Month: November 2023

All the above examples can serve as a hint that forced dependence on any technological path or the abandonment of one, like it happened in 2011 with the German exit from nuclear power and like the planned exit from fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2035 in the EU, are not totally beneficial when looking at the whole picture. It is the network effects that count.

In September 2014, the US senate passed legislation claiming that resources on asteroids belong to the entity that discovers / mines them.

https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ90/PLAW-114publ90.pdf

Using microorganisms such as Sulfobacillus harzensis that can recover the majority of cobalt metal in an mine tailings: https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.004871

Alternative process: phytomining, where plants that are so-called hyperaccumulators take up the metal and incorporate them, creating high concentrations of metals in their biomass.

“Pressure to Power” describes technology that recovers energy at distribution stations of gas pipelines where the pressure is reduced before distribution to local users. (expansion turbine)

For crude oil pipelines, this has already been realized in 2018 with the Trans Alpine pipeline from Italy to Austria using the potential energy from the pipeline traversing the Alps to recover some of the energy required for pumping the crude oil.

Pigging devices currently used to inspect and clean pipeline networks could be modified to a form of hydraulic transport using the existing fossil fuel and gas pipelines, although it would require the constrution of a greater number of receiver stations than those that currently exist. Such “pigs” are already used today when multiple products differing in composition are sent into the pipeline at the same time, with the devices limiting mixture of the different products.

The first offshore windfarm in US water was built in 2015:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/first-us-offshore-wind-farm

Jack-up rigs can be converted for construction of offshore wind power: If they want to stay in business, companies like Seadrill must upgrade their ships to support offshore wind  / tidal / solar power installation:
http://newatlas.com/meygen-tidal-energy-scotland/45396/?li_source=LI&li_medium=default-widget

In a long shot, those ships could serve as launch platforms for space exploration because moving platforms closer to the equator reduces the amount of rocket fuel needed to reach orbit.

If used in fuel cells instead of engines or turbines, crude oil, natural gas and methane hydrate will remain viable sources of energy in the the future.

https://worldoceanreview.com/wp-content/downloads/wor3/WOR3_de_Kapitel_1.pdf

https://worldoceanreview.com/wp-content/downloads/wor3/WOR3_de_Kapitel_2.pdf

https://worldoceanreview.com/wp-content/downloads/wor3/WOR3_de_Kapitel_3.pdf

https://worldoceanreview.com/wp-content/downloads/wor3/WOR3_de_Kapitel_4.pdf

With the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been a scramble among European countries to secure enough new LNG supplies to counteract the dwindling Russian deliveries of natural gas through pipelines such as NordStream 1.

As LNG requires the prior existence of LNG-capable terminals onshore, the lack thereof creates major hurdles when it comes to severing the ties with Russia in the energy domain. Luckily, there are special ships called FSRU (Floating Storage Regasification Unit) which are capable of turning the liquid natural gas back into gaseous form which can then be injected into the existing European pipeline network.

LNG carrier ships should be designed to also allow the transport of ammonia to facilitate a hydrogen economy. Built as FPSO ( Floating Production Storage and Offloading Unit), they could make use of surplus wind energy and produce ammonia. The first of those ships is named P2XFloater.

Using deep geothermal drilling to produce supercritical water to be fed into the steam generators of existing coal power plants can help provide clean energy using former fossil fuel power plants. Deep geothermal wells can be drilled almost anywhere in the world, not just where there is volcanic activity. An improvement over conventional drills are gyrotrons that use microwave energy. While the gyrotron can stay at the surface, a waveguide can deposit the energy where it is needed. Existing wells can be used as a starting point to reach initial depths of 500 meters or more, from where the microwaves can extend the wells to the necessary depths of 5 to 20 kilometers.

Exhausted oil formations can be used to harness geothermal energy while providing energy storage much like a battery. The process uses water injected into a deep well, while using a second well to extract highly pressurized, heated water when needed. This can be done for many hours after injection has completed, thus effectively storing energy.

Water passing through iron-rich underground rock formations results in the production of hydrogen, a resource that can be tapped by drilling and then feeding hydrogen motors in a similar manner to current gas wells (so-called “orange hydrogen”).

It is also possible to directly source naturally occuring hydrogen (so-called “white hydrogen”).

Drill rigs can be re-purposed for geothermal energy production (thanks to to a larger temperature gradient of the underwater heat source) and to create CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) reservoirs.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2014/05/17/submarine-drones-drive-demand-for-subsea-power-plants/

“Submarine Geothermics;Hydrothermal Vents and Electricity Generation” suggests concepts to harness such deep-sea thermal energy sources:
http://www.geothermal-energy.org/pdf/IGAstandard/WGC/2010/3704.pdf

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Strom-aus-dem-Vulkan-3660940.html

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Seadrill, Transoceon, Diamond Offshore

 Nautilus Minerals to mine hydrothermal vents

Fervus Energy uses fracking technology for geothermal energy: https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/5704/

This series of four articles in a style similar to a stream-of-consciousness format wants to shed some light onto the challenge we face in times of enormous climate challenges:

The proposed taxation of estimated fossil fuel reserves realizes a concept of fictionalized gain that forces companies to exploit all available resources, which is detrimental to global climate when done with current technology, i.e. without carbon capture. (It remains to be seen how the similar concept of advanced flat capital gains tax will affect private ETF investors)

In-situ mining of oil sands and leaching of ore deposits promise new ways to extract resources from otherwise unviable deposits.

Novel bioreactors for oil sand tailings could help clean up the toxic remains left behind after processing the extracted crude: https://www.googlesciencefair.com/projects/en/2014/ac15475dbf66c3811244a629ba10e4139111ea2389204ed13bcca114bff38f70

In-situ coal gasification would allow to exploit coal seams without having to dig them up, while simplifying the process of carbon capture. Products of this advanced process are syngas and synfuel. This technology also enables exploitation of undersea coal reserves that would otherwise be inaccessible. (https://petrowiki.spe.org/PEH:In-Situ_Combustion)

In addition, fossil fuel deposits contain non-negligible amounts of radioactive material, which, when they are released into the environment during the conventional firing process, are more harmful than if these elements (such as thorium) were to be extracted from the fly ash and used as fuel in nuclear power plants. With the fly ash stripped of radioactive elements, it can used in concrete for building construction or roadway surfaces more safely.

http://www.ieaghg.org/docs/general_publications/8.pdf

Drilling fluids account for about 80 % of global baryte usage. Finding alternatives to free up baryte for use in high-density concrete applications of fallout shelters needs to be of higher priority.

Fossil fuel infrastructure can be given a second, more environmentally beneficial, life, in an effort to enable future developments that are independent of a certain technology path:

This includes the modification of processes ion existing refinieries to shift production from combustible fuel to LOHC (liquid organic hydrogen carrier). Using toluol and benzyl chloride to create dibenzyl chloride in a Friedel-Crafts alkylation yields a diesel-like LOHC that allows hydrogen to be transported in a liquid without cryocooling requirements. One liter of this LOHC can bind 650 litres of hydrogen, facilitating a mobility concept that does not need high-pressure vessels.