Audi has successfully made diesel fuel from carbon dioxide and water

by Guest Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:10 pm

German car manufacturer Audi has reportedly invented a carbon-neutral diesel fuel, made solely from water, carbon dioxide and renewable energy sources. And the crystal clear 'e-diesel' is already being used to power the Audi A8 owned by the country’s Federal Minister of Education and Research, Johanna Wanka.

The creation of the fuel is a huge step forward for sustainable transport, but the fact that it’s being backed by an automotive giant is even more exciting. Audi has now set up a pilot plant in Dresden, Germany, operated by clean tech company Sunfire, which will pump out 160 litres of the synthetic diesel every day in the coming months.

http://www.sciencealert.com/audi-have-successfully-made-diesel-fuel-from-air-and-water

by Lone Wolf Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:19 pm

WHAT a load of rot...

IT TAKES more than H20 and CO2 to produce diesel..

LIKE whole strings of hydrocarbons...

AND building a whole refinery/distillation plant simply to produce a whole 160 litres (that's 4/5ths of a 44 gallon drum !) each day ~ enough to fill 2 or 3 fuel tanks, depending on the model of car..

BLOODY Expensive fuel, at that rate !

Suspect

by Guest Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:21 pm

Their base product, which they’re calling 'blue crude' is created using a three-step process. The first step involves harvesting renewable energy from sources such as wind, solar and hydropower. They then use this energy to split water into oxygen and pure hydrogen, using a process known as reversible electrolysis.
This hydrogen is then mixed with carbon monoxide (CO), which is created from carbon dioxide (CO2) that’s been harvested from the atmosphere. The two react at high temperatures and under pressure, resulting in the production of the long-chain hydrocarbon compounds that make up the blue crude.
Once it's been refined, the resulting e-diesel can be mixed in with our current diesel fuel, or used on its own to power cars in a more sustainable way.

Audi

Sunfire analyses have shown that the synthetic fuel is not only more environmentally friendly, but also has superior combustion when compared to fossil fuels. The overall energy efficiency of the e-diesel is 70 percent, they report.
"The engine runs quieter and fewer pollutants are being created," said Sunfire Chief Technology Officer Christian von Olshausen in a press release.
Of course, with the initial factory only pumping out around 160 litres each day, the fuel isn’t going to have a huge impact on the market just yet. But Audi and Sunfire now want to build a bigger factory, and anticipate that once production is scaled up, the e-diesel will sell to the public for between 1 and 1.50 Euros per litre, dependent on the cost of renewable electricity.
With traditional diesel currently on the market for upwards of 1.50 Euros per litre in Germany, this would make the fuel extremely competitive, and perfectly positioned to made sustainable travel accessible to everyone. "If we get the first sales order, we will be ready to commercialise our technology", said von Olshausen.
Just imagine being able to tear around the countryside in an Audi sportscar, and not having to feel guilty for all the CO2 emissions you're producing. We can't wait.
Find out more about how the fuel is made in the Sunfire video below:

by Guest Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:25 pm

This is even better:

Clean, Safe, Low Cost Energy

Cella Energy is an advanced materials and technologies company with first-mover advantage in safe, low-cost hydrogen storage technology. Cella’s long term goal is to produce a new source of low-emission transport fuel whose ease of use and cost is competitive with fossil fuels.
In the near term, Cella’s technology will add hydrogen to diesel engines to enable them to meet strict emissions standards, and provide power packs for small unmanned aircraft with three times the energy for a given weight compared to batteries. In the mid-term Cella is targeting applications such as forklifts and hybrid battery / fuel cell buses.
Hydrogen is the future of clean power and transport. Fuel cells convert hydrogen to electricity and pure water, allowing cars and trucks to run with improved range but no harmful emissions. Hydrogen also stores surplus renewable energy so it is not wasted. Transport today represents a quarter of CO₂ emissions and air pollution from diesel vehicles is a serious health risk, so the potential benefits of hydrogen are huge.

http://cellaenergy.com/

by Guest Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:35 pm

hydrogen is the way to go....unfortunately most people consider hydrogen to be dangerously explosive

actually, compared to even petrol, it isnt or at least is no more so explosive.

and the amount of energy in a hydrogen explosion is considerably less that the same volume of petrol vapour

the big problem is ...every one has read about or seen the pictures of the hindenburg..........

by Guest Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:37 pm

The best way to compare fuels in terms of the energy they deliver is to use energy density. This term standardizes the amount of energy in a fuel for a given volume it contains. Compressed hydrogen has an energy density of 143 megajoules per kilogram, but only 5.6 megajoules per liter. Gasoline, on the other hand has 47.2 megajoules of energy per kilogram, but 34 meagjoules per liter. Diesel is even more dramatic at 45.4 megajoules per kilogram and 38.6 per liter. Energy density is one of the reasons hydrogen has not yet replaced hydrocarbon fuels.

by Guest Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:41 pm

Our materials

Audi has successfully made diesel fuel from carbon dioxide and water Hydrogen_new_green

Hydrogen 1.0079

Why hydrogen?

Hydrogen is in many ways an ideal fuel:

It has nearly three times the energy per kilogram compared to gasoline
It is completely clean at the point of use, the only exhaust emission is water vapour
It can be used to generate electricity efficiently in a fuel cell
It can be made and stored using green electricity to balance supply and demand in a renewable power grid

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However, under normal conditions it is a gas, and compressing it into a small enough volume so that it can be transported and then used is technically challenging. Typically this involves compressing the gas to extreme pressures, 700 times atmospheric pressure, or liquefying it at temperatures close to absolute zero. Cella has developed a solid hydrogen storage material that looks and feels like a plastic. The material has a low toxicity and although flammable, is no more dangerous than gasoline.

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Audi has successfully made diesel fuel from carbon dioxide and water 13EC4262-Cella-Energy-199x300

Cella’s hydrogen storage material undergoing tests at company facilities

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Our Technology

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Cella Energy is developing several key, related technologies using our proprietary materials science expertise. These are:

Continual improvement of its existing material as well as the development of new advanced hydrogen storage materials
Efficient regeneration, the ability to take the ‘spent’ material and through a chemical process return it to its original state

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Material Production

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Audi has successfully made diesel fuel from carbon dioxide and water Tech_lab_production

Research and material sample production in the Cella laboratory

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Cella’s production process takes a material with one of the highest useable hydrogen contents by weight, and turns it into a hi-tech composite by incorporating polymer. The material forms a microporous plastic-like solid which can be pressed, shaped or extruded into any form and to fit any space. The material production uses commercially scalable methods and Cella is currently capable, through toll manufacture, of making many tons of the material per year.
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Audi has successfully made diesel fuel from carbon dioxide and water Larger_production

Lyophilisation – Smaller scale tray type, and Industrial scale production Freeze Drying facilities.

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Material performance

Each gram of Cella material produces up to 1 litre of hydrogen gas, giving it a very high specific energy (energy per unit weight), making it ideal in mobile or portable applications where weight is crucial. The material can be packaged into a cartridge that, combined with a fuel cell, has two to three times the specific energy of a lithium-ion battery, or to make a system comparable to 700 atmosphere compressed hydrogen but without the same safety concerns or cost of infrastructure.
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Audi has successfully made diesel fuel from carbon dioxide and water Spherical_flask_pic_new_wide

Cella’s flowable pellets could revolutionise hydrogen transport and use

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With our proprietary processes, the material can be pelletised to form a solid fuel with fluid properties. This overcomes the challenge of transporting large quantities to filling stations and gives drivers a similar filling experience to the liquid fuels of today. One of the biggest challenges facing the roll-out of hydrogen cars is the investment in high-pressure filling stations. With a fluid-like transport system for Cella fuels, existing pump and tanker technologies can be used with minimal alterations.
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Our hydrogen storage technology:

Does not need high pressure
Does not need cryogenic temperatures
Has high specific energy (energy per unit weight)
Has stability at room temperature
Can be shaped into any spare volume in a vehicle
Has no harmful emissions

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http://cellaenergy.com/our-materials/[/size]

by Guest Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:49 pm

yep ...per kilo....

but NOT per litre.......

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Audi has successfully made diesel fuel from carbon dioxide and water