We saw a BioRector installation that uses algae to produce oil, it may just have been a prototype, but like everything first, the US Navy is experimenting with ways to make jet fuel from sea water. Under Heather Willauer, the navy chemist leading the project, the basic idea of the team is to make hydrocarbon fuel, which is possible by extracting carbon dioxide from sea water and combining the same with hydrogen, extracted by splitting water molecules using electricity.
The US Navy chemists have managed to develop unsaturated short-chain hydrocarbons, though they would need further refining before the kerosene-based jet fuel can actually be obtained. This unique process is based on the Fischer-Tropsch process, which is used commercially to produce gasoline-like hydrocarbon fuel from syngas. Fischer-Tropsch doesn’t use carbon dioxide, but because seawater contains about 140 times the amount of carbon dioxide in air, the chemists are tapping it to obtain alternative fuel to power aircraft.
Via: NewScientist
