theminister Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Goodbye, Oil: US Navy Cracks New Renewable Energy Technology To Turn Seawater Into Fuel, Allowing Ships To Stay At Sea Longer By Christopher Harress on April 08 2014 6:00 AM After decades of experiments, U.S. Navy scientists believe they may have solved one of the worlds great challenges: how to turn seawater into fuel. The development of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel could one day relieve the militarys dependence on oil-based fuels and is being heralded as a game changer because it could allow military ships to develop their own fuel and stay operational 100 percent of the time, rather than having to refuel at sea. The new fuel is initially expected to cost around $3 to $6 per gallon, according to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, which has already flown a model aircraft on it. The Navys 289 vessels all rely on oil-based fuel, with the exception of some aircraft carriers and 72 submarines that rely on nuclear propulsion. Moving away from that reliance would free the military from fuel shortages and fluctuations in price. "It's a huge milestone for us," said Vice Adm. Philip Cullom. "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." The breakthrough came after scientists developed a way to extract carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas from seawater. The gasses are then turned into a fuel by a gas-to-liquids process with the help of catalytic converters. "For us in the military, in the Navy, we have some pretty unusual and different kinds of challenges," said Cullom. "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." The next challenge for the Navy is to produce the fuel in industrial quantities. It will also partner with universities to maximize the amount of CO2 and carbon they can recapture. 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," said Dr. Heather Willauer, a research chemist who has spent nearly a decade on the project, adding that the fuel "doesn't look or smell very different." We've demonstrated the feasibility, we want to improve the process efficiency," explained Willauer. http://www.ibtimes.com/goodbye-oil-us-navy-cracks-new-renewable-energy-technology-turn-seawater-fuel-allowing-1568455 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckRow Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 The way it should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Wellwood Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 What are the by-products of the reaction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 What are the by-products of the reaction? The catalyst is Fe/K/Mn on alumina in a combined dry FT/RWGS reactor. Other than hydrocarbons in the C9-C16 range (i.e., jet fuel), the dominant by-product is methane, which the Navy doesn't want. This could be oligomerized to heavier hydrocarbons, used for other applications (maybe in the kitchen), or sold into a natural-gas pipeline infrastructure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Damned hippies in the US Navy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Great news. The military getting involved with this may signal the beginning of the end of our dependence on oil. Meanwhile, the Republican congress has fought against this development, citing costs. But they're caught between pro-military and pro-oil lobbyists. Military wins this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedestroyerofworlds Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 The next challenge for the Navy is to produce the fuel in industrial quantities. It will also partner with universities to maximize the amount of CO2 and carbon they can recapture. It's one thing to do this in the "lab". It is a whole different story when trying to scale up to industrial production. Let's hope it works when scaled up, the commercial application could be a game changer. No more reliance on the Middle East for oil. We wouldn't have to dig up northern Alberta... wait a minute... who cares about Alberta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 It's one thing to do this in the "lab". It is a whole different story when trying to scale up to industrial production. Let's hope it works when scaled up, the commercial application could be a game changer. No more reliance on the Middle East for oil. We wouldn't have to dig up northern Alberta... wait a minute... who cares about Alberta. I don't think that's a far leap especially considering the will and budget of the US military. When motivated they can make that jump in a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonMexico Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I was hoping that they would have developed it so that the process was small enough to run on-board the vessel or would it? For example, take in seawater through the bow and put it through the energy extraction process. Though I do wonder about the amount of water it takes and the long term viablility of using seawater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tre Mac Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Gonna be alot of happy seamen on the poop deck when news of this gets around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobble Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 So I assume they will be optimizing the process so it can work on board the ships themselves? Hope they have measures to prevent any fish and other creatures from being sucked up.So it uses seawater, but is the water excreted at the end of process, or will we eventually be watching ocean levels drop because of increasing usage of this technology? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jägermeister Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Gonna be alot of happy seamen on the poop deck when news of this gets around. Ha, that was a good naughtycal joke! I'm sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heretic Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 So there goes the oceans? Pretty cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Awesome. Can't wait to read more on the how's and what's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Grimes Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Langdon Algur Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 How much energy is needed to transfer the seawater to a useable fuel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 So I assume they will be optimizing the process so it can work on board the ships themselves? Hope they have measures to prevent any fish and other creatures from being sucked up.So it uses seawater, but is the water excreted at the end of process, or will we eventually be watching ocean levels drop because of increasing usage of this technology? I'd assume there will need to be a complete reworking of the raw water systems. The sounds of it are that it would give off CO2 which wouldn't be bad. I don't think dropping sea levels is our major concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I don't think dropping sea levels is our major concern. Help combat all that melting ice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
"Bull" Horvat Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 anything that'll help lower them gas prices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Standing_Tall#37 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 We wouldn't have to dig up northern Alberta... wait a minute... who cares about Alberta. Those of us that make $150,000 a year, because our industry wants wages to be competitive with them to keep us in bc(by competitive I mean $20-$15/hour) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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