The craziest thing I have done in my life still haunts me. Thermite for fuel. How do you build a combustion chamber that won't melt. Burning the fuel under the water helps a little, not much because the water around the lit fuel turns into super steam. The area of combustion is relatively dry. Come up with the answer to this and we have destroyed the need for radioactive power plants. Answer this and power will become much cheaper. This can put out more power than a nuclear plant and the materials are safe.
You don't get more energy out of thermite than has to go into smelting ore to get the constituent metals.
You go to the scrap yard and pay very little for an engine block to grind up and while you are there get about ten shovels full of rust, doesn't cost much at all. Do you have any idea how to make thermite? And some Sulfur and other cheap compounds and you got it, fuel that burns really hot.
I recommend crushing the rust into powder and using it in a sandblaster to reduce the block to small particles.
Quote from: raburgeson on May 15, 2014, 06:31:25 PM
You go to the scrap yard and pay very little for an engine block to grind up and while you are there get about ten shovels full of rust, doesn't cost much at all. Do you have any idea how to make thermite? And some Sulfur and other cheap compounds and you got it, fuel that burns really hot.
I recommend crushing the rust into powder and using it in a sandblaster to reduce the block to small particles.
You aren't going to get a supply of unoxidized light metal for free.
Compared to the price of a nuclear fuel rod it would be for free and it will not leave nuclear waste that gets stored forever in a pool that will remain dangerous for millions of years. They have plans to build storage that will cost billions and fail long before the waste is cold.And that will not contain all the waste we have accumulated.
Quote from: raburgeson on May 16, 2014, 12:54:30 AM
Compared to the price of a nuclear fuel rod it would be for free and it will not leave nuclear waste that gets stored forever in a pool that will remain dangerous for millions of years. They have plans to build storage that will cost billions and fail long before the waste is cold.And that will not contain all the waste we have accumulated.
I don't see the logical connection between thermite and nukes other than keywords that might get the folks in Bluffdale excited. If you think that for its heat output thermite can be cost competitive with any fossil fuel then you can always test that idea by performing a cost breakdown. Pick your preferred source of material supply and processing and pencil out the costs. The refined light metal cost is a budget killer. Zinc is probably your lowest cost choice.
Fossil fuels are not even in the same category. I'm talking about the ability to produce heat to compete with nuclear power plants. You are talking about fuel that can't even warp a steel plate. 700 degrees VS 4200 degrees. Natural gas is needed to heat homes, water and cooking fires. There is not enough production of it to use it for electrical generation. We have to use something else. That is why I am still haunted. This can produce the calories to compete.
Quote from: raburgeson on May 18, 2014, 09:50:47 PM
Fossil fuels are not even in the same category. I'm talking about the ability to produce heat to compete with nuclear power plants. You are talking about fuel that can't even warp a steel plate. 700 degrees VS 4200 degrees. Natural gas is needed to heat homes, water and cooking fires. There is not enough production of it to use it for electrical generation. We have to use something else. That is why I am still haunted. This can produce the calories to compete.
Don't confuse temperature with heat.
I'm not confused at all, it takes a high BTU rate to produce enough super heated steam to run the turbines at a nuclear plant. It's not just heat, it's the the ability to heat thousands of gallons of water fast enough to drive the turbines and do it cheaply. Why do you think they use nuclear rod for fuel? Look, not 1 idea to try, anyone thinking?
The government does not want this worked on. Anyone can handle the fuel until lit. There goes the monopoly! We will find out who is spooks on this one. They infiltrate everything from MUFON to here.
The rust is already oxidized and aluminum oxidizes instantly. There are no process costs oxidizing aluminum, it would cost a lot to keep it from oxidizing.