Reply To: would nuclear energy really be accessible to all?

[dennisp]

Here’s a report from Los Alamos on a project called Green Freedom, to create fuel from atmospheric CO2: http://bioage.typepad.com/greencarcongress/docs/GreenFreedom.pdf

Their design uses existing technology and a Gen III fission plant, which accounts for over half the cost. Since the capital cost is high, they assume a substantial profit margin. Even so, they say it can be competitive at $4.60/gal. Less than that assuming certain modest improvements, but let’s go with $4.60, with $2.30 for the fission plant. If FF delivers a 10x cost improvement, that gives us about $2.50/gal gasoline.

Another approach: To simply pull concentrated CO2 from the atmosphere, Klaus Lackner’s system costs about half a kwh per kg CO2, which is a little over twice the minimum required by physics: http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/c31/page_245.shtml

One gallon of gasoline is equivalent to 37 kwh, and has 2.5 kgs carbon, which is the amount you get from about 7.5 kgs CO2. So getting CO2 from the air contributes under 4 kwh to the cost.

Another option to turn that CO2 into fuel is the Fischer-Tropsch process:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer–Tropsch_process

I haven’t found how efficient it is, but since it’s been used commercially, I’m assuming it can’t be too horrible. Let’s say it’s only 25% efficient, requiring 160kwh per gallon of gasoline.

Electricity cost in the U.S. is about ten cents per kwh, and about half that for the cheapest electricity from coal. If FF gets that price to one cent, that gives us an estimate of $1.60 per gallon of gasoline, plus profit and capital cost of the chemical plant.

At least one person on the forums has claimed that the x-rays from a FF plant could be used to convert CO2 to hydrocarbons directly. I have no idea how efficient that would be.

Gas taxes in my state total 50 cents per gallon (state plus federal), with a retail gas price around $3.50/gal currently. It looks to me like FF/CO2-sourced fuel could easily compete.