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Posted by David Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Tuesday, November 09, 2010 at 20:52:49 :
In Reply to: Fischer-Tropsch = Molecular Depolymerisation? posted by Chriscase [75.36.32.141] on Tuesday, November 09, 2010 at 19:49:31 :
It's closer to polymerization. The first part of it is the old "water gas" reaction that they used in city gas plants: blow steam across red-hot coal in the absence of air and you get carbon monoxide and hydrogen, both of which are flammable. What Fischer-Tropsch does is use a catalyst to link up those carbon monoxides and hydrogens into hydrocarbons. The exact results can be tweaked depending on the pressure and temperature and the catalyst you use. It's a little different than the breaking down of complicated organic materials like in the chicken guts converter you mentioned. In Fischer-Tropsch, you're assembling hydrocarbons from carbon and water rather than disassembling fat and protein. Of course it takes energy to break down the water, so some of the carbon is consumed in the process.
Fischer-Tropsch oil is no new age miracle fuel. The process was invented in the 1920s, and used extensively by the Nazis in WWII (The first war for oil, in both theaters). I guess I've paid attention to this because when I was a boy, my father would tell me about bombing the synthetic oil plants, so I read up on it.
I'm not saying it's a panacea. I'm just saying it's a lot more practical than any of those "new age miracle fuels" and it's the only alternative to oil that can do everything oil does, at a reasonable price, and do it for at least a century or so. After that, we're still screwed. By that time, maybe people will be flying around on fusion-powered hovercraft. More likely they'll be hoofing it. Maybe now and then someone will fire up a Powerwagon at the state fair, running on neat alcohol, just for old-time's sake.