soda power

[dragonstar57]

a friend of mine told me that they can now turn soda into gasoline which i guess makes some sense i know some basic hs chem so i hypothesized that that reaction might look something like this

c₆h₁₂o₆--------->³ch⁴+³CO₂

is something like this possible? to convert a carbohydrate into a hydrocarbon?

and could it be used as a fuel?

[CaptainPanic]

Anaerobic digesters can turn hydrocarbons into a fuel. You call it bio-gas, but it's essentially just methane (CH4), which is the same as natural gas. And indeed, some CO2 is also formed, just like you said, and this has to be separated. The separation is relatively easy.

 

Such anaerobic digesters are found everywhere (there are thousands of these in Europe alone)... and the same occurs in nature too (swamp gas is created by the same reaction, and natural gas was created like that too). Actually, there is a decent chance that your local water treatment plant uses this technology to clean the water. Or there may be a farmer in your local area that has a bio-gas installation.

 

And yes, methane is a good fuel.

 

So, yes, it's all true.

 

The thing is: it will work with pretty much every organic material (manure/feces and agricultural residues are most often used)... and therefore it's a bit of a waste to use nice carbohydrates from your soft drink for it.

 

p.s. I was confused in the beginning... I hadn't realized you meant soda as the soft drink. I thought you meant the chemical soda: sodium carbonate

Edited March 31, 2011 by CaptainPanic