Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Alternative Fuel

Interesting from McLaren

Could this be a solution for the long term use of older combustion engines and even new vehicles using the worlds current infrastructure of refueling (with modifications).

Certainly help with the range issue for commercial vehicles and those that have range anxiety or simply can't afford to add/lose an hour a day charging.

Long time ago now, but I'm sure when I was on the Cape run, S. Africa were making petrol products from coal?
Not that I'm suggesting we do the same...

That's right Graham.

"At the moment the cost of petrol derived from syncrude is higher than that of petrol from natural oil, but countries with an abundant supply of coal close to the surface could probably become competitive in the near future. In South Africa the so-called SASOL plant using the Fisher–Tropsch synthesis claims to be only twice as expensive as the present production price of petrol".

If it can be made to be environmentally friendly alternative then why ever not.

Brings a whole new meaning to steampunk

In the eighties Point of Ayr Colliery North Wales were trying to make oil from coal but miners strike stopped further trials.

My knowledge of the SASOL process is some 15 years out of date , but to the best of my knowledge it only survived due to subsidies.

This was developed during the aparteid sanctions as the government realised that the country could be vulnerable to a blockade on fuel , as they had/have no indigenous oil in the country. However they did have vast supplies of coal, so the process of carbonylation was dusted off (it was actually used by Germany in WWII to produce fuel for aircraft as they too had no native oil) , refined , and eventually went into production.

I think the original unit has long been superseded with larger more efficient plants, but again this was not a "clean" process. However with more modern technology it is possible to put in sufficient abatement systems to satisfy environmental regulations at additional cost.

The only real issue is cost , it has never worked without subsidies, and until crude oil runs down much further this is unlikely to be economically viable.

Remember Town Gas ?

Given this thread relates to fuel types and there was a mention of fuel suitability relative to old cars, perhaps this link may be of interest..?

https://fbhvc.co.uk/news/article/e10-fuels-consultation-fbhvc-position-statement

Graham as said yes from coal but it can also be done from shale oil. We used to sell vibrating screens to the mines in Canada for shale oil.

So were the Germans in WW2

And so were we.

Coalite in Bolsover was a major producer of high aircraft octane fuel during WW2.
It is a very inefficient and polluting way to make gasoline.