Zero-emissions car that runs on fossil fuels

Posted Wed Feb 13 2008 9:16 AM by Siddharth Raja

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a strategy to capture, store and eventually recycle carbon from vehicles that run on fossil fuels such as petrol or diesel. Their concept car uses ordinary liquid fuel but the carbon contained in the fuel is trapped in the vehicle for later processing. It can then be sent back to a processing plant where it could be transformed into new fuel.

The set-up requires an onboard fuel processor designed to separate hydrogen in the fuel from the carbon. The pure hydrogen is then used to power the vehicle, while the carbon is stored onboard in a liquid form until it's disposed at a refueling station. Initial tests have proven that the system can work reliably but the concept is still in a very early stage.

Now that researchers have come up with a device to produce hydrogen and, at the same time, capture carbon emissions, the greatest remaining challenge will be to develop and market the technology. Unfortunately, most carmakers are investigating ways of reducing the amount of emissions their cars produce but if this new technology gains some ground we could eventually see a future with a sustainable transportation system with no carbon emissions at all.

Reader Comments

Wed Feb 13 2008 10:17 AM
SuperSkyline89 says

Sounds very interesting. Two things could kill this though, the efficiency (% of original fuel can be "remade") and the cost.
Wed Feb 13 2008 11:01 AM
Raptor says

Great. Probably it will cost $50 000. Which is not so great.
Wed Feb 13 2008 12:16 PM
chris says

super... what? theyre not talking about remaking fuel here... u put gasoline in.. which is made of nothing but hydrogen and carbon... and u strip the hydrogen.. burn it with oxy in a normal combustion engine.. OR a fuel cell for that matter.... and retain the carbon. pure or nearly pure carbon has a huge industrial value for making things like carbon fibre (this could be HUGE for the CF industry)... and who knows what else.. .synthetic diamonds?

point being here is that FINALLY some one is doing what i've been saying all along... use a chemical that we already have access to.. and use a chemical process other than fire.

u can strip the hydrogen off gasoline.. or any hydrocarbon (methane, methanol, ethanol, blah blah blah) to run a fuel cell. u dont need PURE LIQUID HYDROGEN to run a fuel cell.

this is what i've been saying all along... hydrogen fuel cells are still going to be dirty cause the only way to mass produce hydrogen is through electrolysis which means ur probably burning fossil fuels to make the electricity. OR.. you could put gasoline into a fuel cell.. and extract the electricity from that... while RETAINING the byproducts for disposal or use in manufacturing.

hydrogen fuel cells are just sexy propaganda... they're simple.. they use simple elements.. and they spit out water. everyone loves the idea. making the hydrogen is the problem. so lets please consider something else.
Wed Feb 13 2008 1:50 PM
SuperSkyline89 says

"It can then be sent back to a processing plant where it could be transformed into new fuel"

Really?, because that sure looks like it says "making new fuel".
Wed Feb 13 2008 1:58 PM
Roy says

Chris, welcome to the real world! I think it's safe to assume that nobody with these ideas was ever promoted to senior management in Detroit, or even Nagoya or Tokyo. The bottom line is that there are many alternative solutions available, but the feasibility needs to be proven. So who would have the incentive to do this? Well, certainly not the huge collection of established industries who have no interest in changing the status quo. My guess is that you haven't been telling the right people, or you have and they've just been ignoring you because they couldn't understand what you were writing.
Thu Feb 14 2008 12:53 PM
chris says

roy.. ive been saying it on this site.. and your right.. it does no good.

no in fact i've been talking to professors about this problem.. there are really thousands of possible propulsion systems out there... and many of them would work, cheaply, and reliably... and make use of existing infrastructure.

skyline... sorry.. missed that part in the article.. also i thought you meant to say that the car would remake it into new fuel... which is kinda impossible lol.
Thu Feb 14 2008 2:25 PM
SuperSkyline89 says

Honest mistake, don't worry about it. I would like to know how they can make new fuel though, I've heard of synthetic diamonds before. Maybe they use a similar technique, since they both require the extremely high pressures in the Earth's crust.

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