An Unworkable Approach to Synthetic Fuels in The Netherlands
Here’s an article on synthetic fuels in Spanish, beneath which are my (sketchy) translation and comments.
El innovador combustible hecho de aire que se está produciendo en Paises Bajos y con el que quieren revolucionar la aviación.
La empresa dirigida por Oskar Meijerink, ubicada en los Paises bajos, planea hacerlo con una tecnología para captar del aire el CO2, el gas que contribuye al calentamiento global.
En paralelo, se separa el hidrógeno y oxígeno presentes en el agua. El hidrógeno se combina con el CO2 previamente capturado de la atmósfera para formar un gas sintético que puede ser transformado en combustible para aviones.
La planta piloto alimentada por energía solar busca producir 1.000 litros de combustible para aeronaves al día, pero eso es como cinco minutos volando en un Boeing 747.
Meijerink admite que falta mucho para que este combustible sea comercialmente competitivo, “El principal elemento es el costo”, reconoce, “El combustible tradicional de aeronaves es relativamente barato. El CO2 del aire se puede captar, pero con una tecnología emergente y cara.”
Con los efectos del Corona virus de este año y su efecto en la industria aeronáutica, sin duda pasarán varios años más antes que se pueda hablar de bio-combustibles para la aviación. En este momento, es demasiado caro. Las aerolíneas se ajustarán tan rápido como grande sea la presión para que cambien una vez superada la crisis actual.
Otras compañías están trabajando en sistemas similares de captura de aire, incluyendo Carbon Engineering en Canadá y la estadounidense Global Thermostat.
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An innovative fuel made of air is being produced in the Low Countries (The Netherlands) with the goal of revolutionizing aviation.
The company, directed by Oskar Meijerink, located in the The Netherlands, plans to make the fuel with a technology to capture CO2 out of the air, the gas that contributes to global warming.
In parallel, hydrogen is separated from the oxygen in water. The hydrogen combines with the CO2 previously captured to form a synthetic gas that can be transformed into jet fuel.
The pilot plant feeds solar energy to produce 1,000 liters of jet fuel per day, but that is only enough to power a Boeing 747 for five minutes.
Meijerink admits that there is much lacking for this fuel to become commercially competitive. “The principal element is cost,” he recognizes. “Traditional jet fuel is relatively cheap. CO2 can be captured from the air, but it’s an emerging technology that is expensive.”
Given the effects of this year’s coronavirus on the aviation industry, without doubt it will take more years to be able to say that bio-fuels can be used for aviation. At this moment, it’s too expensive. Airlines will adjust so quickly and precisely once we’re past the actual crisis. (whatever that means with respect to synthetic fuel)
Other companies are working on similar systems to capture the air, including Carbon Engineering in Canada and Global Thermostat in the U.S.
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Comments:
There are two reasons that this approach will never approach cost-effectiveness:
1) The atmospheric concentration of CO2 in the air is just over 400 PPM, which means that 99.96% of the air is something other than CO2 (mostly nitrogen). For this reason, only point-sources of CO2, e.g., coal power and concrete manufacturing plants, are possibly viable feedstocks.
2) The processes that produce synthetic fuel are heavily endothermic, meaning that lots of energy needs to go into the process to make it happen. Unless that energy is essentially free, as is the case with off-peak wind or nuclear, the cost structure makes no sense whatsoever.
Also, not to pick nits, but this isn’t a biofuel. Biofuels and synthetic fuels are carbon-neutral, meaning that they emit the same CO2 they previously took in, but they are two different things.
