Railguns
aren't the only thing the U.S. Navy is bragging about this week.
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
announced they have successfully turned seawater into fuel.
When your car runs out of gas, you find a gas station and fill it up.
For ships and planes, however, there aren't any stations out in the
middle of the ocean. Instead, the Navy's vessels are refueled by oil
tankers that come to them.
All of that will change in the future. By extracting carbon dioxide and
hydrogen gas simultaneously from seawater, and then using a catalytic
converter, scientists created fuel that looks and smells pretty much
the same as regular ol' petroleum-based fuel.
The advantages of seawater-based fuel is twofold. First, the ships
don't need to be redesigned in order to use the new seawater-based fuel
since it's basically the same. Second, the ability to create fuel from
all that water around aircraft carriers means less dependence on oil.
The U.S. Navy envisions ships will be able to create their own fuel for
themselves and for planes. So long oil tankers!
"Game-changing" as the breakthrough is, the U.S. Navy says ships that
generate their own fuel from seawater aren't going to start sailing the
seas anytime soon — they're at least ten years away. For now, the U.S.
Navy's scientists are focusing on how to produce larger quantities of
seawater-based fuel.
AFP,
via
Digital
Journal
Sea water vs. fuel? I have no doubts it can be done. My question is: How many Watts in per BTU out? On what scale? If it works, I think it would be limited to a nuclear powered ship, for use as aviation fuel.
ReplyDeleteignore amos
Rail guns have been tested for decades. Not a big deal.
ReplyDeleteindustrial hemp would completely destroy the oil industry almost overnight. so they made it illegal. they'll make electricity illegal if they have to. or make it unreliable somehow.
ReplyDeleteBut there is a seawater shortage already! We cannot allow the USN to deplete our seawater reserves!
ReplyDeletejd
Don't worry; government will tax the hell out of it, and erect a barrier wall around the country to limit free access to sea water.
ReplyDeleteOn the idea of these new batteries and electric cars: There
ReplyDeleteare a few problems here. Even if rapid charging is possible,
it will not work so long as we are using coal and natural gas
to generate the electricity.
It will result in a huge demand to increase the supply of
electricity, and electrical infrastructure. So long as the tree-
huggers will resist ANY type of power generation, this would
be entirely academic.
If the environmental left actually cared about the planet, they
would be all for nuclear power!
Is this what Barky was talking about when he said that his election meant that "the seas would cease to rise"?
ReplyDeleteNaah.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteIt's only a question of energy. If you have enough energy, synthetic fuels are easy. A small nuclear plant can easily provide fuel for an aircraft carriers fleet.
Given enough cheap energy, resources abound.