tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post8686934599946775155..comments2024-02-16T17:52:44.944-06:00Comments on The Nuclear Green Revolution: Will Natural Gas Save Us?Charles Bartonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01125297013064527425noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-27623791076163565942011-05-21T15:18:56.655-05:002011-05-21T15:18:56.655-05:00I fully agree that natural gas should be reserved ...I fully agree that natural gas should be reserved entirely for chemical industry, direct heating and synthetic fuel production applications.<br />One good use of natural gas is for carbon monoxide/hydrogen ratio adjustment in syngas. Syngas produced from coal has typical CO/H2 ratio 1:1, in other words carbon rich gas. Steam reformed natural gas has syngas ratio 1:3, hydrogen rich gas. Ideal synthesis gas for Methanol synthesis, Dimethyl Ether synthesis and light hydrocarbon synthesis is 1:2 Therefore, if syngas from coal gasification and natural gas reforming is combined it makes ideal syn gas ratio of any choice.<br />In addition, if one would provide nuclear power for all power driving requirements in integrated synfuel plant, economical synthetic fuel production is possible to make fuel for transportation requirements without any fossil feedstock waste and without any CO2 release in it’s production.<br />In my opinion, LFTR reactor is an ideal choice to do the job. Integration of nuclear power, coal and natural gas is the only way to make synfuel economically practical with the lowest environmental impact.Frank Kandrnalnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-72482569997428144042011-05-21T13:46:10.689-05:002011-05-21T13:46:10.689-05:00Natural gas is a false hope since its also a major...Natural gas is a false hope since its also a major producer of greenhouse gasses. We must begin the gradual move in this country away from fossil fuels to nuclear and renewable energy resources. <br /><br />However, since such a goal would take at least two or three decades to achieve, there's no reason that we can't reduce our independence on foreign petroleum by converting Alaska natural gas resources into methanol and into gasoline.Marcel F. Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16245086958213100840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-25853282284036948272011-05-19T14:08:08.036-05:002011-05-19T14:08:08.036-05:00Yesterday, in senate hearing, energy secretary Chu...Yesterday, in senate hearing, energy secretary Chu said that he was not supporting government support for hydrogen produced from methane. I was hoping that he would mention highly efficient thermal chemical splitting of water by high temperature reactors. Hydrogen is needed for synthesis of anhydrous ammonia and for lightening heavy crude. It also is a feedstock for creating synthetic hydrocarbon fuel from atmospheric carbon dioxide. Dimethyl ether is a good fuel for diecils. Iceland is building a synthetic fuel facility that is scheduled to open in 2014, which will produce dimethyl ether from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Dimethyl ether is a clean fuel for diesel engines. They expect that the new dimethyl ether plant will reduce their petroleum fuel imports by one third. Unlike fossil fuels, synfuels do not increase greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. John TjostemAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-47852159104065391862011-05-19T11:17:04.934-05:002011-05-19T11:17:04.934-05:00Styles brings up an excellent point in the discuss...Styles brings up an excellent point in the discussion about your and his disagreement in the definition of what constitutes a technology as disruptive. His mentioning of how prices are set on the margin and a small erosion of market share can alter profitability much more drastically percentage-wise than the percentage of the market share erosion would provide some key backup to Rod Adams' commonly mentioned assertions about the motivations in play for fossil fuel purveyors to spread anti-nuclearism. <br /><br />Nuclear technology is truly an existential threat to fossil fuel interests, on a long enough time scale and a severe profitability threat, even on a relatively short time scale.Joel Riddlenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-54819285309139624712011-05-19T08:39:55.836-05:002011-05-19T08:39:55.836-05:00Charles - thanks for e post, as always. You quote ...Charles - thanks for e post, as always. You quote Heinberg:<br /> <br />Reducing demand for energy and using energy more efficiently are the cheapest and most effective ways...<br /><br />Unfortunately, as Robert Bryce documents in his book <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=OJmtn3rOxH0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=power+hungry&hl=en&ei=_hnVTeifJorWgQfAotCTDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false" rel="nofollow">Power Hungry</a>, the big improvements in efficiency have already been made. Modern generators are vastly more efficient than Edison's original generators and approach thermodynamic limits, and modern, large diesel engines "can turn about 50 percent of the thermal energy in diesel fuel into useful power". There isn't even a factor of 3 improvement available, much less an order of magnitude.<br /><br />And you can be sure that Heinberg is in favor of conservation - by everybody else. And especially by people who, right now, are power impoverished.Andrew Jaremkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07781060305332803073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-42916486766218606042011-05-19T06:49:24.921-05:002011-05-19T06:49:24.921-05:00"These comments suggest that it may be desira..."These comments suggest that it may be desirable to conserve natural gas for industrial uses such as the production of nitrogen-based fertilizers rather than use it to generate base load electricity" As far as I understand natural gas is essentially used to produce hydrogen required for Haber-Bosch process. If sufficiently cheap nuclear is available to make hydrogen, nitrogen fertilizers can be produced without fossil fuel inputs.Janinoreply@blogger.com