Synthetic Fuel Anthony Maralian/Chris Voskericyan/Nick Collins

{How US gets their gas now} {US gets gas by having an Oil Rig in Saudi Arabia, and Russia drill oil in the ground.}

{How US gets their gas now}  Oil extraction is soaring at shale formations in Texas and North Dakota as companies split rocks using high- pressure liquid, a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.  The surge in supply combined with restrictions on exporting crude is curbing the price of West Texas Intermediate, America’s oil benchmark.  The U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer, still imported an average of 7.5 million barrels a day of crude in April, according to the Department of Energy’s statistical arm.

{How US gets their gas now}  U.S. production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural gas, surpassed all other countries this year with daily output exceeding.  11 million barrels in the first quarter, the bank said in a report today.  The country became the world’s largest natural gas producer in  The International Energy Agency said in June that the U.S. was the biggest producer of oil and natural gas liquids.

{History of Gas}  “There’s a very strong linkage between oil production growth, economic growth and wage growth across a range of U.S. states,” Blanch said.  Annual investment in oil and gas in the country is at a record $200 billion, reaching 20 percent of the country’s total private fixed-structure spending for the first time, he said. Record Investment

{History of Gas}  Although naturally occurring gas has been known since ancient times, its commercial use is relatively recent.  In about 1000, B.C., the famous Oracle at Delphi, on Mount Parnassus in ancient Greece, was built where natural gas seeped from the ground in a flame.  Around 500 B.C., the Chinese started using crude bamboo “pipelines” to transport gas that seeped to the surface and to use it to boil sea water to get drinkable water.

{GAINS IN US OIL PRODUCTION HAVE BEEN OFFSET BY GEOPOLITICAL DISTURBANCES}

{Our Future Project}  Synthetic fuel  is a gas based fuel that is made of hydrogen gas and, in which the  automobile is filled with, where the hydrogen splits inside the engine  causing combustion just like today’s fuel does. Importing petroleum from other countries over time is more expensive to ship over. But for our Synthetic Gas Invention we will also be adding local hydrogen plants locally so then we can cut down the cost of overtime shipping of petroleum.

{Hydrogen synthesis combustion}

{Breakthrough}  Our introduction to hydrogen (synthetic) fuel is to be tested in cars.  An installation of the hydrogen tank to be installed in cars has to be further developed, that way the ability to keep regular engines will be accomplished.  In the next twenty years, testing will have to be done to the cars ran on this synthetic gas (fuel), to test that the exposure of cars to the synthetic gas is safe and reliable.

{Breakthrough}  In the next twenty years, there will have to be a way to figure if the synthetic gas will be able to use its full capacity in all conditions  Regardless of that, the synthetic gas will have to be able to use its full capacity beneficially at altitudes as well, since there is less oxygen (O 2 ), and less atmospheric pressure, which means that research needs to be done, so the synthetic gas can combust properly inside a car engine. As we can see, the higher the elevation, the lower the atmospheric pressure is. We need a way to increase the combustion of the synthetic gas at higher elevations.

{Design Process}  We turned regular gas into a synthetic  Syngas is created by the gasification or pyrolysis of carbonaceous materials. Gasification involves subjecting these materials to high temperatures, in the controlled presence of oxygen with only limited combustion to provide thermal energy to sustain the reaction. Gasification can occur in man-made vessels, or alternatively could be conducted in-situ as in underground coal gasification (UCG).

{Consequences} Pros:  Cleaner Environment  Cheaper Gas, since gas is easier to obtain.  Less illness/death since less pollution is being exposed to the environment.  Cons  Oil industries will fight to keep this product from going on the market.  Many countries will lose their main economic activity (of petroleum drilling).  Many countries will lose wealth in their country, since US will no longer need other countries to drill oil.