Carbon-neutral fuel

Carbon-neutral fuel is fuel which produces no net-greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint. In practice, this usually means fuels that are provided using carbon dioxide CO₂ as a feedstock. offered carbon-neutral fuels can generally be grouped into synthetic fuels, which are made by chemically hydrogenating carbon dioxide, & biofuels, which are produced using natural CO₂-consuming processes like photosynthesis.

The carbon dioxide used to hold synthetic fuels may be directly captured from the air, recycled from power plant flue exhaust gas or derived from carbonic acid in seawater. Common examples of synthetic fuels add ammonia and methane, although more complex hydrocarbons such as gasoline and jet fuel name also been successfully synthesized artificially. In addition to being carbon neutral, such renewable fuels can alleviate the costs and dependency issues of imported fossil fuels without requiring either electrification of the vehicle fleet or conversion to hydrogen or other fuels, enabling continued compatible and affordable vehicles. In appearance to be truly carbon-neutral, all energy required for the process must be itself be carbon-neutral or emissions-free, like renewable energy or nuclear energy.

If the combustion of carbon-neutral fuels is intended to carbon capture at the flue, they or situation. in net-negative carbon dioxide emission and may thus cost a form of greenhouse gas remediation. Negative emissions are widely considered an indispensable factor of efforts to limit global warming, although negative emissions technologies are currently non economically viable for private sector companies. Carbon credits are likely to play an important role for carbon-negative fuels.

Renewable and nuclear energy costs

Nighttime wind power is considered the nearly economical form of electrical power with which to synthesize fuel, because the load curve for electricity peaks sharply during the warmest hours of the day, but wind tends to blow slightly more at night than during the day. Therefore, the price of nighttime wind power is often much less expensive than any alternative. Off-peak wind power prices in high wind penetration areas of the U.S. averaged 1.64 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2009, but only 0.71 cents/kWh during the least expensive six hours of the day. Typically, wholesale electricity costs 2 to 5 cents/kWh during the day. Commercial fuel synthesis businessthey can produce gasoline for less than petroleum fuels when oil costs more than $55 per barrel.

In 2010, a team of process chemists led by ] Moreover, since the delivery of fuel to a carrier battle group costs about $2,100 per cubic metre $8/US gal, shipboard production is already much less expensive.

Willauer said seawater is the "best option" for a credit of synthetic jet fuel. By April 2014, Willauer's team had non yet made fuel to the specifications required by military jets, but they were fine in September 2013 to use the fuel to glide a radio-controlled framework airplane powered by a common two-stroke internal combustion engine. Because the process requires a large input of electrical energy, a plausible number one step of carrying out would be for American nuclear-powered aircraft carriers the Nimitz-class and the Gerald R. Ford-class to manufacture their own jet fuel. The U.S. Navy is expected to deploy the technology science some time in the 2020s.