Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
Synthetic hydrocarbons seems like an industry we should be getting into. What's the feed stock theoretically look like for these things?
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The inputs are synthesis gas (syngas), heat and catalysts.
Syngas is a mix of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Currently, it is typically made by blasting a hydrocarbon like sweetened natural gas/methane, coal or biomass with steam to break it down into the constituents. But really, all you need is H2, CO, CO2, heat and catalysts. You can get H2 from water using oxide fuel cells or good old electrolysis. CO and CO2 you can strip from the air, or take it off the back end of an emitting industrial process.
These are several well known and proven processes that can produce a variety of end products ranging from hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, naphtha, diesel, ethane (C2), light gasoline, LPG and transportation gasoline.
Let me say that again - you could make hydrocarbon fuels that contribute net zero carbon to the atmosphere by using water and air as the inputs. And you can do it economically provided you have the requisite energy, and the inputs cost you less than the outputs. The last time I checked water and air are fairly available, the key is where you get the energy at a cost that makes it work.
So yes, I think this is something that humanity should be getting into, and it has indeed been getting into it. Some of those process variants have been running since the 1920s. Virtually any country with chronic fuel shortages have been able to import/use local coal or gasoline deposits to fabricate their oils (Germany, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa...)
The shift will really come when we have Gen IV small modular nuclear reactors commercially available in 10 years or so, it will be foolhardy to not produce as much of our chemical fuels in this fashion. We will be able to produce virtually carbon neutral chemical fuels extremely close to their markets at very low economic costs, which will severely reduce the need to do costly and damaging exploration and distribution of the same products the way we do it today. It will also avoid the need to shift our entire vehicle fabrication capacities to EVs. Indeed, the oil industry will literally become a manufacturing operation and renewables will find it exceptionally difficult to compete against such alternatives except in the most niche applications.
People might not like how it's done, but its hard to argue that the result isn't what people want and is miles ahead of where we are today.