Rob - South Africa during the aparthied years when sanctions applied was quite successful at making fueloil etc from coal.Hi Lol,
You asked "Can we grow enough crops to make bio-diesel a fuel ..." In the strict terms of how bio-diesel is defined (vegetable oil chemically processed into FAME), very probably not.
There is enough "surplus" vegetable oil to allow a 5% mix with pump diesel throughout Europe. And approximately enough "surplus" alcohol to add 5% of alcohol into petrol, but this alcohol would be better used making the ester part of the bio-diesel FAME - simply because a diesel engine is more efficient than spark ignition.
But, if the Shell "synthesised diesel" pilot plant in Germany is successful in economic terms then this could be a solution.
Will this process ever be used to make petrol? It could but probably won't, it would use additional energy at the refinery for the further processing, and spark ignition engines (petrol, CNG, LPG) are less efficient than diesel - 25% of the energy in petrol goes into movement as opposed to 33% with diesel.
It makes sense to follow the most efficient route - and today this means diesel - but it would be great if newer or different engine technologies could push engine efficiency towards 50%.
North Sea Oil:
The original discoveries are all in "depletion", which means that they are down to the last 5% or 10% of capacity.
Newer fields have been discovered and are in production, but the UK is now an importer of oil.
Coal:
Probably yes, in the very early 80's I remember visiting a research station somewhere around Edinburgh, and for some reason I think it was operated by the Gas industry, that was researching the production of petrol from coal. It was successful, but the price of crude oil dropped enormously and I think the station closed down.
Robert
Thanks Rob, that has filled in a few blanks. I thought that with the over production of some crops there might be room to grow a larger slice of our fuel. Seems farmers subsidies get paid on the fact that they are capable of growing crops, just thought that if there was the market for it, a more substantial proportion could be used for bio.Hi Lol,
You asked "Can we grow enough crops to make bio-diesel a fuel ..." In the strict terms of how bio-diesel is defined (vegetable oil chemically processed into FAME), very probably not.
There is enough "surplus" vegetable oil to allow a 5% mix with pump diesel throughout Europe. And approximately enough "surplus" alcohol to add 5% of alcohol into petrol, but this alcohol would be better used making the ester part of the bio-diesel FAME - simply because a diesel engine is more efficient than spark ignition.
But, if the Shell "synthesised diesel" pilot plant in Germany is successful in economic terms then this could be a solution.
Will this process ever be used to make petrol? It could but probably won't, it would use additional energy at the refinery for the further processing, and spark ignition engines (petrol, CNG, LPG) are less efficient than diesel - 25% of the energy in petrol goes into movement as opposed to 33% with diesel.
It makes sense to follow the most efficient route - and today this means diesel - but it would be great if newer or different engine technologies could push engine efficiency towards 50%.
North Sea Oil:
The original discoveries are all in "depletion", which means that they are down to the last 5% or 10% of capacity.
Newer fields have been discovered and are in production, but the UK is now an importer of oil.
Coal:
Probably yes, in the very early 80's I remember visiting a research station somewhere around Edinburgh, and for some reason I think it was operated by the Gas industry, that was researching the production of petrol from coal. It was successful, but the price of crude oil dropped enormously and I think the station closed down.
Robert
best coment of the year, chuck a prawn on for me mateJust a question? Can you get a bbq connector fitted to the car?
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mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmFinger on lips now L.B. They are talking about fuel, not 4x4s that in itself is an achievement. Lets not blow it all by mentioning the two dirty words (4x4, Anti) (doh!) and let them get on with it. Quiet now, fingers on lips...