Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

Post by briffle » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 6:44 PM UTC

Gasp0de wrote: post #143

PaulHoule wrote: post #7

There is no surprise that synthetic fuels work. They worked for the nazis in the 1940s and they still produce them in South Africa, Qatar and other places. In fact in a lot of ways they are better than today’s gasolines because they have a low aromatic and olefin content. The question revolve around affordability and sustainability. Most of the interest was driven by fears we would be running out of oil, now it is dr…

My chainsaw runs on Aspen, which is a synthetic replacement for gasoline. It doesn't cause a headache when I'm exposed to the exhaust fumes for long times. It's quite expensive though, about 4€/l (15€/gallon).

Post by theshrike79 » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 6:52 PM UTC

aitchnyu wrote: post #77

theshrike79 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heavy duty vehicles will move to either diesel/biogas hybrids (they can replace ~30% of the diesel with gas nowadays without any major engine mods) or to full CBG with combustion engines. Farms can produce their own CBG with relatively minor investment, basically fueling all work vehicles with cow farts =) Some kind of hydrogen/biogas generator hybrid might be viable too. Some will become fully electric, but it's hea…

Having trouble parsing this, does this mean there is a liquid fuel thats diesel+cow farts or will diesel engines incorporate compressed biogas injection?

Post by mardifoufs » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 6:57 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #40

theshrike79 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current synthetic fuels cost around 10€/litre, which comes to around $37/gallon. Not really viable for day to day use yet.

Qatar claims their Methanol-to-Gasoline based factory is profitable at a world price of $40 a barrel based on natural gas as a feed stock. What people are hoping for today is to get CO₂ from the atmosphere and hydrogen from H₂O with electricity from solar, wind or nuclear. (Though w/ nuclear you might use thermochemical hydrogen if you can get the temperature up) The best use case for that I've seen is that the US Na…

Post by dontlaugh » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 6:59 PM UTC

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #147

scoopertrooper wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because we could move the entire current stock of cars over to less carbon intensive fuel without having to build an entirely new fleet. Keeping in mind that manufacturing new cars (and the associated resource extraction) is extremely carbon intensive, then a carbon neutral-ish fuel might actually be the best option overall on a meaningful timescale.

if 87 octane gasoline is $2.99/gallon and this is even 30% more, I’m not sure how you can expect to force the majority of the population (who is supposedly scraping by) to switch maybe the government could subsidize it as national debt?

Post by dragonmost » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 7:00 PM UTC

ianai wrote: post #132

adql wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternative for cases where electrification is hard (long haul trucks) or impossible (cargo hauling via planes)

This is Mazda. They have yet to get serious about electrification. Worse than Toyota in that regard. I am beyond giving them the benefit of the doubt that this was anything but “hey we don’t have to make BeVs!!”