Audi Just Invented Fuel Made From CO₂ and Water

a reply to: dragonridr

Yes it is a new process.

As far as the price goes the video and article are from April this year so I do not believe that is enough time for prices to change.

BTW they do not sell gas/diesel by the gallon over there.

All the info can be found in the link the OP provided.

why would they be bothering with this when you can build a hydrogen generator smaller than a football that will run your car on water, with no pollutants, no waste and 0 environmental impact for less than $1000 ?

They won't mass produce or even ALLOW the mass production of something like this until they can make as much money from it as they do Oil, what that tells me is that Very soon, fresh water is going to be Extremely scarce and expensive.

a reply to: AkaDeDrow
Producing hydrogen costs more energy than you get from burning it. Having a generator to run a car is pointless c

I feel the same way we have heard the same story b4 but when will the cycle break???? If ever??? Our we capable? i mean of course were capable....buuuuut... I mean I'm 23 I am nowhere near the alternative thinking that is ATS, and I may not be able to articulate as well as some of you, but I definitely feel cheated! Technology is advancing as fast as we can even purchase it... I mean I wonder why we can't live in harmony with nature even though there are ways?! It's money.... Yet I keep wondering if we could just give, imagine what we can find out, but... Of course it won't happen... This whole illusion of $$$ makes the world go round... It becomes overwhelming that more people aren't aware of alternative energy... A lot of young people I know never give any thought! I feel left out... But there must be change in the air, more people becoming aware!

a reply to: Look2theStars

This isn't "alternative energy". It takes more energy to produce than you get back from the fuel.

originally posted by: newWorldSamurai
And of course their stock is down (at the time of this post). All the big investment banks know it will never see the light of day.

I agree this has been the theme of so many of my posts against man made CO2 causing global warming and government needing taxes that raise the cost of doing business to solve it. GREAT thread!

originally posted by: lordcomac
Fuel is commonly referred to as a hydrocarbon by people in the field.

Water is Hydrogen and Oxygen.
Carbon Dioxide is Carbon and Oxygen.

Logically, you can make a hydrocarbon out of these things with a waste product of Oxygen.


The trouble comes when you actually do it- hydrocarbons burn, releasing energy.
It takes energy to recombine them, too.

Probably more than they gave out.

If it takes ten gallons of diesel fuel to run the generator enough to make the energy to produce a gallon of synthetic diesel fuel, the technology is pretty much a waste of time.

This is the same reason you don't see windmills on electric cars. Sure, the technology exists- but it's pointless.

Well the neat part about the need for input of a source of extra energy is a lot of research on Solar power has been out there for a long time and the powers that be can't put it back in the box to hide it.

originally posted by: Gemwolf

originally posted by: rickymouse
... if there are any byproducts of the chemicals they use that can have a negative effect on the environment...

That's a pretty important question. They are messing with "our" water after all. It would be pointless or even deadly if they stopped using oil only to start using up our planet's water... Unlike popular believe we don't have an infinite amount of water either. And - this is just my opinion - water is slightly more important than oil (or anything else for that matter)...

We can all see how great fracking has been for the planet...

NO sweat, the reaction of burning carbons naturally creates H20 and CO2..... Isn't that neat? There will be an NOx by product that always occurs in our Nitrogen atmosphere but that is being minimized now with temperature of the combustion chambers when processes are licensed by the EPA.

Kudos to Grimpachi for posting this earlier, I hadn't got that far in the thread.

a reply to: AkaDeDrow

I think it will shut up the "CO2 is creating a planet wide disaster" crowd. I am for it.

I am off to work sorry for the multi posts......

Time to declare Germany a fascist state and invade it... GO!!

Sounds nice but when they say it cost about 1-1.50 euro for 1 litre fuel, are taxes included?
Most costs for fuel in europe are taxes.
If taxes are not included, the governments will have huge losses and so must tax this new fuel, driving the price up.
About 61% of the fuel costs are taxes in my country! (holland).
So if you get 61% taxes above that 1-1.50 euro it will cost about 2-2.40 euro/litre.

originally posted by: Gemwolf

An Audi research facility in Dresden, Germany, has managed to create the first batches of diesel fuel with a net-zero carbon footprint — made from carbon dioxide (CO2), water and renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power.
...
Manufacturing involves first breaking down steam into hydrogen and oxygen through high-temperature electrolysis. The hydrogen then reacts with CO2 to create a liquid called “blue crude.” This is then refined to make the e-diesel.
Article and images

How many times have we heard this exact same story? "Brand new environmentally friendly fuel invented!" - never to hear anything about it ever again. The usual reasoning is that oil companies buy the inventions/bio fuels to ensure that we have to rely on oil to keep moving... This time, it may be different seeing that Audi isn't exactly just some guy in his garage willing to "sell out".

Car companies have been working towards fuel efficient cars in the past 5 years or so, with a lot of electric cars seeing the light, i.e. car companies have definitely changed their attitude towards the oil companies and environmentalists... So, I think this may be different for a change. If someone's going to bring us an alternative to oil, I can imagine it being Audi...

Here's to hoping...

No, the reason is that it's always a pile of nonsense uttered by some quack who's full of baloney. That said, this one looks like it has legs. For myself, I think turning water into fuel is sheer idiocy. Water is the single most important substance on the planet. Burning it to drive cars? Yeah, that seems like the dumbest thing we could ever come up with.

Does anyone remember the Lockheed fusion reactors? You know the one that is about the size of a small truck bed but can be scaled up and down as needed? I suspect AUDI might become a INVESTOR in them as well and this tech they invented will be traded to them for a piece of the fusion pie.

Oil companies will become Fusion power companies. Lockheeds process in their own words produces more energy than it takes to start the process and sustain the reaction.

NAZIs already got this tech back in WW2. They mixed sea water and a few tablets of some catalyst in
their gas tank, and the Jeep's engine runned fine.

a reply to: Rapophis

Of course, you have a source?

a reply to: lordcomac

You didn't read the article then.

It doesn't take '10 gallons of diesel fuel, to make 1 gallon of e-diesel mate...the process is carbon-zero, meaning the energy required for electrolysis is taken from renewable sources...they list wind and solar, but they could use many more if this got properly off the ground on an industrial scale.

I think you may have read too many threads about 'free energy' and the arguments about conservation of energy...Audi are not claiming to produce 'free energy' or 'overunity', they are producing 'carbon neutral' diesel, which is a clean form of diesel.

The emphasis is on 'clean'..not 'free'.

originally posted by: Justoneman
a reply to: AkaDeDrow

I think it will shut up the "CO2 is creating a planet wide disaster" crowd. I am for it.

I am off to work sorry for the multi posts......

You are misrepresenting the CO2 problem. The problem en-lies in adding more CO2 to the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels(and releasing their carbon as CO2 as a by-product).

This process takes CO2 out of the atmosphere to make the fuel. The CO2 released from burning that fuel is in theory a zero sum cycle.

a reply to: jaffo

You do realize that water(H20) is a by product along with CO2 in combustion?

That is, when you drive your car both CO2 and H20 come out your tail pipe. The water used in this process will be returned to the atmosphere.

a reply to: Rapophis

If you're referring to the variation of the Fischer–Tropsch process German chemists used (re: ersatz fuels), it isn't quite as simple as you make it sound.
On a side note, I didn't know the Nazi's had Jeeps?

The Fischer–Tropsch process makes fuel cheaper and can use trash and sewage as feed stock.
You can also add to the process by adding stack gas from power plants.
en.wikipedia.org...

Even the oil industry has got on the FT band wagon for when oil runs out.
www.bp.com...