Air Fuel Synthesis boiler room (via AFS)
Remember that crazy guy from your college day’s that was always spouting claims that some secret scientists have been producing gasoline from water - but couldn’t tell the public for fear of economic collapse? Turns out, he was somewhat right. A British firm known as ASF (Air Fuel Synthesis) has succeeded in creating gasoline from water and carbon dioxide that was extracted from air.
According to the company’s website they state this was accomplished by ‘electrolyzing the water to make hydrogen and react the carbon dioxide and hydrogen together to make liquid hydrocarbon fuels.' The process researchers used starts with air being blown into a tower reservoir where it contacts a sodium hydroxide mist which becomes sodium carbonate. The resulting solution is then transferred into an electrolysis cell that is then subjected to an electrical current that releases carbon dioxide that is collected and stored for a later reaction. Additionally, a dehumidifier condenses water from the air that is introduced to the tower reservoir and is then passed through an electrolyser where an electrical current then separates the water into its basic elements of hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is then reacted with the carbon dioxide, which in-turn makes a hydrocarbon mixture that can be used by itself or act as a base for any number of fuels such as Syn Gas (carbon monoxide/hydrogen mix).
So far the company has only created roughly 5 liters of gasoline as of August (2012) using a small ‘demonstrator facility’ (refinery?) but hope to get funding to build a large facility that can produce larger amounts of clean burning fuel in the future. The British firm states that the larger facilities would be able to produce about 1,200 liters per day to compete with oil refineries, however each facility could cost about $16 billion US which would require government funding. The UK consumes around 1.6 million barrels of oil per day at a cost of around $85 US for each barrel, which translates to around $49 billion US spent yearly for fuel. The feasibility of using ASF’s facilities are indeed an option over oil if they can achieve the necessary funding.
Cabe