packs far more energy than a battery of the same volume.
And there's recent discoveries into using microbes that consume electricity and produce liquid fuel.
I'd say we have a possibility of being propelled about by the infernal combustion engine for years to come.

https://www.newscientist.com/article...hange-society/

It's exciting stuff, and almost zero CO2

[tintin]

Hmm..outlandish, but good if true....

At the top of the article it says
"FEATURE DATE 11 April 2017" and I must admit, I thought the "1" key had been hit twice by mistake

[tonupkid]

Fast on the draw there Steve

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by tonupkid

Liquid fuel packs far more energy than a battery of the same volume.

I'm pretty sure I've commented on that before in relevant threads.
Yes there are issues about certain pollutants that the combustion process generates, but of course the infrastructure is already there to distribute the fuel.

An efficient way of making petrol (or similar) from renewable sources and effectively recycling the products of combustion would solve a lot of problems.

[tonupkid]

The method in the article, if it were to prove economic, would recycle pretty much all the carbon emissions. In addition it would provide a viable means to store surplus wind and other types of cleanly produced energy

[27litres]

Originally Posted by tonupkid

It's exciting stuff, and almost zero CO2

Obviously I haven't read the whole article (unless I want to stump up $45). However, if they intend to produce fuel for internal combustion, how do you end up with almost zero CO2?
With the burning of any hydrocarbon (nearly 100% of everything we burn), CO2 is a by-product.
Is there some sort of scrubbing process they've developed? If so, that could be applied to any combustion process.

[ainarssems]

I am not sure if there is any truth in article but by zero CO2 they mean zero net CO2- microbes creating fuel will consume the same amount of CO2 that is later released burning fuel. Similar like plants do with photosynthesis using sunlight to convert CO2 and water in to hydrocarbons.

[27litres]

Ah right - like the Al Gore 'Carbon Neutral Life'.

[tonupkid]

Originally Posted by ainarssems

I am not sure if there is any truth in article but by zero CO2 they mean zero net CO2- microbes creating fuel will consume the same amount of CO2 that is later released burning fuel. Similar like plants do with photosynthesis using sunlight to convert CO2 and water in to hydrocarbons.

Apologies folks, I had not realised that there was a paywall.

Ainarssems. You are spot on, perfect reasoning.
They are replicating photosynthesis, and that starts with CO2 end ends with.... many possible products, including ammonia and hydrogen.
This is very early days research and will, like most such, probably come to nothing. But if can be economically scaled up, the results will be world changing.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by tonupkid

Apologies folks, I had not realised that there was a paywall.

Nor had I, being a New Scientist subscriber.