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Re: Future fuels
Energy as such is no big deal - burn coal. We have extraordinary deposits of coal from 68 million years of Carboniferous period when the entire planet was a greenhouse. Energy as such is no big deal - recover continental shelf methane hydrate. Clean energy as such is no big deal - build nuclear reactors and recycle fuel.
Petroleum has two big advantages,
1) Portability. It's no biggie. Any carbon source gets you CO + H2 with steam. That gets you methanol over Cu/ZnO. Methanol gets you MX aromatic gasoline by dehydration over ZSM-5 shape-selective zeolite. Screw Enviro-whiners.
2) Petrochemistry. Nothing can replace petroleum for making stuff. That is the real bugaboo.
If you wish to diddle, US Colorado oil shale and Canadian Athabasca tar sands together contain some 10-15 cubic miles of recoverable hydrocarbon as petroleum. It's gonna cost ya.
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Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz4.htm |
