Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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M E E T I N G T H E F U E L C H A L L E N G E
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98
1.2
alternative fuels are being evaluated across the specUranium
JP-5
Liquid
trum of power and energy density to satisfy national
x 1000
gasoline
Hydrocarbons
and diesel
1.0
fuel needs. Fuels may either be derived directly
from natural resources (e.g., petroleum, natural gas,
0.8
or uranium) or by a method of storing energy in a
ethanol
more convenient form (e.g., alcohol from biomass
Alcohols
0.6
or hydrogen from electrolysis of water). In order
methanol
to minimize transportation and onboard storage
0.4
metal hydride
requirements, high-energy density fuels are essenliquid
tial, and as such, stored energy density is a useful
Hydrogen
containment
10,000
0.2
psi gas
metric for comparing various fuels. Since fuels may
lithium ion battery
be solid, liquid, or gaseous, both energy per unit
0
mass and energy per unit volume are important.
0
1
2
3
Energy Density per Unit Mass
Figure 3 compares the energy densities for various
(relative to gasoline)
fuels (relative to that of gasoline). Liquid hydroFigure 3. Energy density of fuels.
carbon fuels, such as diesel, represent the highest
energy density fuels available for ground transportation. (A chemist asked to develop the ideal transpor- derived from low-grade coal for nearly 50 years.
tation fuel stated that the result would be a liquid Sasols FT plant in Secunda, South Africa, produces
hydrocarbon.) Currently, these fuels are obtained 150,000 barrels of manufactured fuel per day. FT
from refining (mostly imported) petroleum. This fuel production is mature technology. China, which
resource faces ever-increasing global demands and also has abundant domestic coal, has purchased
is dwindling. Critical U.S. refineries are almost all essentially the entire world output of coal gasifiers
in coastal regions that are subject to both weather for the past several years to produce fertilizer via
disasters and terrorist actions. Petroleum must be the FT process.
replaced with a suitable substitute. Fortunately, the
The flow chart in Figure 5 shows an integrated
United States has large deposits of coal and shale gasification FT fertilizer power plant proposed
oil (see Figure 4).
The United States future
dependence on liquid hydro Liquid hydrocarbon fuels have ideal properties and are needed
carbon fuels without abundant
as transportation fuels for the foreseeable future
domestic crude oil supplies will
Oil-derived fuels primarily imported and will become
not be unprecedented. In preincreasingly scarce
World War II Germany, Franz
Existing refinery infrastructure
Fischer and Hans Tropsch devel Predominantly coastal and vulnerable
oped a process to produce liquid
Operating at capacity
hydrocarbon fuel from coal.
Alternative: Fuel efficiency, domestic resources, interior
The so-called Fischer-Tropsch
production
(FT) process supplied a substantial fraction of Germanys
transportation fuels after Allied
actions threatened the output of
the Ploesti oilfields and refineries. South Africa was unable to
import crude oil in large quantities during the apartheid era,
and consequently, all of South
Africas vehicles have been
Figure 4. Mid-to-far term fuel strategy.
powered by FT-generated fuels
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Separation
N2
Ammonia
Fertilizers
750 tons/day
H2
O2
Gasification
Coal
17,000 tons/day
FischerTropsch
Tail Gas
Combustion
Manufactured Liquid
Hydrocarbon Fuels
28,000 bbl/day
Electric Power
475 MW
Summary
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