What about the hydrogen that's used to make Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel and comes mostly from natural gas
Well, Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) has been readily available all of three days, let's argue about it. Yesterday, the president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, Jack Gerard, issued a statement saying that U.S. lawmakers need to change the policy regarding access to domestic natural gas sources if we're going to keep making ULSD. Why is this, you ask? Because you can use hydrogen to desulferize diesel fuel. So while we've now got diesel engines that emit up to 90-some percent fewer particulates, we've also got to get all this extra hydrogen.
Gerard's statement was, in part, "Today, most ULSD is produced by treating the fuel with hydrogen to remove sulfur and other impurities. Most of that hydrogen is produced directly from methane contained in natural gas. Yet federal policies continue to put most U.S. natural gas supplies off-limits. If the nation is to be successful in our pursuit of cleaner diesel fuel, then Congress needs to change energy policies to help bring about reliable, affordable access to natural gas."
If you're interested in the details of diesel hydrotreatment possibilities, check out this article from when the Department of Energy looked at the issue of ULSD techniques in 2001.
[Source: American Chemistry Council]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Howard Lee Harkness 11:24AM (10/18/2006)
"If the nation is to be successful in our pursuit of cleaner diesel fuel, then Congress needs to change energy policies to help bring about reliable, affordable access to natural gas." -- Jack Gerard
That is certainly *NOT* the only alternative. We could find ways to deal with the relatively minor problems of biodiesel (insulated heated fuel systems would be relatively easy to implement). Cleaner dino-diesel is nice, but doesn't solve the problem of finding a way to leave a habitable planet to our grandchildren. Nor does it solve the problem that no matter how efficiently we use FOSSIL FUEL, it will eventually run out.
"Most of that hydrogen is produced directly from methane contained in natural gas."
The post is about dinodiesel, not hydrogen as a fuel, but this little factoid bolsters another point: The fact that most hydrogen is made from FOSSIL FUEL means that in addition to being insanely stupid to use it as a fuel, it is not 'green' in any meaningful sense of the word.
Reply
Hart 5:38PM (10/18/2006)
Great way how to reduce the crap of the industrie etc.
Reply