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Is carbon-neutral gasoline on the horizon?

A British company is using air and electricity to create synthetic gasoline, but is the elaborate process financially viable?

By Claire_Martin Oct 30, 2012 6:52AM
Air Fuel Synthesis screenshotAir plus electricity equals gasoline, according to a new process developed by British alternative-energy firm Air Fuel Synthesis.

The process is complicated: Scientists mix air with sodium hydroxide, then electrify the resulting sodium carbonate to release carbon dioxide. Next, they combine hydrogen with the carbon dioxide to make a hydrocarbon mixture, or methanol, which is funneled through a gasoline fuel reactor. Then voila, it's ready to burn.

But it's not close to prime time. Since August, the company has created about 1.32 gallons of synthetic fuel that's usable in the tanks of gasoline-burning vehicles.

Since the technique reuses atmospheric carbon dioxide in lieu of burning new hydrocarbons, Air Fuel Synthesis considers it to be carbon-neutral. For the time being, however, this claim isn't totally legit, because electricity from the grid powers the process. But the company plans eventually to use renewable energy sources.

The big question for any experimental alternative energy is always cost. How can a complex method such as the air-electricity conversion be financially feasible? Company executives say that if Air Fuel Synthesis can get the necessary funding to expand beyond its tiny refinery, it will be able to produce enough of the fuel by the end of 2014 to sell it commercially.  

As of yet, the price of extracting one ton of carbon dioxide -- the key ingredient -- is a hefty $650. But as with other new technologies, the cost is expected to shrink over time.

The payoff for investors could be huge. As Peter Harrison, Air Fuel Systems' chief executive, put it in an interview with The Independent: "'You have the potential to change the economics of a country if you can make your own fuel."

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