American government-owned nuclear weapons and defense systems’ manufacturer Sandia National Laboratories recently tested a prototype device that turns carbon dioxide (CO2) into products that can be made into fuel – the Counter-Rotating-Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5).
Sandia employs 8,500 people, is funded by the US Dept. of Energy, Dept. of Defense and Lockheed Martin, and is at the forefront of US research in military systems and fundamental science.
The CR5 project is led by Sandia researcher Rich Diver, and the cylindrical CO2 reformer machine uses the sun’s energy to convert CO2 power plant waste into carbon monoxide that can then be chemically combined with hydrogen to make synthetic gas (syngas) as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel substitutes. The CO2 transformer machine is creating a lot of buzz due to its possibilities.
The CR5 has two chambers on the outside with14 rotating rings in the central area. When one of the chambers is heated to 1,500C (2,700F) via a solar concentrator, the iron oxide causes a thermo-chemical reaction of the CO2. The iron oxide strips oxygen molecules from the carbon dioxide, creating carbon monoxide. The machine can also be used to strip oxygen from water and produce hydrogen without using electrolysis.
The technology is still 15-20 years away from being commercially available as researchers work on increasing efficiency which is currently around 2%, with a target of getting to 10% for the sun-fuels conversion.
Visit: http://www.sandia.gov/
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written by J , November 25, 2009