Audi Creates E Diesel from CO2

Is this for real?

One statement says "Federal Minister of Education and Research Johanna W4NKA"

Diesel from water and air!!!

Er you must be kidding?

Steve B
 
Chemically this ought to be possible, but I can't help but think that its not the most efficient route of production. Using plant or algae based feedstock I would expect to be more efficient than starting from water and CO2 in the air and using solar power reverse electrolysis. Plants have had billions of years to become efficient at making hydrocarbons, so using them to make a base molecule and then modifying it to become fuel should be a better way to make a fossil free fuel.
 
The combustion (reaction with oxygen) of a pure hydrocarbon results in water and carbon dioxide and the release of energy. In the process described in this article, the reaction is effectively being driven backwards; water and carbon dioxide are being turned into diesel, with an input of energy.
In effect, diesel is acting like a battery; take electrical energy and use it to create a pure hydrocarbon that doesn't release pollutants when burnt. The combustion releases CO2 into the atmosphere of course, but no more than was extracted to make the diesel in the first place.
 
Last edited:
The idea of using "spare" electicity generated by renewable energy sources to create synthetic hydrocarbon fuels, which effectively act as a storage medium for the wind/solar power, is a good one - provided the electricity is genuinely zero-carbon at source. Trials for the production of synthetic methane gas (and indeed synthetic hydrogen gas for injection straight into the methane gas grid) have been going on for a little while now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top