Scientists turn Air into Petrol

HOORAY FOR SCIENCE!!!!!

And on the BBC. (I recommend the audio on this one)

A team of British scientists claim to have turned fresh air into petrol. A company called Air Fuel Synthesis manufactured five litres of petrol from a small refinery using carbon and water vapour.

Peter Harrison the company's chief exectutive explained that Air Fuel Synthesis "use renewable energy to take carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water to make methanol. The methanol is then converted to petrol".

The Today programme's science correspondent Tom Feilden told the presenter Justin Webb that it is "clever" that the company "used renewable energy to fuel the process".

"The important thing however is the ratio between energy in and energy out" he added. Until you can "market this project at a price that is affordable it is a bit of a pipe dream".

That seems to be the problem with renewable energy sources, the sheer cost of being able to mass produce it on a global scale, well that and the shadowy kabals that own oil companies which don't want us to adopt clean energy on a global scale.

Originally posted by Jedi Sheriff
That seems to be the problem with renewable energy sources, the sheer cost of being able to mass produce it on a global scale, well that and the shadowy kabals that own oil companies which don't want us to adopt clean energy on a global scale.

Using clean energy to make dirty fuel is not an environment saver in the first place. I'm not sure of exactly the intended use. IIRC, Europeans use petrol to refer to gasoline but the process has to create other petroleum products so there are probably industrial applications.

Will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Now, if we can only grow money on trees...

The more amazing//useful thing would be if they could synthesize Hydrogen fuel from the water vapor in air.

Still, it sounds impressive on a purely scientific level.

Nothing will likely come from this.

There was/is this multimillionaire scientist who funded his own project back in the late mid 90's to make a cheap diesel alternative out of water and a light oil. The product worked in any diesel (compression) engine, produced a fraction of the pollution and was cents on the dollar to produce.

He demonstrated how easy it was to make using a bucket of water, a bucket of the cheap light oil and a small handheld pump that sucked in both liquids, mixed them internally and spat out a light milky substance that was now the fuel into a third bucket.

Not heard anything from him since. He even commented "the people opposing me are very powerful".

I kind of doubt that. If it's that simple then it would be impossible for any kind of shadow corporation/Illuminati to stop it short of censoring the information, which clearly didn't happen because you seem to have knowledge of it.

And besides, that's nothing like this discovery. This is something that takes world class scientists with a huge budget and a laboratory to do. What you just described could be done in a garage by an average Joe.

i wasn't implying they killed and buried him in concrete, nothing sinister like that. More likely big oil used their pull to bury the invention under miles of bureaucracy or outright bought the invention from him and buried it.

IIRC, it cost him a few million to get it usable. There's often a high cost to discover something initially, while reproducing it after is cheap(er).

Originally posted by Robtard
i wasn't implying they killed and buried him in concrete, nothing sinister like that. More likely big oil used their pull to bury the invention under miles of bureaucracy or outright bought the invention from him and buried it.

IIRC, it cost him a few million to get it usable. There's often a high cost to discover something initially, while reproducing it after is cheap(er).

Originally posted by Omega Vision
The pump can't be all that complicated. You say the oil is cheap, so it can't be all that hard to find. It's easy to find three buckets.

Yes, after the R&D (ie $$$) had been done, it's cheap and easy to make, that was his angle. He invented a cheap and easy to make diesel alternative.

wouldn't the biggest issue be that the only infrastructure in existence to refuel a car away from home are gas-stations owned by petrol companies?

unless the fuel source is self-contained within the vehicle, or government decides to invest billions into infrastructure (ha!), that gives petrol companies a fairly stark advantage...

Originally posted by Robtard
Yes, after the R&D (ie $$$) had been done, it's cheap and easy to make, that was his angle. He invented a cheap and easy to make diesel alternative.

So, if it's real and not just something you made up/heard from a guy then why is it that no one's doing it?

Originally posted by Omega Vision
Yes...and now that its been invented there's **** all the gas companies can do about it.

So, if it's real and not just something you made up/heard from a guy then why is it that no one's doing it?

Buying the patent is one way to bury an invention. Slamming an invention with bureaucracy is another. I know you've heard of similar happening before.

Was on the news, actually. Why the **** would I make something like that up? There's no benefit for me.

Originally posted by Robtard
Buying the patent is one way to bury an invention.

Was on the news, actually. Why the **** would I make something like that up?

Buying the patent wouldn't stop someone from anonymously disseminating the information on the internet.

Oh my. I wouldn't, as there's literally nothing to gain, not even eCool points like having the biggest penis or winning 100 street fights.

Yeah, it could actually. Maybe less so now in 2012.

Don't mind Omega's aggressiveness. He has a hangover from his 21st birthday/first raping by Mindset party.

Lol, I'm not mad. Bit confused by him thinking I'd make a story like this up though.

I also forget his age. The internet of the 90's wasn't like the internet of today.

Edit: Oh, happy birthday Omega.

Thanks. 🙂

That was amazing invention.