Synthetic transportation fuels

We have the technology - Do we have the political will?

A few weeks ago we were paying over $3 for a gallon of gas. Today the price of gasoline is much lower… I wonder, how long before $3 gas prices return.

Hurricanes off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana pushed the price of oil over $70 per barrel. What would another Arab oil embargo do? Or, God forbid, what would happen if Iran gave a nuclear bomb to Islamic Militants who then detonate the bomb in the Saudi oil fields, destroying Saudi oil production? The price of oil would skyrocket over $200 per barrel. Gasoline and diesel would rise over $5 per gallon, and could go as high as $6-$10. Are we prepared for that?

The U.S. Military is concerned about America’s dependence on foreign oil. Click on the following URL addresses and read what the Pentagon is telling our Governors and Legislators: www.westgov.org/wieb/meetings/boardsprg2005/briefing/ppt/congressionalbrief.pdf

The U.S. Department of Defense has asked the governors of the Western States to consider the development of local synthetic fuel refineries: “The Department of Defense (DoD) is working to produce synthetic fuels from coal, biomass, and oil shale. Given the West's vast reserves of these natural resources, DoD would like to open a dialogue with Western governors on the opportunities to the West that such an effort presents.”
www.westgov.org/wieb/meetings/boardsprg2005/briefing/CleanFuelsPro.pdf

It is time for U.S. leaders—our Governors and elected Legislators—to end our nation’s oil dependence.

American technology has put a man on the moon, built an orbiting space station, mapped the human genome, and successfully landed robotic exploration vehicles on Mars. It seems reasonable to believe that American scientists and engineers could also achieve a down-to-earth practical accomplishment like developing a technology that will make synthetic gasoline and diesel from America's vast natural resources.

Can synthetic fuels made in America replace imported oil? Yes! The place to stop oil dependence is at the refinery. The job of the oil refinery is to break-down the crude oil at the molecular level and recombine the molecules in such a way that they become useful fuels and chemicals. The refinery only needs a cheap source of hydrocarbon molecules. In the past, crude oil has always been the cheapest source.

The USA has an abundance of natural resources that can replace imported crude oil: coal, biomass and oil shale. When crude oil is selling above $40 per barrel, it is cheaper to make gasoline and diesel from coal or other sources of hydrocarbon molecules, using a technology known as Fischer-Tropsch chemistry.

Synthetic fuels -diesel, gasoline and jet fuel- are obtained from synthesis gas, which is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules produced by a process involving the gasification of hydrocarbons. Any source of hydrocarbons can be used to produce the synthesis gas, which then feeds into the Fischer-Tropsch process to obtain synthetic fuels.

When synthesis gas is produced from coal, the synthetic fuels obtained are called CTL (Coal-to-Liquids). When synthesis gas is produced from biomass, the synthetic fuels obtained are called BTL (Biomass-to-Liquid).

Ethanol will blend with synthetic gasoline the same as with gasoline made from crude oil. And, biodiesel will blend with synthetic diesel the same as with diesel made from crude oil. There would be no conflict between a BTL synthetic fuels refinery and existing ethanol and biodiesel producers.

www.AmericanEnergyIndependence.com

"It is a basic lesson of chemistry that the energy needs we meet today with petroleum can be met by other hydrocarbons, including natural gas, coal, tar sands and oil shale, for which there are centuries' worth of supplies, and environmentally sound methods of production available today or within economic reach. Natural petroleum has a cost advantage as a liquid fuel but the cost of making synthetic petroleum from coal or tar sands is modest and likely to fall substantially if carried out on a large scale and with appropriate research and development.

"The alleged cost advantages of natural petroleum over synthetic petroleum have probably already disappeared when we recognize the U.S. is paying a fortune in finances and blood for Middle East oil that is not counted in the price at the pump. The dollar costs of U.S. military operations in the Middle East attributable to policing the energy flows are tens of billions a year, if not $100 billion or more. This amounts to a hidden subsidy to oil use of ten dollars or more per barrel exported from the region."
– America's disastrous energy plan By Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University.

www.AmericanEnergyIndependence.com/nationalsecurity.html

Woot! F4A is back! I've always enjoyed your posts on nuclear energy.

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