Steve wrote:
> Ok Vorts, what do all you Big Guns (and you know who you are) have to say about using liquid N2 as a viable fuel source? In short, liquid N2 ****is not a FUEL source****. At best it is an energy transfer medium, like a battery or compressed air. It also has a definite half life. It will not stay liquid at room temperature by just pressurizing it, like CO2 or LNG. It must boil - slowly but surely - so don't leave your car in the garage for a week and expect to find any liquid N2 to make it go. If you are willing to tow the car to the LN2 station and fill it up just before that trip, it's fine. You have to expend energy to liquify air to get the LN2. And then spend energy to get it to the point of use. And lose stroed energy from the time of liquefaction to the time of use. Valiant efforts are being made to make H2 a viable transportation fuel. While we are contemplating big problems, think about the essential role of air and ocean transport to the viability of populations the world over. If fuel reserves really get bad, we may divert those to air and ocean transport. I have the impression that one of the most efficient combusiton engines at present is the gas turbine, which is being used on new ships as well as aircraft. It is notable that FedEx bought a significant quantity of the new AirBus giant aircraft -- 800 passangers in the people version. Mike Carrell > > I believe liquid N2 is fairly cheap to make, costing around or slightly less than a gallon of milk volume wise. N2 is a commonly used product. It?s used in many applications from freezing sperm to making super conductive devices. N2 is a plentiful element. Seventy percent of our atmosphere comprises unbound nitrogen. No energy would be expended cracking N2 from other elements like O2 as we would have to do in order to get H2. > > I would imagine the most difficult stumbling blocks in running N2 based "steam" engines would be to make sure all the moving parts don't freeze up, literally, or that critical parts don't become too cryogenically brittle and shatter under normal stresses. > > Brings a whole new meaning to the word: "freezer burn". Ironic when one considers the fact that N2 typically doesn't burn or explode in a dangerous manner as combining oxygen and hydrogen would in our atmosphere. > > How much energy is expended producing liquid N2, and how would this potential resource compare to equivalent alternative fuel source energy carriers. > > Steven Vincent Johnson > www.OrionWorks.com > > > >
