Tulsa World: Is the ultimate green fuel particle annihilation?

MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Tuesday, February 09, 2010 | WIRELESS

Home > Opinion > Article

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Is the ultimate green fuel particle annihilation?

Armellini

By TOBY ARMELLINI
Published: 1/17/2009 2:22 AM
Last Modified: 1/17/2009 3:02 AM

To become imported oil independent, the United States must commit to an energy plan that will continue through oil price fluctuations and economic slowdown. Our goal should be a green, forever-abundant transportation fuel without carbon emissions or radiation.

Fuel alternatives are oil, natural gas, hydrogen, bio-fuel, geothermal, wind, solar, nuclear and hydro. The green fuels are geothermal, wind, solar and hydro. Nuclear plants are not totally green. Hydrogen is green, but producing hydrogen must also be green. The green fuels will help, but won't provide independence.

Initially, my plan follows T. Boone Pickens' — conversion from gasoline to compressed natural gas (CNG), installation of wind generators and increasing our electrical grids, the utilization of solar power, building additional nuclear plants, and more efficient energy consumers.

Natural gas pipelines exist throughout the country. Converting to CNG requires fueling stations and vehicle conversion. Conversion kits are designed for either CNG or gasoline. The converting cost is $13,000 per vehicle. Cost must be lowered and government-subsidized. One can purchase home CNG fueling stations.

CNG tanks are high pressure, bulky and heavy. Two CNG tanks weighing 235 pounds, requiring 16 cubic feet of space and pressured to 3,100 psi, would travel 375 miles. California has 200 CNG fueling stations. The conversion would take 10 years. Pickens' plan stops at CNG.

Next we should convert to liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles. The conversion requires an LNG fuel tank, vaporizer and ancillaries. LNG is a liquid and the fuel tanks are smaller, lighter and contain more natural gas. One LNG tank weighing 165 pounds, requiring 9 cubic feet of space and pressured less than 200 psi, would travel 375 miles.

An LNG producing plant with an inlet gas stream of 10 million cubic feet per day, producing 100,000 gallons and costing $15 million, would supply daily fuel for a population of 98,000. LNG transport trucks exist today. Skid mounted refueling stations would be placed beside gasoline stations. This conversion would take 25 years. California has 40 LNG fueling stations.

Why convert to LNG? Transporting LNG to areas where gas pipelines do not exist would be more economical than building pipelines. Transporting and storing CNG would be difficult. If CNG fueling station volumes and pressure were low, refueling CNG would take longer than refueling with LNG. Our 25-year goal is to be fully LNG dependent.

Are CNG or LNG vehicles greener than gasoline? The molecular structure alone calculates 25 per cent less carbon dioxide. They can make us independent, but not desirably greener.

The ultimate green fuel does not exist.

We should consider the annihilation of anti-matter and matter. Since 1995, CERN, the world's largest particle accelerator, has produced enough antimatter to light a light bulb for a few minutes. Antimatter is the most expensive substance — estimated future cost of $25 million per gram or 0.0022 pounds, but 2.2 pounds would produce energy equivalent to 345 million gallons of gasoline. An organization similar to NASA should be established for providing research and development.

The annihilation of particles weighing less than electrons may eliminate radiation. The annihilation of electrons and heavier matter produces high energy photons — gamma rays — radiation. Antiphoton and antineutrinos are smaller and have been produced. Annihilation of antiphotons and antineutrons may not produce gamma rays.

Antimatter, however, is difficult to contain. Antimatter annihilates matter and our world is matter. We have managed to contain antihydrogen for tens of seconds in electric fields, magnetic fields and optical beams called traps.

Annihilation is one theory. The ultimate fuel will power our Earth and interplanetary travels.

A firm commitment could make us independent of imported oil and impel us to a new fuel that would last forever. Don't tell me I can't do it, tell me how I can do it.

Toby Armellini is a professional engineer and has been an oil and gas consultant for 45 years.

By TOBY ARMELLINI

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Reader Comments

Show: Most Recent Comment First

Add your comment

4 comments have been made on this story so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

	Report Comment Lunatk, (1/17/2009 10:48:43 AM) There is no chance this is going to happen in this country. Democrats have been stopping the installation of nuclear power for years. They won't switch from oil because of the unions in Detroit and other unions that use oil based power, planes trains and such. The only kind of natural gas they want to use is the kind they produce in DC. We should have been doing more with wind and geothermal resources but because of the impact of the oil companies and the millions of jobs they create, this another reason why it won't be done here. When you think about it, if you take away the electricity, running water, and natural gas from our lives, we are cavemen.
	Report Comment Loki, Broken Arrow (1/18/2009 6:21:30 AM) There has been and will be american participation at the Large Hadron Collider. It's a shame they have to travel to Switzerland to do so. An equivalent collider was proposed in the United States in the 1980s. The Reagan administration chose not to fund it. Physics research is entering a threshold period. We live in interesting times. The incoming Obama administration seems inclined to respect science and research more than the Bush administration. I expect research funding to increase, including BIOMEDICAL research.
	Report Comment Loki, Broken Arrow (1/18/2009 6:23:46 AM) By the way, Be Happy. THAT'S FUNNY.
	Report Comment zzx375, BA (1/21/2009 6:13:44 PM) George H. Bush approved construction of a super collider in Texas. Bill Clinton killed it after taking office. Perhaps someone has the details on why it was killed.

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.

Post Your Comment

Mike Strain OU's Bradford moves up on Kiper's big board	Dave Sittler Football recruiting's endless, but offering a 7th-grader?
John Klein Recruiting Super Quarterbacks	The Picker Spoil Sports? Spoiled Sports?
Jimmie Tramel On the other hand.....