Search results for: “direct air capture”
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Energy intensity of fiber optic cables?
What is the energy intensity of fiber optic cables? Our best estimate is that moving each GB of internet traffic through the fixed network requires 40Wh/GB of energy, across 20 hops, spanning 800km and requiring an average of 0.05 Wh/GB/km. Generally, long-distance transmission is 1-2 orders of magnitude more energy efficient than short-distance.
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Polyester: production process?
Polyester is the most produced textile fiber on planet Earth. Of the world’s 8GTpa of oil and gas production, 80MTpa, or 1% ends up as PET, via eleven chemical processing stages that span naphtha-reforming, BTX separation into paraxylene, oxidation to PTA, plus ethane cracking, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol. This data file covers the polyester…
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Newlight AirCarbon: bioplastics breakthrough?
Newlight is converting (bio-)methane and air into polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a type of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a biodegradable bioplastic which it markets as AirCarbon. The product is ‘carbon negative’, biodegradable, strong, ‘never soggy’, dishwasher safe. Our AirCarbon technology review found some good underlying innovations, but was unable to de-risk cost and capex aspirations.
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Bloom Energy: solid oxide fuel cell technology?
This data-file reviews Bloom Energy’s solid oxide fuel cell technology. What surprised us most was a candid overview of degradation pathways of solid oxide fuel cells, a focus on improving the longevity of fuel cells, albeit this sometimes seems to be via heavy uses of Rare Earth metals, and increasing complexity. The patents do suggest…
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Hydrogen peroxide: production costs?
Hydrogen peroxide production costs run at $1,000/Tpa, to generate a 10% IRR at a greenfield production facility, with c$2,000/Tpa capex costs. Today’s market is 5MTpa, worth c$5bn pa. CO2 intensity runs to 3 kg of CO2 per kg of H2O2. But lower-carbon hydrogen could be transformational for clean chemicals?
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Residential energy consumption over time?
Global residential energy demand runs at 2.5 MWH pp pa, of which c40% is from electricity, 40% is gas, c13% is biomass and c7% is oil. In our gas and power models, electrification rises to 65% by 2050, to help renewables reach 50% of global electricity. Heat pumps improve efficiency and lower primary demand in the developed world.
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California power generation over time?
California’s power grid ranges from 26-61GW of demand. Utility scale solar has almost quadrupled in the past decade, rising from 5% to almost 20% of the grid. Yet it has not displaced thermal generation, which rose from 28% to 36% of the grid. We even wonder whether wind and solar are entrenching natural gas generators…
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Nafion membranes: costs and hydrogen crossover?
Perfluorinated sulfonate (PFSA) membranes, such as Nafion, are the crucial enabler for PEM electrolyzers, fuel cells and other industrial processes. The market is worth $750M pa. The key challenges are costs, longevity and hydrogen crossover, which are tabulated in this data-file.
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BrightLoop: clean hydrogen breakthrough?
Is Babcock and Wilcox’s BrightLoop technology a game-changer for producing low-carbon hydrogen from solid fuels, while also releasing a pure stream of CO2 for CCS? Conclusions and deep-dive details are covered in this data-file, allowing us to guess at BrightLoop’s energy efficiency and a moat around Babcock’s reactor designs?
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Cummins: diesel engine and generator technology?
Cummins is a power technology company, listed in the US, specializing in diesel engines, underlying components, exhaust gas after-treatment, diesel power generation and pivoting towards hydrogen. We reviewed 80 patents from 2023-24. What outlook for Cummins technology and verticals in the energy transition?
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