If the federal government is involved in this we will have a shortage of sea water within 3 years.
Posted on 04/07/2014 9:18:38 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
WASHINGTON: The US Navy believes it has finally worked out the solution to a problem that has intrigued scientists for decades: how to take seawater and use it as fuel.
The development of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel is being hailed as "a game-changer" because it would signficantly shorten the supply chain, a weak link that makes any force easier to attack.
The US has a fleet of 15 military oil tankers, and only aircraft carriers and some submarines are equipped with nuclear propulsion.
All other vessels must frequently abandon their mission for a few hours to navigate in parallel with the tanker, a delicate operation, especially in bad weather.
The ultimate goal is to eventually get away from the dependence on oil altogether, which would also mean the navy is no longer hostage to potential shortages of oil or fluctuations in its cost.
Vice Admiral Philip Cullom declared: "It's a huge milestone for us." "We are in very challenging times where we really do have to think in pretty innovative ways to look at how we create energy, how we value energy and how we consume it.
"We need to challenge the results of the assumptions that are the result of the last six decades of constant access to cheap, unlimited amounts of fuel," added Cullom.
"Basically, we've treated energy like air, something that's always there and that we don't worry about too much. But the reality is that we do have to worry about it."
US experts have found out how to extract carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas from seawater.
Then, using a catalytic converter, they transformed them into a fuel by a gas-to-liquids process. They hope the fuel will not only be able to power ships, but also planes.
That means instead of relying on tankers, ships will be able to produce fuel at sea.
The predicted cost of jet fuel using the technology is in the range of three to six dollars per gallon, say experts at the US Naval Research Laboratory, who have already flown a model airplane with fuel produced from seawater.
Dr Heather Willauer, an research chemist who has spent nearly a decade on the project, can hardly hide her enthusiasm.
"For the first time we've been able to develop a technology to get CO2 and hydrogen from seawater simultaneously, that's a big breakthrough," she said, adding that the fuel "doesn't look or smell very different."
Now that they have demonstrated it can work, the next step is to produce it in industrial quantities. But before that, in partnership with several universities, the experts want to improve the amount of CO2 and hydrogen they can capture.
"We've demonstrated the feasibility, we want to improve the process efficiency," explained Willauer.
Collum is just as excited. "For us in the military, in the Navy, we have some pretty unusual and different kinds of challenges," he said.
"We don't necessarily go to a gas station to get our fuel, our gas station comes to us in terms of an oiler, a replenishment ship.
"Developing a game-changing technology like this, seawater to fuel, really is something that reinvents a lot of the way we can do business when you think about logistics, readiness."
A crucial benefit, says Collum, is that the fuel can be used in the same engines already fitted in ships and aircraft.
"If you don't want to re-engineer every ship, every type of engine, every aircraft, that's why we need what we call drop-in replacement fuels that look, smell and essentially are the same as any kind of petroleum-based fuels."
Drawbacks? Only one, it seems: researchers warn it will be at least a decade before US ships are able to produce their own fuel on board.
Paging Steven Hyde.
Climate change oceans rising?
Problem solved!
Somehow I expect that someone will say that this process will cause global warming.
“...only aircraft carriers and some submarines are equipped with nuclear propulsion.”
I didn’t know that. For some reason, I thought we had a few cruisers that were nuclear-powered.
At any rate, this is pretty big stuff, if it pans out. A conventionally-powered ship that can refuel at will would have a significant advantage over one that could not.
home=homo
If the federal government is involved in this we will have a shortage of sea water within 3 years.
“Where does the energy come from in this process?
Sure you can reverse the combustion process but that requires energy.
Lots of it. More than you will get out of the fuel you make.”
The navy has been funding the polywell reactor for many years. They also wanted their Littoral Combat ships to use a rail gun, but the rail gun technology was not ready in time. Now this to make jet fuel and diesel at sea. They obviously think there is a power source available for all of that. Exactly what is anyone’s guess.
Can Lead to Gold transformation not be far behind?
I don’t know about sea water, but the river water around Cleveland used to burn pretty good.
I think we had two (California class?) at one time.
Apparently Fusion.
And as soon as it is shown to be viable we will give it away to every other country. We cannot have an advantage...
Where do they get the carbon?
“For the first time we’ve been able to develop a technology to get CO2 and hydrogen from seawater simultaneously, that’s a big breakthrough,”
But CO2 is a “pollutant”.
And like all articles it never answers the big question; How much energy is required to retrieve the hydrogen? More than the hydrogen provides, I suspect.
Oh great! Now we are going to use sea water for fuel. There is only so much sea water on this planet. Sea levels will lower and marine life will be put in jeopardy. And what are they going to do with all that toxic CO2? They’ll have to release it into the air and make man made globul warming worse, which will melt the polar ice caps, kill the polar bears and raise sea levels and drowned millions of coast and island dwellers around the world.
THIS IS JUST NOT ACCEPTABLE!
(cynical sarcasm based on liberal thought process)
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