British Scientists Create Gasoline From Thin Air (And Water)!

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With gas prices inching up, as well as, the constant reminder of the harmful environmental impact of fossil fuels, the quest to find another source of fuel has heated up considerably. Over the last few years, we have seen many amazing alternatives ranging from electricity to bio-fuel but none come even close to this latest invention - Fuel manufactured from air and water! That is exactly what engineers and scientists at U.K. based Air Fuel Synthesis (AFS) claim to have created.

In order to manufacture this magical 'green' gasoline, the team begins by extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and hydrogen from water. The two gases are then combined in a reactor. Then, with the help of a catalyst, the hydrocarbon mixture is converted into methanol, which is then transformed into usable fuel using a commonly known procedure called the MOBIL methanol-to-gasoline reaction.

Aside from the obvious advantage of using up harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, this synthetic fuel is also better for the environment. That's because it uses the exact raw materials that are required to make methanol and, therefore, does not create the harmful byproducts that result when fossil fuels are burned.

This breakthrough technique that took two years and $1.6 million pounds to develop is of course still in its infancy. In the last three months, the engineers at AFS have only been able to create a total of 5 liters (1.32 gallons) of the synthetic gasoline. However, Air Fuel Synthesis CEO Peter Harrison believes that since the method has been proven, making the fuel on a larger scale will not be that difficult. That's because the raw materials are abundantly available, and the refining process involves many of the steps that are already being used in the commercial manufacturing of other products. This means that the equipment for mass production can be just bought and assembled.

In fact, AFS is already planning a commercial refinery that will be ready for larger scale fuel production by 2015. However, the gas produced will not be sold to stations around the country, but instead be reserved for race cars and other vehicles that require special fuel.

Also since the actual cost of producing this amazing gas is not yet known, it is hard to determine whether it will ever be freely available to the general public. But the fact that something this radical has been developed is good news for all of us!

Resources: geekosystem.com, treehugger.com,newsdaily.com

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322 Comments
  • 12345678910almost 12 years
    It DOESN'T create harmful gases like carbon monoxide so it DOES help the enviroment
    • 12345678910almost 12 years
      Pretty nice scientific discovery and important too
      • Someone almost 12 years
        I have yet to understand why they would not open the fuel to the public. I mean come on racecars? Is NASCAR that important? all the annoucer can say is "And there taking another left turn! ooooohhh looks like Manny decided to take a right instead that did not go well for him....."
        • Jolly Jorginaalmost 12 years
          I am doing this for a project i love this topic. ecofriendly gas awsome!!!!!!!!!
          • Isabel E.almost 12 years
            I don't get it aren't the people supposed to sell the new gasoline to the gas stations so that when we use it for the public's cars and reduce air pollution. Just using it for race cars will only help the environment a teensie weensie bit.......:/
            • jolly Jorginaalmost 12 years
              This is interesting
              • im germanalmost 12 years
                when the cars use the gas the bad car used gass will go back into the air and wouldent be that helpful
                • rpulaski
                  rpulaskialmost 12 years
                  cool
                  • malialmost 12 years
                    I hope we can use the fuel for the environment.
                    • Namealmost 12 years
                      You know, the gas is still used by cars, making it carbon monoxide, which doesn't exactly help with our global warming problem...It just helps with the "low on resources" issue. Sorry about being negative.