Greenbox May Be Able to Clean Car Exhaust

No, we’re not kidding. Reuters has a story on three men from Wales — one organic chemist and two engineers — who have created a “Greenbox” that can clean exhaust from even the dirtiest of engines and turn it into almost pure water vapor. The seemingly magical box converts the captured gases into a biofuel by feeding it to algae. Yes, algae.

It might sound like a half-baked scheme, but the men have serious interest from GM and Toyota and the backing of their local member of Parliament. There are applications for both industrial emissions and, of course, automobiles. The three say the box can be fitted like a muffler and changed at each fuel stop.

Theoretically, this chain of capturing emissions and turning them into fuel could keep us driving cars forever if it yields equivalent amounts. Even if it doesn’t, using more renewable fuels like ethanol — which still emits plenty of emissions — could wean us off foreign oil. The three men won’t let anyone near their box to see what’s in it, although they have performed numerous successful tests.

From Wales, a Box to Make Biofuel From Car Fumes (Reuters via GM Inside News)

Comments

very very good idea, but if it has to be changed at every fuel stop, how much would that cost and how hard will it be?

[Lil'Tom]

This post makes it sound like the Greenbox itself turns emissions into biofuel. It merely collects the emissions which can then be turned into biodiesel using existing technologies.

As for cost, you should be compensated for your collected emissions. Maybe it won't work that way, but those gases are worth something to the people who turn them into biofuels.

[Ed Minchau]

I'm wondering if the greenbox would reduce the efficiency of the engine. If it is more of an obstruction than a muffler would be, then there might be backpressure interfering with combustion.

[Joe Wiesenfelder]

Good points. The Reuters headline is the main problem. Typically editors, not reporters, write headlines, and this one clearly didn't get it or is just a poor headline writer. I'm extremely skeptical of the whole thing. I know they say it can come down some, but look at the size of that box compared to the engine they're running through it. Also, the article confuses CO2 with pollution. They chose a "dirty" engine. Irrelevant. Particulate filters can grab all the soot and crap you see coming out of the unfiltered stream. When it comes to CO2, the "dirtiest" engines would be the largest ones. That hanky test demonstrates nothing. Are we to believe that it's nitrogen alone blasting out of the box after treatment? That's the real test.

[Dan]

That's great and all, but pumping CO2 into a vat of algae and having it turn into biodiesel is easier said than done. If this works (and it will take some neat engineering tricks to implement it), then that's one part of the equation, I guess.

[sundara selvan]

whether the green box contains an algae or not?