# End of Oil



## Shipbuilder (Jun 30, 2005)

I am seeing more an more about this "wonder fuel!" Does it have a basis in fact, or is it just some elaborate hoax/scam?
Bob


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## Satanic Mechanic (Feb 23, 2009)

Shipbuilder said:


> I am seeing more an more about this "wonder fuel!" Does it have a basis in fact, or is it just some elaborate hoax/scam?
> Bob


What wonder fuel?


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## Shipbuilder (Jun 30, 2005)

Surprised you haven't seen it. It has been appearing for quite a long time now, and the thing that prompted me to put the question is that it popped up here on SN this morning.
Here is link:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/thanks-stunning-breakthrough-chemical-engineering-kirti-mehta
Bob


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## fred henderson (Jun 13, 2005)

Do not invest your pension on this until there is any real evidence to back these claims from actual named experts


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## cueball44 (Feb 15, 2010)

Load of rubbish.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

So what is it? If it's sand, the Saudis have got a heap of that too.

This seems to be a bit like those ads for stuff that will cause you to lose 18 stone in half an hour without exercising .... they go on for so long, you fall asleep before the end and wake up fat.

John T


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

A lot of hype ... no actual science. No actual data or information. I believe what the Americans call 'equine excretal matter.'


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

Sounds like zero point energy or a similar concept, I would not risk a brass farthing on this.


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## frangio (Jan 20, 2012)

Snake Oil?

A few years ago there was a "device" that was supposed to make your car do double the mpg. It was basically a magnet which the fuel passed through. Lots of claims and lots of people who fitted them also claimed it worked - probably because, if you fit such a device you will drive more gently to try and get better mpg! Again there was no scientific evidence that it did anything!


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## endure (Apr 16, 2007)

"And the man behind this breakthrough?

He’s one of the greatest geniuses of the 20th century… responsible for the television, remote control, garage-door opener, laser, DVD...

Yet it’s this discovery that will go down as THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT contribution to mankind ever.

Now think about the big oil companies like Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, and Chevron…

They want to CRUCIFY this guy!"

No mention of who he is and no mention of the name of the fuel. Written by a man who claims he went to school with the Prime Minister of India.

Yeah right...


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## Shipbuilder (Jun 30, 2005)

I suppose we will not hear anything more about it after a while. I just wondered, because I am seeing it all the time on the internet.
Bob


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I looked up the inventor of the TV remote and it was Eugene Polley. Couldn't find the inventor of the laser - could it have been Ruby Murray? Couldn't be bothered looking up the others.

John T


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## endure (Apr 16, 2007)

Television was John Logie Baird in 1926. 

Laser was Theodore Maiman in 1960. 

Nobody invented the DVD as it was just a new variation on optical technology that had gone before.


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## Satanic Mechanic (Feb 23, 2009)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RoZ7JXkv6_o

Just naw!!!!

I was half expecting another Orimulsion variation there


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

A light road of owed cobras!
I remember a similar joke perpetrated on the NZ public well over 40 years ago. Briefly, it stated that a new 'wonder fuel' had been discovered in the black sands along the West Coast (ironsand mining has existed for many years). Apparently, a number of giant sand crushers were being constructed to extract this fuel quickly and easily by squeezing it out of the sand, straight into tankers and construction of giant storage tanks was to be urgently commenced. It was to make oil redundant.
The hoax stayed alive for a few more days before it was scotched. However, in the meantime, it had been reported that the discoverer, who was the only person with the formula had disappeared and it was feared the Russians had grabbed him.
I wonder if this current one emanates from NZ. Do any kiwis recall it?

Taff


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Yes Taff but the black in the sands turned out to be iron not oil.
Today we have bulk carriers standing off a couple of west north island ports loading a separated concentrate of iron sands for Japan while the steel mill at Waiouku processes the sand into steel .
I think that the plant is now owned by Aussie Co Bluescope Steel and produces about 600,000 tons of iron per year.

Bob


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

This, however appears reasonable, no indication of cost though http://phys.org/news/2016-07-breakthrough-solar-cell-captures-carbon.html


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## Samsette (Sep 3, 2005)

If Omaba Oladele Osinuga thinks it to be a hoax then, that is good enough for me.

Fill her up. Regular.


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## Dartskipper (Jan 16, 2015)

Another miracle fuel discovery. There was a buzz in the 1970's about some genius who had discovered a way to run car engines on water. The legend had it that Shell, Exxon, Texaco, Gulf, BP, Total, AGIP etc. etc. were all outbidding each other to buy the rights to his invention and thereby making him a billionaire and keeping this discovery from the whole of civilization.

All about as plausible as the legend of the Kingsteignton Treacle Mines.


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Another one about 20 or so years ago was 'cold fusion.' Although there was no theoretical model for it, considerable research and claims were made. I believe the research is still ongoing, but no tangible results so far.

Hot fusion of course is well understood, it's how the Sun works. But the engineering difficulties in dealing with those sorts of temperatures are formidable. It's still something of a holy grail.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

BobClay said:


> Another one about 20 or so years ago was 'cold fusion.'


Bob,

Some of us oldies can go further back than that along the 'free nuclear power' track. When I was still in the 6th form, the scientists were getting all excited about ZETA. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sceptre_(fusion_reactor)


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Nuclear power has had a chequered history. Judging by the news today of Hinkley Point that isn't going to change.

Research into hot fusion is taking place all over the world, the promise of unlimited energy without the problems of heavy element waste and possible catastrophe if something goes wrong. That promise is tempting no doubt.

I doubt I'll see it in my lifetime though.


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

Ron Stringer said:


> Bob,
> 
> Some of us oldies can go further back than that along the 'free nuclear power' track. When I was still in the 6th form, the scientists were getting all excited about ZETA.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sceptre_(fusion_reactor)


Ron, I was all excited about Zeta for years - until she married that [email protected] Michael Douglas!

Taff


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## jg grant (Nov 22, 2007)

In the Dominion Post, Wellington NZ today more on the new wonder fuel. It works in a similar way to leaves turning carbon monoxide into oxygen. Some names are mentioned for anyone who wants to google. Daniel Nocera (Harvard). Amin Salehi UNI Illinois. Research has been published in Science magazine.
Also the phrase,'nanoflake tungsten diselinide,' was used. Well until I see a car running on the stuff it's all stockyard confetti to me.


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## greektoon (Oct 17, 2008)

Bob, did you sail on Ropners Thirlby?


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Nope, never sailed on Ropners Thirlby.


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## greektoon (Oct 17, 2008)

Sorry, mistaken identity. I sailed with a sparks named Clay although he could have been a Terry or Trevor.


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

#24 - I think that the original objective was to use artificial photosynthesis to locally reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. 
Nanoflake tungsten diselenide (a recently developed semi conductor) appears to have been identified as an effective catalyst in the process. 
During research they thought that a by-product could be hydrogen but from what I read it seems that they are producing an actual hydrocarbon. 
Still in the lab stage - not enough to run a chainsaw just yet.. 

BUT - It is real and not part of the sand hoax.


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## sternchallis (Nov 15, 2015)

BobClay said:


> Nuclear power has had a chequered history. Judging by the news today of Hinkley Point that isn't going to change.
> 
> Research into hot fusion is taking place all over the world, the promise of unlimited energy without the problems of heavy element waste and possible catastrophe if something goes wrong. That promise is tempting no doubt.
> 
> I doubt I'll see it in my lifetime though.


There is a place near Abingdon with these Hot Fusion machines that they have been investing and researching in since the 50's . I have been round the place. They keep saying it will take 30 years to come into commercial use, but have been saying that since they started. The length of time they run is becoming longer, but require materials that haven't been invented yet to succeed. Its a job for life there. They have one in France which they are still building funded by many countries and will be the largest in the world.


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