[ExI] [Extropolis] Fwd: Cheap fuel from coal and solar

[Keith Henson]

"I don't believe we've been burning carbon in water since the dawn of
the industrial revolution."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_gas

You are not up on industrial history.

And yes, carbon monoxide is not good to breathe.   It is made and used
by millions of tons in industrial plants.

Finally, hydrogen made while the sun is up is too damned expensive.
It's not the energy cost as much as the cost of the platinum in the
electrolysis cells and the fact that they are only used part of the
time.

Keith

On Wed, Oct 18, 2023 at 11:24 AM John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Oct 18, 2023 at 1:41 PM Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> > We are going to need fuel for a considerable time. From the dawn of the industrial revolution, H2O + C → H2 + CO (ΔH = +131 kJ/mol)
>
>
> I'm not sure I understand your proposal, I don't believe we've been burning carbon in water since the dawn of the industrial revolution.  And burning carbon in the air is undesirable because it produces a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2), but the reaction you're describing produces carbon monoxide (CO), a far more dangerous pollutant than CO2.
>
>> > The reaction is endothermic, so the fuel must be continually re-heated to maintain the reaction.
>
>
> Presumably the energy to heat it would come from solar energy, but I think it would be better to skip the middleman and just let the solar power make electricity, or if you want chemical energy you could use the solar energy to generate hydrogen from water with no need for carbon to get involved at all.
>
> John K Clark    See what's on my new list at  Extropolis
> cia
>
>
>>
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