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In reply to the discussion: A CAR that runs on fuel made from CO2 removed from the Atmosphere creating a carbon neutral loop! [View all]Recursion
(56,582 posts)25. And it's not being violated. Energy goes into the system at the beginning
Energy (from some theoretical clean source) is applied to the CO2 and H. The O2 is liberated and the C and H form hydrocarbons (pro-tip: I'd avoid smoking near that processing chamber). The energy that you put in is now stored in the enthalpy of that molecular arrangement, and can be liberated by setting the hydrocarbons on fire, producing CO2 and H2O, and releasing (some percentage of) the energy you put in.
It's not about generating energy, but about storing it in a burnable fuel without adding to the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere.
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A CAR that runs on fuel made from CO2 removed from the Atmosphere creating a carbon neutral loop! [View all]
FourScore
Sep 2013
OP
I understood they would get Hydrogen from the electrolysis, to mix with CO2 they got from air.
AnotherDreamWeaver
Sep 2013
#12
People need to re-read references on perpetual motion machines whenever an idea like this comes up
stevenleser
Sep 2013
#9
Cue the climate doomer skeptics(of mitigation prospects, that is) yelling, "impossible!".
AverageJoe90
Sep 2013
#7
No, it cannot work. You cannot violate the second law of thermodynamics. See my comment above. nt
stevenleser
Sep 2013
#10
I agree, I just meant there's nothing here that on its face goes against Boltzmann
Recursion
Sep 2013
#26
More interesting for air transport, I'd say; we had a thread on the company last year
muriel_volestrangler
Sep 2013
#30
The C=O bond in CO2 is extremely stable and requires substantial energy to break
struggle4progress
Sep 2013
#44
There would be nothing like the perpetual motion machine to stir one's interests but for one thing.
1-Old-Man
Sep 2013
#49
Not energy efficient, but has the advantage of working within our current infrastructure.
Xithras
Sep 2013
#50