5 ms·

Simple answer: I wasn't aware of synthetic jet fuel! If it can solve the problem, I'm keen to learn more.

dredmorbius 7y ago
I'd learnt of this a few years ago when the US Naval Research Lab released some papers with a bit of a splash. The announcements (and references) made this sound like entirely novel technology. In truth it dates in part to WWII and German production of fuel from coal (also practiced by South Africa), and was suggested as an alternative to fossil fuel consumption in the 1960s by M. King Hubbert (of Peak Oil fame) and the Brookhaven National Laboratory. There's been substantial additional work at Brookhaven, M.I.T., USNRL, and a (failed) Google X-Project attempt. The fundamental chemistry is sound, scaling and costs are the principle concerns. Costs are strongly influenced by the grotesque underpricing of fossil fuels, by a factor of millions, based on the geological processes of formation. Account properly for those, and the economics straighten out. (Though much of the present world turns out to be much more expensive than we'd accounted for.) Numerous posts and references at my subreddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/search?q=fischer-tropsch&restrict_sr=on https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/search?q=fischer-tropsc... Specifically, history of research to the 1960s: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/28nqoz/electrical_fuel_synthesis_from_seawater_older/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/28nqoz/electri... Compilation of papers from Heather Willauer et al: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/22k71x/us_navy_electricitytofuel_synthesis_papers_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/22k71x/us_navy...
bluGill 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_proces... Problem is it used a lot more energy than pumping oil out of the ground. In theory we can get the energy from solar or something, but still it needs a lot of energy. Good news it the process as been successfully used on the scale of providing fuel for entry countries. Thus we know it scales to something larger. There are other options that look promising in a test tube but don't seem to work at larger scales yet.

I'd learnt of this a few years ago when the US Naval Research Lab released some papers with a bit of a splash. The announcements (and references) made this sound like entirely novel technology. In truth it dates in part to WWII and German production of fuel from coal (also practiced by South Africa), and was suggested as an alternative to fossil fuel consumption in the 1960s by M. King Hubbert (of Peak Oil fame) and the Brookhaven National Laboratory. There's been substantial additional work at Brookhaven, M.I.T., USNRL, and a (failed) Google X-Project attempt. The fundamental chemistry is sound, scaling and costs are the principle concerns. Costs are strongly influenced by the grotesque underpricing of fossil fuels, by a factor of millions, based on the geological processes of formation. Account properly for those, and the economics straighten out. (Though much of the present world turns out to be much more expensive than we'd accounted for.) Numerous posts and references at my subreddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/search?q=fischer-tropsch&restrict_sr=on https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/search?q=fischer-tropsc... Specifically, history of research to the 1960s: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/28nqoz/electrical_fuel_synthesis_from_seawater_older/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/28nqoz/electri... Compilation of papers from Heather Willauer et al: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/22k71x/us_navy_electricitytofuel_synthesis_papers_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/22k71x/us_navy...

bluGill 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_proces... Problem is it used a lot more energy than pumping oil out of the ground. In theory we can get the energy from solar or something, but still it needs a lot of energy. Good news it the process as been successfully used on the scale of providing fuel for entry countries. Thus we know it scales to something larger. There are other options that look promising in a test tube but don't seem to work at larger scales yet.