[Graeme]

I just found this topic by chance today. I want to post because I have never heard of this before, and I wanted to find out what others think about this.

Would scrap metal end the bloodshed for oil

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')s reported by Kurt Kleiner in the New Scientist journal, not petroleum but scraps of iron, aluminium or bronze likely to be the fuel of the future. Dr. David Beach, who is a researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, is confident that the fuel source of future cars will be powdered iron, aluminium, bronze or any other metal. A mixture of such powder when appropriately ignited can produce large amount of energy, which according to Beach can make an average car travel three times as far as the equivalent petrol powered car. This revolutionary metal Nano-Fuel will burn completely smoke, soot and pollution free. The most environmentally friendly aspect of the Metal Nano-Fuel is its recyclability. The spent particles of the Metal Nano Fuel can be rejuvenated by treating it with Hydrogen. This will probably give birth to a new “Metal Age” as this new Metal Nano Fuel will be effective as domestic energy sources to power domestic heaters, air conditioners and turbines in power stations as well.

If the next phase of the development, the new Nano Fuel powered cars will have its own built in Nano Fuel recycling mini plant. This means the new Nano Fuel powered cars will come with a life time supply of fuel that you will never have to replenish.

[Graeme]

Here's another more recent site.

[joewp]

I really can't imagine there's sufficient supply of scrap metal to make this anything more than a hobby type endeavor. And even if there was, the original metal has so much fossil fuel energy embedded into it, I highly doubt this has a positive net energy yield.

[Daculling]

Fuel can be rejuvenated by treating it with Hydrogen

Another store of energy. But not a source. It only perpetuates the wasteful use of energy we know an love.

[americandream]

Greame, you are surely desperate in your feverish search for a panacea to our ills. In a nutshell, this planets resources CANNOT sustain 6 billion humans consuming at the rate we do in New Zealand, whether it be a clean fuel, solar powered, hydrogen or all the other hopefuls being touted.

We have no other choice but to cut back on the wastefulness of our lives and the first thing to go will have to be the car. Our problems haven't even started and already we in crisis mode. Wait till the giants India and China match us in standard of living....this planet will be a trash heap.

[Chesire]

Fill er up with a tank full of thermite please .

[pedalling_faster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'G')reame, you are surely desperate in your feverish search for a panacea to our ills.

[TheDude]

I posted about this (or a similar process) before: Metal nanoparticles show promise as future fuels

[efarmer]

The article states that the metals burn at low temperatures?? which usually means low pressure differentials, which in turn usually means low energy output. And scrap metal is in recent times defined as metal between use and reuse in lieu of discard, as it is too dear to simply bury (or burn).

I am skeptical, but since I have a lot of lead in my ass, I am intrigued by the prospect of having been blessed by nature (finally?) with a lifetime of potentially free motoring and so I will monitor this new and exciting energy "Ace in the Hole" while taking the hedge of not nano powdering my "million mile" bum in speculation.

[Graeme]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', 'I') posted about this (or a similar process) before: Metal nanoparticles show promise as future fuels

[Valdemar]

Because, clearly, what we all need is to perpetuate the happy motoring culture by bringing in a fuel source that is totally unlike petroleum and about half as useful.

This is a good plan. But I find global thermonuclear war achieves my ends far faster and with more fun explosions.

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Daculling', 'A')nother store of energy. But not a source. It only perpetuates the wasteful use of energy we know an love.

[Valdemar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yesplease', 'E')nergy is not created or destroyed... Everything is a store.

[yesplease]

Pshhh... There's no need for new sources. We can't burn oil fast enough. We're already using vehicles built for ~4-8 people to transport one 90+% of the time, while running at a quarter to half of peak efficiency on average. If we made our vehicles any more inefficient, it would be painfully obvious that we're trying to waste oil as quickly as possible, since mileage on par w/ a fully loaded semi would be a bit too much to swallow for most. Every barrel that stays in the ground is lost income for whoever owns it. Speaking of which, you should idle your vehicle, or if you don't have one, rent and idle one. Those poor, poor oil barons need billions of dollars too!

P.S. I never meant to suggest you had a nuclear arsenal, just that you could achieve your end whenever you like.