AnswerID: 307515 Submitted: Tuesday, Jun 03, 2008 at 14:09
Member - Bradley
replied:
Its called the Fischer Tropsch process and was pionered by the Germans in WW2 due to lack of oil but abundance of coal.
Take a variety of feedstocks - coal / nat gas / algae / biomass / straw etc etc. Split them down into carbon monoxide and then put through the F/T process where they are combined with hydrogen to create a variety of hydrocarbon products.
The South Africans have been doing it for decades to produce synthetic jet fuel and now have approval to produce 100% synthetic Jet A1.
There is a group in QLD lobbying to get gov support for a GTL (gas to liquid) plant up and going.
Bad points - using fossil feedstock gives no carbon dioxide benefit to the environment, F/T fuels burn cleaner but create more CO2 at the manufacture stage (although it is easier to capture), and a small F/T plant will cost at least 3 billion to build.
But F/T fuels are the best option for "drop in" replacements for crude oil products, use all existing vehicles and infrastructure.
Dont hold your breath though, look at how the Coal lobbyists (im guessing) had the solar rebate killed off, and have virtually killed the industry overnight.
cheers Brad.
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FollowupID: 573348 Submitted:
Tuesday, Jun 03, 2008 at 14:17
Member - Bradley posted:
Forgot to say, dont hold your breath on bio based fuels either,
DSTO identified a very viable, prolific, hydrocarbon-producing plant suitable for transport fuels and gasses, which could power all of
Australia.....Wanna guess when this occured and Govt was informed?.....
1978.
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