Make Liquid Fuel Anywhere

[Lunentucker]

Interesting times.
They're reversing the process and taking CO2 out of the air and making fuels from it.
https://prometheusfuels.com/

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[kb5zcr]

The webpage link doesn't seem to be working except the banner page. I will believe this idea when I see someone actually doing it.

 

[fourfa]

Not particularly new - in locations where shipping fuel is extraordinarily difficult but solar power and atmospheric carbon is available, this kind of process is attractive and has been researched a lot:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_resource_utilization
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/in-situ-resource-utilization-isru/

Makes sense on the surface of Mars for instance. On earth, it's basically a process to take fuel, burn it to generate power and build machinery, then run the machines to create a lot less fuel than you started with

 

[Lunentucker]

Not particularly new - in locations where shipping fuel is extraordinarily difficult but solar power and atmospheric carbon is available, this kind of process is attractive and has been researched a lot:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_resource_utilization
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/in-situ-resource-utilization-isru/

Makes sense on the surface of Mars for instance. On earth, it's basically a process to take fuel, burn it to generate power and build machinery, then run the machines to create a lot less fuel than you started with

You're assuming the only way to make electricity is by burning fuels.

 

[fourfa]

That is correct - but only because so far in the real world, it has been true. And electricity is only one part of it, perhaps not even the biggest part of it. There is nowhere with an industrial base large enough to manufacture complex machines, and to mine / refine / transport raw materials, where it's possible to build and power things on 100% renewable power. (I take it their definition of carbon-neutrality is running-cost only, optimistically ignoring development, construction, site costs, transportation, maintenance etc.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_Fuels
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/25/1050899/prometheus-fuels-startup-carbon-neutral/

I mean, I hope approaches like this end up working someday. I'm just not optimistic that DAC is going to be net-negative any time soon

 

[Lunentucker]

That is correct - but only because so far in the real world, it has been true. And electricity is only one part of it, perhaps not even the biggest part of it. There is nowhere with an industrial base large enough to manufacture complex machines, and to mine / refine / transport raw materials, where it's possible to build and power things on 100% renewable power. (I take it their definition of carbon-neutrality is running-cost only, optimistically ignoring development, construction, site costs, transportation, maintenance etc.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_Fuels
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/25/1050899/prometheus-fuels-startup-carbon-neutral/

I mean, I hope approaches like this end up working someday. I'm just not optimistic that DAC is going to be net-negative any time soon

I think we're on two different pages of the same book.
I am speaking in terms of smaller scaled operations that are well off of and away from traditional grids. Sure it will be limited, but there may be a niche or two out there for producing liquid fuels as opposed to shipping them in to remote locations.


As far as backing up far enough into a manufacturing cycle to find a point where some sort of mined or drilled resource came into play, ... Well yeah, you can go go back far enough in just about anything to put your finger on some machinery, manufacturing, or process to make the thing that they used to make the thing that made the thing.

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