Keith Henson

This talk explores making synthetic fuel from municipal waste using renewable energy. The key reaction, dating back to the 1860s, involves heating carbon in steam to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This endothermic reaction requires heating, traditionally done by alternately burning coke and injecting steam. Using intermittent renewable electricity for heating is now feasible.

A metric ton of carbon requires 4 MWh of heat to produce 13.1 MWh of syngas; a 3 to 1 energy gain. The gas can be stored, burned to make power, or converted into methanol, methane, jet fuel, or diesel. The water-gas shift reaction can be used to increase the hydrogen at the expense of CO. The resultant CO2 (about half) can be sorted out of the gas stream and sequestered.

Following the water-gas shift, the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process converts syngas into hydrocarbons, with water as a byproduct.

An example design uses 9,000 tons of trash daily from the Sylmar, CA landfill supplemented with coal, brush or tires to produce syngas. The project would need significant power and infrastructure, including large gasifiers and GW scale PV.

The project addresses landfill overuse and methane leakage, and provides a renewable energy solution for synthetic fuel production, though it requires substantial investment and the development of large gasifiers.

Biography:

Keith Henson has been involved in speculative engineering for over 50 years. He has written on subjects including space engineering, space law (Moon Treaty), memetics, cryonics, evolutionary psychology, and the physical limitations of Transhumanism. Born in 1942, he was heavily influenced by Robert Heinlein. Keith’s wikipedia entry is reminiscent of a Heinlein story in its humor and variety.

Keith earned a BSEE from the University of Arizona in the 1960’s. After graduation, he worked at Burr-Brown Research, now part of TI, then formed his own company, Analog Precision, Inc. In 1975, Keith and his then-wife, Carolyn, founded the L5 Society to spread Dr. Gerard O’Neill’s concepts. In 1985, Eric Drexler (of Nanotech fame) convinced him about cryonic suspension. About the same time, Keith and his second wife, Arel Lucas, wrote about memes and contributed to the early lexicon of memetics. As a free speech advocate, he became involved in the battle between the Church of Scientology and the net in the mid-1990’s.

From 2007 on, Henson worked independently and with others on the problems of global energy supply and affordable cost, particularly on power satellites for space-based solar power. There he was particularly concerned with launch cost, system mass, waste heat, heat radiators, and economics. In early 2015, Henson created the Google group Power Satellite Economics where various concerned citizens and experts from various fields can discuss the complexities and benefits of power satellites and related work.

Keith is retired but works as a volunteer on projects to solve energy and carbon problems.

Address:California, United States