Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirty Harry
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This is old chemistry and has been known for a long time. The two key things here are first, using renewable energy (e.g. wind) to power the process, and two, making it cost-effective with fossil fuels.
Hydrogen has been touted as a 'miracle' fuel for a while. One of the (several) problems with it is that it takes more energy to make than you get out of it (pesky laws of thermodynamics). Reacting it with carbon to make liquid methanol solves one of hydrogen's problems (though also takes more energy), that of transport (since most of the world has infrastructure in place to transport and store stable liquid fuel, but not either gaseous hydrogen, or hydrogen compressed and cooled to -253 deg C in liquid form).
The principle is sound, and would theoretically be carbon-neutral - IF the power source for the process was renewable, and IF the final product could be made cost-competitively with fossil fuels. That second point has been a problem for so many alternative liquid fuels, such as hydrocarbon or alcohol based fuels from algae. They're great ideas and work in principle. But if the final product is more expensive than fossil fuels, it doesn't work in the real world.
At least not in a culture like the U.S. where making money is always the highest priority, and often the only priority.