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== Ammonia ==
== Ammonia ==
[[Ammonia]] can be used as fuel. A small machine can be set up to create the fuel and it is used where it is made. Benefits of ammonia include, no need for oil, zero emissions, low cost,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-pair-ammonia-fuel-cars-cents.html |first=Bob |last=Yirka |title=Pair claim they can make ammonia to fuel cars for just 20 cents per liter |publisher=Physorg.com |date=2011-09-05 |accessdate=2011-09-12}}</ref> and distributed production reducing transport and related pollution.
[[Ammonia]] can be used as fuel. A small machine can be set up to create the fuel and it is used where it is made. Benefits of ammonia include, no need for oil, zero emissions, low cost,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-pair-ammonia-fuel-cars-cents.html |first=Bob |last=Yirka |title=Pair claim they can make ammonia to fuel cars for just 20 cents per liter |publisher=Physorg.com |date=2011-09-05 |accessdate=2011-09-12}}</ref> and distributed production reducing transport and related pollution. Ammonia is the Lebron James of alternative fuel. Happy? Chuck Norris cuts knives with butter.


== Carbon neutral and negative fuels ==
== Carbon neutral and negative fuels ==

Revision as of 19:10, 28 January 2013

Typical Brazilian filling station with four alternative fuels for sale: biodiesel (B3), gasohol (E25), neat ethanol (E100), and compressed natural gas (CNG). Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.

Alternative fuels, known as non-conventional or advanced fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels. Conventional fuels include: fossil fuels (petroleum (oil), coal, propane, and natural gas), as well as nuclear materials such as uranium and thorium, as well as artificial radioisotope fuels that are made in nuclear reactors.

Some well-known alternative fuels include biodiesel, bioalcohol (methanol, ethanol, butanol), chemically stored electricity (batteries and fuel cells), hydrogen, non-fossil methane, non-fossil natural gas, vegetable oil, and other biomass sources.

Background

The main purpose of fuel is to store energy, which should be in a stable form and can be easily transported to the place of production. Almost all fuels are chemical fuels. The user employs this fuel to generate heat or perform mechanical work, such as powering an engine. It may also be used to generate electricity, which is then used for heating, lighting or electronics purposes.

Biofuel

Main article: Biofuel
Alternative fuel dispensers at a regular gasoline station in Arlington, Virginia. B20 biodiesel at the left and E85 ethanol at the right.

Biofuels are also considered a renewable source. Although renewable energy is used mostly to generate electricity, it is often assumed that some form of renewable energy or a percentage is used to create alternative fuels.

Biomass

Main article: Biomass

Biomass in the energy production industry is living and recently dead biological material which can be used as fuel or for industrial production.

Algae based fuels

Main article: Algae fuel

Algae based biofuels have been hyped in the media as a potential panacea to our Crude Oil based Transportation problems. Algae could yield more than 2000 gallons of fuel per acre per year of production.[1] Algae based fuels are being successfully tested by the U.S. Navy[2] Algae based plastics show potential to reduce waste and the cost per pound of algae plastic is expected to be cheaper than traditional plastic prices.[3]

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is made from animal fats or vegetable oils, renewable resources that come from plants such as, soybean, sunflowers, corn, olive, peanut, palm, coconut, safflower, canola, sesame, cottonseed, etc. Once these fats or oils are filtered from their hydrocarbons and then combined with alcohol like methanol, biodiesel is brought to life from this chemical reaction. These raw materials can either be mixed with pure diesel to make various proportions, or used alone. Despite one’s mixture preference, biodiesel will release a smaller number of its pollutants (carbon monoxide particulates and hydrocarbons) than conventional diesel, because biodiesel burns both cleaner and more efficiently. Even with regular diesel’s reduced quantity of sulfur from the ULSD (ultra-low sulfur diesel) invention, biodiesel exceeds those levels because it is sulfur-free.[4]

Alcohol fuels

Main articles: Alcohol fuel, Butanol fuel, Ethanol fuel, and Methanol fuel

Methanol and Ethanol fuel are primary sources of energy; they are convenient fuels for storing and transporting energy. These alcohols can be used in internal combustion engines as alternative fuels. Butanol has another advantage: it is the only alcohol-based motor fuel that can be transported readily by existing petroleum-product pipeline networks, instead of only by tanker trucks and railroad cars. [citation needed]

Ammonia

Ammonia can be used as fuel. A small machine can be set up to create the fuel and it is used where it is made. Benefits of ammonia include, no need for oil, zero emissions, low cost,[5] and distributed production reducing transport and related pollution. Ammonia is the Lebron James of alternative fuel. Happy? Chuck Norris cuts knives with butter.

Carbon neutral and negative fuels

Carbon neutral fuel is synthetic fuel — such as methane, gasoline, diesel fuel or jet fuel — produced from renewable or nuclear energy used to hydrogenate waste carbon dioxide recycled from power plant flue exhaust gas or derived from carbonic acid in seawater.[6][7][8][9] Such fuels are potentially carbon neutral because they do not result in a net increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases.[10][11] To the extent that carbon neutral fuels displace fossil fuels, or if they are produced from waste carbon or seawater carbonic acid, and their combustion is subject to carbon capture at the flue or exhaust pipe, they result in negative carbon dioxide emission and net carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere, and thus constitute a form of greenhouse gas remediation.[12][13][14] Such carbon neutral and negative fuels can be produced by the electrolysis of water to make hydrogen used in the Sabatier reaction to produce methane which may then be stored to be burned later in power plants as synthetic natural gas, transported by pipeline, truck, or tanker ship, or be used in gas to liquids processes such as the Fischer–Tropsch process to make traditional transportation or heating fuels.[15][16][17]

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Carbon neutral fuels have been proposed for distributed storage for renewable energy, minimizing problems of wind and solar intermittency, and enabling transmission of wind, water, and solar power through existing natural gas pipelines. Such renewable fuels could alleviate the costs and dependency issues of imported fossil fuels without requiring either electrification of the vehicle fleet or conversion to hydrogen or other fuels, enabling continued compatible and affordable vehicles.[15] Germany has built a 250 kilowatt synthetic methane plant which they are scaling up to 10 megawatts.[18][19][20] Commercial developments are taking place in Columbia, South Carolina,[21] Camarillo, California,[22] and Darlington, England.[23]

The least expensive source of carbon for recycling into fuel is flue-gas emissions from fossil-fuel combustion where it can be extracted for about USD $7.50 per ton.[8][11][16] Automobile exhaust gas capture has also been proposed to be economical but would require extensive design changes or retrofitting.[24] Since carbonic acid in seawater is in chemical equilibrium with atmospheric carbon dioxide, extraction of carbon from seawater has been studied.[25][26] Researchers have estimated that carbon extraction from seawater would cost about $50 per ton.[9] Carbon capture from ambient air is more costly, at between $600 and $1000 per ton and is considered impractical for fuel synthesis or carbon sequestration.[11][12]

Nighttime wind power is considered the most economical form of electrical power with which to synthesize fuel, because the load curve for electricity peaks sharply during the warmest hours of the day, but wind tends to blow slightly more at night than during the day. Therefore, the price of nighttime wind power is often much less expensive than any alternative. Off-peak wind power prices in high wind penetration areas of the U.S. averaged 1.64 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2009, but only 0.71 cents/kWh during the least expensive six hours of the day.[15] Typically, wholesale electricity costs 2 to 5 cents/kWh during the day.[27] Commercial fuel synthesis companies suggest they can produce fuel for less than petroleum fuels when oil costs more than $55 per barrel.[28] The U.S. Navy estimates that shipboard production of jet fuel from nuclear power would cost about $6 per gallon. While that was about twice the petroleum fuel cost in 2010, it is expected to be much less than the market price in less than five years if recent trends continue. Moreover, since the delivery of fuel to a carrier battle group costs about $8 per gallon, shipboard production is already much less expensive.[29] However, U.S. civilian nuclear power is considerably more expensive than wind power.[30] The Navy's estimate that 100 megawatts can produce 41,000 gallons of fuel per day indicates that terrestrial production from wind power would cost less than $1 per gallon.[31]

Hydrogen

Main article: Hydrogen fuel

Hydrogen is an emissionless fuel. The byproduct of hydrogen burning is water, although some mono-nitrogen oxides NOx are produced when hydrogen is burned with air.[32][33]

HCNG

Main article: HCNG

HCNG (or H2CNG) is a mixture of compressed natural gas and 4-9 percent hydrogen by energy.[34]

Liquid nitrogen

Liquid nitrogen is another type of emissionless fuel.

Compressed air

The air engine is an emission-free piston engine using compressed air as fuel. Unlike hydrogen, compressed air is about one-tenth as expensive as fossil oil, making it an economically attractive alternative fuel.

Natural Gas Vehicles

Compressed natural gas (CNG) and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) are two a cleaner combusting alternatives to conventional liquid automobile fuels.

CNG Fuel Types

CNG vehciles can use both renewable CNG and non-renewable CNG.[35]

Conventional CNG is produced from the many underground natural gas reserves are in widespread production worldwide today. New technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to economically access unconventional gas resources, appear to have increased the supply of natural gas in a fundamental way.[36]

Renewable natural gas or biogas is a methane‐based gas with similar properties to natural gas that can be used as transportation fuel. Present sources of biogas are mainly landfills, sewage and animal/agri‐waste. Based on the process type, biogas can be divided into the following: Biogas produced by anaerobic digestion, Landfill gas collected from landfills, treated to remove trace contaminants, and Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG).[35]

Practacality

Around the world, this gas powers more than 5 million vehicles, and just over 150,000 of these are in the U.S.[37] American usage is growing at a dramatic rate.[38]

Environmental Analysis

Because natural gas emits little pollutants when combusted, cleaner air quality has been measured in urban localities switching to natural gas vehciles [39] Tailpipe CO2 can be reduced by 15‐25% compared to gasoline, diesel.[40] The greatest reductions occur in medium and heavy duty, light duty and refuse truck segments.[40]

CO2 reductions of up to 88% are possible by using biogas.[41]

Similarities to Hydrogen Natural gas, like hydrogen, is another fuel that burns cleanly; cleaner than both gasoline and diesel engines. Also, none of the smog-forming contaminates are emitted. Hydrogen and Natural Gas are both lighter than air and can be mixed toghether.[42]

Nuclear power and radiothermal generators

Main articles: Nuclear power and radiothermal generator

Nuclear reactors

Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei via controlled nuclear reactions. The only controlled method now practical uses nuclear fission in a fissile fuel (with a small fraction of the power coming from subsequent radioactive decay). Use of the nuclear reaction nuclear fusion for controlled power generation is not yet practical, but is an active area of research.

Nuclear power is usually used by using a nuclear reactor to heat a working fluid such as water, which is then used to create steam pressure, which is converted into mechanical work for the purpose of generating electricity or propulsion in water. Today, more than 15% of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power, and over 150 nuclear-powered naval vessels have been built.

In theory, electricity from nuclear reactors could also be used for propulsion in space, but this has yet to be demonstrated in a space flight. Some smaller reactors, such as the TOPAZ nuclear reactor, are built to minimize moving parts, and use methods that convert nuclear energy to electricity more directly, making them useful for space missions, but this electricity has historically been used for other purposes. Power from nuclear fission has been used in a number of spacecraft, all of them unmanned. The Soviets up to 1988 orbited 33 nuclear reactors in RORSAT military radar satellites, where electric power generated was used to power a radar unit that located ships on the Earth's oceans. The U.S. also orbited one experimental nuclear reactor in 1965, in the SNAP-10A mission. No nuclear reactor has been sent into space since 1988.

Radiothermal generators

In addition, radioisotopes have been used as alternative fuels, on both land and in space. Their use on land is declining due to the danger of theft of isotope and environmental damage if the unit is opened. The decay of radioisotopes generates both heat and electricity in many space probes, particularly probes to outer planets where sunlight is weak, and low temperatures is a problem. Radiothermal generators (RTGs) which use such radioisotopes as fuels do not sustain a nuclear chain reaction, but rather generate electricity from the decay of a radioisotope which has (in turn) been produced on Earth as a concentrated power source (fuel) using energy from an Earth-based nuclear reactor.[43]

See also

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References

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External links

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