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In the near term, we will remove the damage caused by fossil fuel use. Our fuel will burn much cleaner, so that's also helpful. In the medium to long term, cars

In the near term, we will remove the damage caused by fossil fuel use. Our fuel will burn much cleaner, so that's also helpful. In the medium to long term, cars will switch to electric, but now we'll have enough time to do that. As that happens, Prometheus will roll out new products made from CO2, like carbon negative building materials, etc. It's important to look not only at the end goal, but also the path!

amluto 7y ago
Why will your fuel burn cleaner? Soot and NOx are fundamental to the combustion process. I guess you have no sulfur, which is worth something.
- bluGill 7y ago
  Different molecules burn differently. They might not be able to stop NOx, but they can make a fuel burns cleaner in an engine. We already know how to make those molecules, but it isn't practical to make gasoline that way for normal use (read 3x the price of pump gas)
- all2 7y ago
  Gasoline and hydrocarbons in general are mixtures of many different kinds of chemicals, and not 'pure' to some degree (the refinement process purifies to some extent). If this process produces a specific hydrocarbon or class of hydrocarbon, it is feasible that common byproducts of combustion will not appear with their fuels.
mr_toad 7y ago
> cars will switch to electric Even once cars are all electric, I can’t see gas turbine engines in planes, trains and ships being replaced in a hurry. And rockets are never going to be electric. I assume you can make RP-1 with this process. I can imagine hydrocarbons being produced where electricity is cheap and practical, and being shipped to where it is expensive and impractical. In theory if it was efficient enough, you could even use it to store electricity, (e.g. in the summer) and burn it again in the winter.
- cure 7y ago
  > Even once cars are all electric, I can’t see gas turbine engines in planes, trains and ships being replaced in a hurry. Of course most (non-electric) train engines use Diesel-electric propulsion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_transmission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_transm...). That's mostly because of the flat torque curve of the electric motor. Some ships do too. I'm not sure why you think that battery-electric train engines or ships aren't going to happen. There is a lot of room for batteries on vehicles like that!
  - jaggederest 7y ago
    A fun usage of dimensional analysis: Fuel capacity of a diesel electric locomotive: 6200 gallons Energy density of diesel fuel: 40kWh/gal Total energy capacity of full fuel load: 248 megawatt hours Tesla battery pack weight: 540kg Tesla energy capacity: 85kWh Weight of equivalent battery pack for a diesel locomotive: 248 MWh / (85 kWh / 540 kg) = 1575 metric tons Weight of a diesel locomotive: 196 metric tons So you'd roughly 10x the weight of a locomotive by trying to make it run on batteries, leaving aside the challenges of actually trying to charge those batteries. Another fun fact: that locomotive can run flat out at max power for 2.2 days without refueling.
    - swish_bob 7y ago
      Of course, while it's neither easy, nor cheap, that train does not need to have any batteries in order to run on electricity. Much of the UK's rail network is either electrified or in the process of being electrified. The side effect of not needing to use energy to haul your energy source around is pretty cool, too.

amluto 7y ago

Why will your fuel burn cleaner? Soot and NOx are fundamental to the combustion process. I guess you have no sulfur, which is worth something.

bluGill 7y ago
Different molecules burn differently. They might not be able to stop NOx, but they can make a fuel burns cleaner in an engine. We already know how to make those molecules, but it isn't practical to make gasoline that way for normal use (read 3x the price of pump gas)
all2 7y ago
Gasoline and hydrocarbons in general are mixtures of many different kinds of chemicals, and not 'pure' to some degree (the refinement process purifies to some extent). If this process produces a specific hydrocarbon or class of hydrocarbon, it is feasible that common byproducts of combustion will not appear with their fuels.

mr_toad 7y ago

> cars will switch to electric Even once cars are all electric, I can’t see gas turbine engines in planes, trains and ships being replaced in a hurry. And rockets are never going to be electric. I assume you can make RP-1 with this process. I can imagine hydrocarbons being produced where electricity is cheap and practical, and being shipped to where it is expensive and impractical. In theory if it was efficient enough, you could even use it to store electricity, (e.g. in the summer) and burn it again in the winter.

cure 7y ago
> Even once cars are all electric, I can’t see gas turbine engines in planes, trains and ships being replaced in a hurry. Of course most (non-electric) train engines use Diesel-electric propulsion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_transmission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_transm...). That's mostly because of the flat torque curve of the electric motor. Some ships do too. I'm not sure why you think that battery-electric train engines or ships aren't going to happen. There is a lot of room for batteries on vehicles like that!
- jaggederest 7y ago
  A fun usage of dimensional analysis: Fuel capacity of a diesel electric locomotive: 6200 gallons Energy density of diesel fuel: 40kWh/gal Total energy capacity of full fuel load: 248 megawatt hours Tesla battery pack weight: 540kg Tesla energy capacity: 85kWh Weight of equivalent battery pack for a diesel locomotive: 248 MWh / (85 kWh / 540 kg) = 1575 metric tons Weight of a diesel locomotive: 196 metric tons So you'd roughly 10x the weight of a locomotive by trying to make it run on batteries, leaving aside the challenges of actually trying to charge those batteries. Another fun fact: that locomotive can run flat out at max power for 2.2 days without refueling.
  - swish_bob 7y ago
    Of course, while it's neither easy, nor cheap, that train does not need to have any batteries in order to run on electricity. Much of the UK's rail network is either electrified or in the process of being electrified. The side effect of not needing to use energy to haul your energy source around is pretty cool, too.