UK scientists invent artificial petrol

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Boffins at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford have invented an ‘artificial’ petrol, which costs just 90 pence per gallon and could run in existing cars.
Motorists could even be able to drive for 300 to 400 miles before needing to fill up.
The breakthrough comes as average UK fuel prices have hit a record high.
The new hydrogen-based fuel produces no greenhouse gases and could be available in as little as three years.
Professor Stephen Bennington, the project’s lead scientist, said: “In some senses, hydrogen is the perfect fuel. It has three times more energy than petrol per unit of weight, and when it burns, it produces nothing but water.
“Our new hydrogen storage materials offer real potential for running cars, planes and other vehicles that currently use hydrocarbons.”


How is it made?
Cella Energy, which is developing the technology, believes that conventional means for containing hydrides are not ideal.
It says: "Storing hydrogen up to now has required either high-pressure storage cylinders at up to 700 times atmospheric pressure or super-cooled liquids at -253 degree Celsius.
“Neither is practical on a large scale as these hydrogen storage methods both require large amounts of energy to either pressurise or cool the hydrogen, and present significant safety risks."
The company has a found a low-cost way to trap the hydride compound inside a nano-porous polymer micro bead.
The result is a revolutionary synthetic fuel, which is formed of ‘micro-beads’ that can be poured and pumped like a liquid.
Stephen Volker, of Cellar Energy, which is developing the technology, said: “We have developed micro-beads that can be used in an existing gasoline or petrol vehicle to replace oil-based fuels.
“Early indications are that the micro-beads can be used in existing vehicles without engine modification. The materials are hydrogen-based, and so when used produce no carbon emissions at the point of use, in a similar way to electric vehicles.”

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http://www.manufacturingdigital.com/...ificial-petrol

excellent, now all these bandwagon environmentalists can swallow their words, and the greedy OPEC countries will finally have to find some other way ripping off the western nations. definately a step in the right direction, lets hope that when/if its introduced to the UK the government doesn't find some way of heavily taxing it.

Brilliant. Hopefully we'll see these introduced widely in the next year or so.

& I love the way they said "Boffins at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory" lol.

Well it inevitably will be taxed extortionately, if it proved to be a viable alternative fuel the government would be losing out on tens of billions of pounds by everyone switching to this so they'd tax this just as much. But providing it's cheaper on the whole than petrol/diesel it would be a bit cheaper.

Definitely a step in the right direction :)

Good news, this is what our country should be doing - making our own things and then selling them to the rest of the world, excellent news. I'd also like to add i'm not a believer in the cult that is 'global warming' but I do think it is wise to unhinge ourselves from the reliance on the Middle East.

Lets be energy secure.

Lets hope they dont sell it all somehow this time :P

If it works, then its a pretty big breakthrough ;o

I can't help but think that while it is a highly significant breakthrough - very little will come of it for absolutely years. Yes it's amazing, and yes it is exactly what we're looking for, but I really don't think it will go through the testing for a couple of years, then it will have to be brought to the Government's attention, then it will have to be installed in every petrol station across the country. Yes it's good, but it will take so long and I can't get excited about it until it's here! :(

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

Good news, this is what our country should be doing - making our own things and then selling them to the rest of the world, excellent news.

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Fully agreed. Even though the Government would lose money on taxing petrol, they'd probably get billions more from selling this new resource to other countries :)

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Originally Posted by Mathew

I can't help but think that while it is a highly significant breakthrough - very little will come of it for absolutely years. Yes it's amazing, and yes it is exactly what we're looking for, but I really don't think it will go through the testing for a couple of years, then it will have to be brought to the Government's attention, then it will have to be installed in every petrol station across the country. Yes it's good, but it will take so long and I can't get excited about it until it's here! :(

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Yeah I totally agree, it's not like major news outlets are reporting it yet and from time to time there is things like this mentioned. See how it goes but it's far from solving anything yet.

Why is it going to take 3 years to become available if they've already made it? Surely distribution on a small scale could start within a few months, it's not like the planet is low on hydrogen :S 90p per gallon sounds good though, of course it'll be massively taxed and inflated so the actual cost will be far higher than that but still that'll bring it to much less than current petrol costs - I just wonder what OPEC will do if/when this becomes widespread

*hears the faint sound of a large petrol bomb hitting Oxfordshire coming from the major fuel companies*

They won't be pleased if this does go ahead. I'm sceptical as there would no doubt be money exchanging hands, or arguments for and against which returns to oil based petroleum being used longer. 90p is good though, more expensive than oil based petroleum if the tax is as high as I think it is, but even then this wouldn't have to rely on taxation from international bodies for "environmental" reasons, so it shouldn't cost anymore if there was a slight tax put on by the Government.

Finally, an alternative, however I still get the sense it's going to be just like hydrogen and bio-fuels and won't work in practise.