From Muscle Power to Carbon Empowerment

Written by Joseph A Olson, PE on March 7, 2021. Posted in Current News

The development of Carbon based energy systems, first with coal, or cellulose solid fuels, and then petroleum based liquid fuels, and finally natural gas systems were a force multiplier for humans and a quantum leap for civilizations. There is a current command and control faction that wants to suppress the use of Hydrocarbon energy by misrepresenting the origins and provable facts about this most wonderful gift of creation.

Hydrocarbons are ubiquitous in the Universe. The myth that Hydrocarbons are a product of sedimentary organic matter, the fossil fuel fable is not supported by facts. Hydrocarbons exist throughout the Universe, and in our solar system, Methane exists on Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn’s moon, Titan.

Titan offers a unique environment with liquid Methane oceans, Methane clouds and frozen Methane polar ice caps. Methane on Titan exists in all three phases, liquid, solid and gas, much like water on Earth.  Unlike Earth, the maximum temperature on Titan is -100^o F, indicating that this is not derived from former living organisms.

Indeed, Earth’s atmosphere 4.6 billion years ago was a thick mix of volcanic Hydrogen Sulfide, Methane and Carbon Dioxide.  The first single cell organisms appeared a billion years later. These first life forms were likely Archeae (image, above), an organism so radically different it was given a Family, adding to the single cell Bacteria and multi-celled Families.

Archaea exist in extreme environments, from high pressure, high temperature seafloor vents to acid environments down to pH of 2.  Euryachaeota consume Hydrogen gas and Carbon Dioxide, producing Methane. Crenarcheota consume Sulfur and Methane. These earliest life-forms were joined by the Alpha through Epislon Phylum of protobacteria, living in similar conditions on similar, simple molecule food sources. These organisms were able to exist without a photosynthesis food chain, although they are still an important link in today’s food chain, see

Amazing! New! Wrongco Proxy Crock! ! ! at CanadaFreePress.com

There are two competing theories for the presence of Hydrocarbons on Earth, the fossil fuel hypothesis and the abiogenic hypothesis. The fossil fuel hypothesis, claiming organic sediment origins cannot explain the Methane in our solar system. The abiogenic hypothesis first originated with Russian petroleum engineers in the early 1950s. Companion to the fossil fuel fable is the M King Hubbert, 1956, Peak Oil Theory.

Since there was a finite amount of organic sediment rock formations, there must be a finite petroleum supply. Always just twenty years from exhaustion, the end date was reset in 1962 and again in 1974, but never abandoned.  Today there are estimated reserves of 1.65 trillion barrels, a 47 year supply at current consumption rates and the Hubbert false hypothesis.

The abiogenic hypothesis was popularized in the west by Cornell Astrophysicist, Thomas Gold in a 1992 article, The Deep, Hot Biosphere, and a 1999 book of the same title. Gold was fluent in Russian, had access to their petroleum research, and was accused of plagiarism, with a twist. In a counterintuitive labeling, his abiogenic hypothesis depended on deep Earth microorganisms to produce the petroleum. As we described above, some Archaea produce Methane, but an equal number consume Methane. A good analysis, and 25 year review of this book is at pnas.org

Gold made no effort to describe the origin of longer chain Hydrocarbons. Fossil Fuel is Nuclear Waste [1] does describe the true, abiogenic origins based on the original Russian “Elemental Atom” fission byproduct hypothesis. Earth has 259 billion cubic miles of mostly molten rock, which contains 700,000 cubic miles of Uranium and 1.2 million cubic miles of Thorium.

As these elements decay, the protons, neutrons and electrons form new “elemental daughter” atoms, and under high heat and pressure form “elemental molecules”.  Consider this a fractional distillation refinery in reverse.

On Equilibrium of Hetrogeneous Substances, Joshia Gibbs did pioneering work in 1878 on Thermodynamics and the Pressure, Temperature and Volume changes with solid, liquid and gas phases.  Percy Bridgeman, a brave Harvard physicist won the 1946 Nobel Prize for his extreme high pressure, high temperature phase state research.

His Bridgeman Effect states that  metallic series elements can undergo fission above 15,000 atmospheres of pressure, available at 42 miles below the Earth’s surface.. This adds a considerable volume of elemental material. Theoretically, a single Uranium atom could produce 92 Hydrogen atoms, or 46 Helium atoms, or 16 Carbon atoms or 12 Oxygen atoms. This is the feedstock for a petroleum factor that has operated of 4.7 billion years, with a few billion years of remaining production.

In his article, Volcanic CO2, Timothy Casey writes “there are vast pools of liquid CO2 on the ocean floor” as indeed, seafloor pressure and temperature are below the liquid limit. Vast quantities of Methane Clathrates cover the ocean floor and Methane Hydrates cover to poles. Methane percolates out of the Earth everywhere, and in the atmosphere has a half life of 4 years, per Strange Tale of the Green House Gas Gang [2]

Methane is accused of being a powerful greenhouse gas, but review of CH4 absorption bands show it only absorbs in two spectral bands, and per Wien’s Law these temperatures, 3.3 microns at 600^o C (1112^o F) and 7.7 microns at 104^o C (220^o F)

These absorption bands indicate that Methane can only absorb incoming solar energy, cooling the Earth, and at 1.7 PPM it has no effect on the massive planets climate.  The other greenhouse gases, Carbon Dioxide absorbs in three spectral bands and water vapor absorbs in 37,000 bands. We will save discussion of atmospheric Radiation Physics for a later article.

Coal is Hydrogenated, organic sediment layers, another useful form of Carbon and energy. Coal is the simplest source of coke, needed for Carbon steel. As a power source, coal can be stockpiled, offering predictable long term electrical generation. The switch to natural gas does reduce the CO2 output per kilowatt/hour, but pipelines and pumping stations are a strategic vulnerability.

In search of new markets, producers are promoting Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG as a transportable clean energy. One problem is that to liquefy CH4 it must be chilled to -260^O F, requiring more energy than the fuel itself.  The storage vessels have cooling systems and the vessels are subject to cryogenic embrittlement. DOT does not have load cycle service life standards, but requires visual inspection after every delivery, as welds are particularly subject to possible dangerous failures.  Theoretically, a million BTU (MMBTU) of LNG can produce 0.3 megawatt/hours of electricity, which is not the best use of this fuel.

In a decade of science research, it has become increasingly difficult of use politically correct, directed narrative search engines. Searching the web on Gas-To-Liquid only offers dated articles claiming this as inefficient and referring to the 90 year Fischer-Tropsch process.   Knowing there was a quantum leap in this technology by TAMU professor Kenneth R Hall in 2015, you find

Professors Natural Gas Refining Process Results in Industry Breakthrough at TAMU.edu

This new process is scalable and, at $4 per gallon was commercially viable. Four years of increased domestic production have lowered the cost and limited the viability, but not completely.

The Hall GTL process converts natural gas to gasoline by adding Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide. Being scalable means placing small units, directly at well sites, collecting Methane in quantities too small for pipelines, and avoiding the waste of currently flaring this product. The ultrapure GTL gasoline meets 100 LL Avgas requirements with a current market of $4.70 per gallon is profitable. It is a far better investment of eco friendly energy dollars to invest in this method of conservation.

When Edward Doherty drilled the first oil well in the Los Angles valley in 1892, the La Brea tar pit was a 350^o  F geyser and the Pacific Coast looked like an Exxon Valdez site. Relieving the oil pressure and diverting this environmental hazard to human use was a double benefit to California. As custodians of the most beautiful planet in the Milky Way, we have an obligation to use our naturally RENEWABLE, Hydrocarbon energy wisely.

The only measurable effect of increased atmospheric CO2 is a direct, linear increase in photosynthesis, resulting in increased production of plant based sugars, carbohydrates, starches and cellulose. These are the basis of civilization, and if you need a reminder of what combustion has done for you, read Thought-Provoking Definition [3]

For civilization to progress, we must have clean, reliable energy. To have this energy we must have open, honest debates on the real science of our planet.

References:

[1] to [3] are at principia-scientific.org

About the author: Joseph A Olson PE is co-author of the ‘Slaying the Sky Dragon – Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory’ the world’s first full-volume debunk of the greenhouse gas theory. Retired Texan engineer and impassioned science writer, Joe Olson PE is a respected innovative thinker with over 100 major civil engineering and climate-related articles to his name. Olson has been a guest on many radio shows including coasttocoastam.com where he is an adept advocate of the traditional English scientific method, impressing listeners/viewers with his wide-ranging knowledge.

PRINCIPIA SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL, legally registered in the UK as a company incorporated for charitable purposes. Head Office: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX. 

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