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A small company in the north of
England has developed the “air capture” technology to create
synthetic petrol using only air and electricity.
Experts tonight hailed the astonishing breakthrough as a potential
“game-changer” in the battle against climate change and a saviour
for the world’s energy crisis.
The technology, presented to a London engineering conference this
week, removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The “petrol from air” technology involves taking sodium hydroxide
and mixing it with carbon dioxide before "electrolysing" the sodium
carbonate that it produces to form pure carbon dioxide.
Hydrogen is then produced by electrolysing water vapour captured
with a dehumidifier.
The company, Air Fuel Synthesis, then
uses the carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce methanol which in
turn is passed through a gasoline fuel reactor, creating petrol.
Company officials say they had produced five litres of petrol in
less than three months from a small refinery in Stockton-on-Tees,
Teesside.
The fuel that is produced can be used in any regular petrol tank
and, if renewable energy is used to provide the electricity it could
become “completely carbon neutral”.
The £1.1m project, in development for the past two years, is being
funded by a group of unnamed philanthropists who believe the
technology could prove to be a lucrative way of creating renewable
energy.
While the technology has the backing of Britain’s Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, it has yet to capture the interest of major
oil companies.
But company executives hope to build a large plant, which could
produce more than a tonne of petrol every day, within two years and
a refinery size operation within the next 15 years.
Tonight Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) officials
admitted that while the described the technology as being “too good
to be true but it is true”, it could prove to be a “game-changer” in
the battle against climate change.
Stephen Tetlow, the IMechE chief executive, hailed the breakthrough
as “truly groundbreaking”.
“It has the potential to become a great British success story, which
opens up a crucial opportunity to reduce carbon emissions,” he said.
“It also has the potential to reduce our exposure to an increasingly
volatile global energy market.
“The potential to provide a variety of sustainable fuels for today’s
vehicles and infrastructure is especially exciting.”
Dr Tim Fox, the organisation's head of energy and environment,
added: “Air capture technology ultimately has the potential to
become a game-changer in our quest to avoid dangerous climate
change.”
Peter Harrison, the company’s 58 year-old chief executive, told The
Daily Telegraph that he was “excited” about the technology’s
potential, which “uses renewable energy in a slightly different
way”.
“People do find it unusual when I tell them what we are working on
and realise what it means,” said Mr Harrison, a civil engineer from
Darlington, Co Durham.
“It is an opportunity for a technology to make an impact on climate
change and make an impact on the energy crisis facing this country
and the world.
"It looks and smells like petrol but it is much cleaner and we don't
have any nasty bits." Source:
Daily Telegraph
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