US Navy Prowls For E-Fuels From The Seven Seas
The US Navy Is Way Ahead On E-Fuels
The US Navy is always on the prowl for opportunities to resupply on-the-go. Back in 2009, for example, CleanTechnica took note of the Navy’s work on a high-efficiency on-board seawater desalination system.
In 2012, we noticed that the Navy was also working on seawater-to-fuel technology. We checked back again in 2015. Sure enough, the Navy had developed a system that simultaneously produces both hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide from seawater. Those are the indredients for liquid e-fuels. The Navy patented its hydrogen-plus-carbon device one year later, in 2016.
“With all the ingredients for making synthetic fuel at hand, the Navy anticipates being able to produce practically any kind of fuel it needs from seawater. Aside from JP-5 jet fuel, that includes LNG and CNG, as well as the multi-purpose fuel F-76,” we wrote.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Naval Institute also published a paper that explored the use of harvestable hydrogen for use in both seagoing and land-based expeditionary operations. They did not mean conventional hydrogen produced from natural gas. They meant green hydrogen pushed from water in an electrolysis system powered by wind, solar, or other renewable energy resources.