How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
There was a previous Topic on an article about this same guy. He suggested using junked cars for fuel...
Quote:
Running on Iron
Metal nanoparticles show promise as future fuels.
In the laboratory and on Capitol Hill, hydrogen has been touted by many as the potential fuel of the future in an age of rising gasoline prices and restricted oil supplies. But David Beach, leader of the Materials Chemistry Group in ORNL's Chemical Sciences Division, believes metallic nanoparticles may be even more promising candidates as a long-term solution to the rising cost of transportation fuels.
He predicts that a car with a modified engine powered by boron powders could drive three times as far as today's gasoline-powered internal combustion engine. Metal fuels, he adds, also offer great potential for unmanned vehicles and battlefield power sources for military uses.
Like hydrogen, a metal fuel is an energy carrier and burns cleanly. But unlike hydrogen, metal fuels—such as iron, aluminum, and boron—possess a higher energy content per unit volume, can be stored and transported at ambient temperatures and pressures, reach combustion at high efficiency in a heat engine, and avoid the high costs of fuel cells.
Large particles of metal do not burn until heated to the metal's boiling point. At this temperature, metal vapor combusts to form metal oxides. Unfortunately, the process leads to very high combustion temperatures, fouling of the internal surfaces of the combustion chamber, and the production of nitrogen oxide pollutants. Metal nanoparticles, however, burn faster and more completely at lower temperatures with no gas phase combustion. "These particles oxidize fast enough that they never reach the peak combustion temperature," Beach says.
_________________ Cogito, ergo non satis bibivi
Walter, there is an unspoken message here.
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:47 am Post subject: Re: Metal nanoparticles show promise as future fuels
The problem I see is how much energy is required to mine or recycle metal and then turn it into nano particles. I'm guessing quite a lot. _________________ The shovel with a wheel - The Wovel.
http://wovel.com/
Joined: Apr 06, 2006 Posts: 2696 Location: 3 miles NW of Champoeg, Republic of Cascadia
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:57 am Post subject: Re: Metal nanoparticles show promise as future fuels
Yeah, but it doesn't have this laundry list of caveats like hydrogen does. Ignites at 150C. No exotic storage, no hard to manafacture fuel cells. According to Wikipedia 63% of boron comes from our good buddies in Turkey. #2 supplier is the US. Probably a lot that could be recycled as well.
He says boron nanoparticles are too costly at the moment, though, but can outperform good ol' gasoline. Sounds like a much more worthwhile venture than hydrogen, ethanol, etc.
Quote:
Beach says that the exhaust gas of metal fuels in a heat engine, such as a gas turbine or Stirling engine, is very clean. "We take the oxygen out of the air, leaving nearly pure nitrogen," he says. "We recover most of the heat using a recuperator and get much closer to the highest efficiency theoretically achievable in an engine.
"An even better energy carrier would be boron, but only if boron nanoparticles could be made at a reasonable cost. Boron is three times better than gasoline in terms of heat per unit weight and heat per unit volume."
_________________ Cogito, ergo non satis bibivi
Walter, there is an unspoken message here.
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:52 pm Post subject: Re: Metal nanoparticles show promise as future fuels
Here is a link to a process researchers use to create boron nano-particles.
It also has an electron scanning picture of an octyloxy-capped amorphous boron nanoparticle. I believe that is the substance the professor was talking about.
Apparently this is the paper where they made the room temperature synthesis. I don't know anything else as it is behind a paywall.
Anyone else have more data on this? _________________ EntropyFails
"Little prigs and three-quarter madmen may have the conceit that the laws of nature are constantly broken for their sakes." -- Friedrich Nietzsche
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