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  1. #1
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    Jet fuel from sea water

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/...-jet-fuel.html

    http://oasys2.confex.com/acs/238nm/t...m/P1260309.HTM

    So what do mags that are a more versed then myself in chemistry think of this? Came across it during my daily readings.

    I am familiar with the Fischer-Tropsch process as it was the way the Germans manufactured fuel during the latter stages of the Second World War.

    How feasible is this in the future?
    Flying the Bluehouse colors in Western Canada! Let me know if you want some rad skis!!

    "He is god of snow; the one called Ullr. Son of Sif, step son of Thor. He is so fierce a bowman and ski-runner that none may contend! He is quite beautiful to look upon and has all the characteristics of a warrior. It is wise to invoke the name of Ullr in duels!"

    -The Gylfaginning

  2. #2
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    pechelman pisses jet fuel
    Quote Originally Posted by Roo View Post
    I don't think I've ever seen mental illness so faithfully rendered in html.

  3. #3
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    I barely know what I'm talking about, but:

    By the most basic thermodynamic principles, you'll spend more energy making the jet fuel than you will get out of it when you burn it. This is why fossil fuels are so great, because the work was already done for us by millions of years of geology.

    So this might be a good way to convert some other form of energy into jet fuel, for the sake of portability and backwards-compatibility. It doesn't solve any energy problems.
    that's all i can think of, but i'm sure there's something else...

  4. #4
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    They'll probably go with an Algae-derived JP-5 instead.

    http://ecogeek.org/component/content/article/2919

  5. #5
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    Tipp=tubby eco geek
    Quote Originally Posted by Roo View Post
    I don't think I've ever seen mental illness so faithfully rendered in html.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rontele View Post
    pechelman pisses jet fuel
    Ha! Classic!
    "All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring."

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gripen View Post
    So what do mags that are a more versed then myself in chemistry think of this?
    I'm for it.

  8. #8
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    Iceman makes jet fuel in jeans.
    Quando paramucho mi amore de felice carathon.
    Mundo paparazzi mi amore cicce verdi parasol.
    Questo abrigado tantamucho que canite carousel.


  9. #9
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    I'm no chemist... and not a military nut either... but where I see that technology leading is much different than both articles seem to suggest? They are all about a "green" fuel angle, I'm thinking it's more about a way to convert and then "store" energy in the portable forms needed for flight as counterfeitfake suggests.

    To detail that last part out a bit... no way to get a nuke power plant on an airplane now, but if you can use the aircraft carriers existing nuke power plant to make aviation fuel from sea water >>> you end up with basically unlimited fuel anywhere anytime. Would be nice not to have to manufacture/transport/stock fuel for that purpose during a time of war for sure.
    pmiP triD remroF

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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by mocwvmit View Post
    I'm no chemist... and not a military nut either... but where I see that technology leading is much different than both articles seem to suggest? They are all about a "green" fuel angle, I'm thinking it's more about a way to convert and then "store" energy in the portable forms needed for flight as counterfeitfake suggests.
    Which isn't an unreasonable idea. Consider wind turbines -- their main problem (aside from relying upon the wind) is that their power output doesn't vary at all with demand and isn't (currently) stored. Power the process behind this by wind turbines, transform the wind into a convenient stored energy source and wind, tidal and other variable energy sources become a potentially more commercially viable proposition.

    edg
    Do you realize that you've just posted an admission of ignorance so breathtaking that it disqualifies you from commenting on any political or economic threads from here on out?

  11. #11
    LittleYellowFriend Guest
    The problem with this is that it is just so much better to pump oil out of the ground because oil is so cheap and abundant; right now at least. But it also shows that when oil does become less abundant (a long time from now) there are already technologies that exist to replace it.

  12. #12
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    I just read an article yesterday that talked about the power storage problem. There is a small company in UT that may have it close to figured out. They have a high capacity battery the size of a refrigerator with a 3600 cycle life. The theory is one charge a day gives you six hours of power for your house and you charge it with solar power but you could also use power off the grid in lower cost hours of the day/night. 20 million of these makes hydro/wind/solar farms more commercially viable because the power they produce does not have to be used immediately and we don't have to build massive storage facilities, just put one in every home. So if you use your own solar for a daytime charge and the grid for a nighttime charge you will have reduced your power costs by half and given a wind farm or whatnot the chance to feed its power into the grid.

    Seems like a greener way to do things, no? Unfortunately they didn't mention anything in the article about what to with the battery in five or ten years when it needs replacing.

    There was another one that I read recently about a quick charge battery. 15 minutes plugged into a 120 volt wall outlet would charge a 15 amp hour battery pack like what's in an electric car. Seems to me that since most current gas stations already have electricity a few extra outlets to charge cars would be an easy thing to add on. Charge me like $5 for 15 minutes and I'll grab a cup of coffee and hit the head while the car charges, maybe a donut too. No new infrastructure needed, as that seems to be the problem with hydrogen, and now electric cars are feasible.

    We have all sorts of opportunities just in front of us and I'm kinda stoked for it. I hope the car I bought last fall is the last fossil fuel powered one I have to buy...

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