Fuelfrom...nothing.Experimentsof

GermanchemistsoftheWorldWarII

Uniquemodernandoldworldwartechnology

MichaelT.Benson

WilliamS.Carson

©Allrightsreserved
MichaelT.Benson,WilliamS.Carson,2017

Thisbookrevealsseveralissuesthatarerelatedtothechemical

industryofGermanyduringtheSecondWorldWar.Also,thereareunknown
factsaboutthesearchformagicfuel.

1.

Everyone knows that during the SecondWorldWar German chemists

andindustrialistsestablishedtheproductionofallkindsofersatzproducts.
In particular, it is they who are responsible for the appearance and
distribution of margarine. However, for some reason, few people pay
attention to what efforts were made by the leaders of the Third Reich in
ordertolearnhowtosynthesizeliquidfuelliterallyfromnothing.

During the Great Patriotic War, it was often possible to see such a

picture. The car stopped near the woodpile, and the driver began to refuel
the car with birch or aspen chocks. Of course, there was no firebox in the
usualsenseofthewordinthecar.Justnexttothecabinwasinstalledahigh
column of chemical reactor, and the wood was distilled into gaseous or
liquidfuel.

Experts of the warring countries were well aware that wood, methyl

alcohol or methanol, was first discovered in dry distillation products of
wood back in 1661.The French chemist M. Berthelot in 1857 received the
firstsyntheticmethanolsaponificationofmethylchloride.Atthattime,this
was, in fact, limited. In practice, methanol still produced dry distillation of
wood from the dry water.The first such plant was built in the US in 1867,
andby1910therewereabout120suchplants.

Of course, in a new way they immediately became interested in

Germany,whichneverhaditsownreservesofoilandfromthemineralsin
abundance, perhaps, only brown coal.And there are not too many forests.
Therefore, German chemists tried to find methanol synthesis methods from
moreaccessiblerawmaterialsthanwood.So,in1923inGermany,thefirst
methanolwasobtainedonthebasisofwatergas(italsosynthesisgasCO+
H2) with the help of the plant, which produced up to 20 tons of methanol
per day. And a year later, German industrialists began exporting synthetic
methanol to the US, where it was sold three times cheaper than that
produced from wood. At this time in Germany, methanol was even
sometimescalled"organicwater"(organischeWasser).

During the SecondWorldWar, methanol was already used as a motor

fuelforcars(albeitmixedwithgasoline).Withacalorificvaluealmosthalf
that of gasoline, methanol has a higher octane number. The presence of
oxygen in the molecule of methanol provides more complete combustion
and a decrease in the volume of exhaust gases. They have less carbon
monoxide,virtuallynosulfurand,ofcourse,nolead.

But when working on methanol requires an increase in the volume of

fueltanks.Moreheatneedstobefedintothesuctionsystemtovaporizethe
fuel, which means that existing combustion engine systems for methanol
operationneedtobereworked.

The constant boiling point of methanol makes it difficult to start the

engine at low temperatures, requires special measures, for example,
injecting a highly volatile liquid (ether) into the engine being started.
Methanol destroys the layer of the half-dead in the fuel tanks, and the
resulting lead hydroxide clogs the fuel filters and jets of carburettors. The
corrosion of the engine and fuel system elements is also increasing,
especiallyinmagnesium,aluminumandtheiralloys.Inaddition,numerous
gasketsandsealsrapidlyswellandloseleakinthemethanol...

Inaword,carsofthoseyearswereill-equippedtoworkonmethanol.

And therefore, as soon as the opportunity arose, specialists began to use

traditional gasoline and diesel fuel. However, the accumulated experience
was not forgotten. And to this day designers together with scientists are
discussingthebroaderpossibilitiesofusing"vegetablefuel".

For example, practical Japanese want to use algae as a raw material

for the production of motor fuel. Norwegians consider it promising for the
same purpose to process coniferous wood - the part that usually goes to
waste: sawdust, boughs, directly the very needles ... In New Zealand, the
first tons of fuel from orange peels were obtained, and in Mexico,
successfulprocessingexperimentswerecarriedoutcacti!

So, it turns out that in principle, the motor can be fed almost any

organicrawmaterials.InBrazil,forexample,evenaircraftfly"invegetable
oil."

2.

However, all this exotics, as already mentioned, is not from a good

life. In the same Brazil, there are almost no oil deposits, so we have to get
out ... In this situation, of course, the low heat of combustion of such fuel,
anditshighcost,arenottakenintoaccount.

And in Germany during the Third Reich synthetic gasoline had to be

madefromcoal.Therewereattemptseventofillinthecarengine...water!
Andforthis,itwasnotdecomposedintohydrogenandoxygen,consuming
largeamountsofenergy.No,theytriedandtriedtoaddwatertotheengine
andwithoutdecomposition,sotospeak,inanaturalstate.

Even at the dawn of motorism it was noticed that in wet weather the

engines seem to work better. The conducted researches showed: yes, up to
10percentofwatercanbeaddedtomotorfuel,andtheenginewillwork.

However, according to some experts, the engine under certain

conditions can work almost on clean water. Here is a story, for example,
told the reader and historian from Praga. According to her, in the USA,
duringtheFirstWorldWar,testswerecarriedoutonthe"fuel"forinternal
combustionenginesproposedbythePortugueseemigrantJuanAndres.

Themainpartofitwaswater(freshorsalty,indifferent),whichadded

an unknown liquid, which had a greenish tinge. In the press cases were
cited, when the inventor, in front of witnesses, was preparing the initial
mixture of medicines purchased at the nearest pharmacy. Mixing them in a
bucket of water, he poured a fuel tank and started the engine. After
adjusting the needle valve, the inventor worked for the stable operation of
themotor,whichgavetheexhaustwithoutcolorandodor.

The tests were carried out on a Pakard car and a three-cylinder two-

stroke marine engine. The flow rate of the mixture was approximately 50
liters per 100 kilometers of track. A bit too much, of course, but do not
forget - and the engines were taken quite powerful, and the fuel cost
fabulouslycheap.

Being an electrochemical engineer by education, historian, together

with her colleagues, tried to solve the riddle of the emigrant. "So, all the
pistonenginesworkattheexpenseofagaseousmassofhighpressurethat
entersthecylinderfromtheoutside(compressedwatervapor)orisformed
inside the cylinder due to combustion of liquid fuel," she reasoned. "In the

first case we have a place with steam engines, the second - with internal
combustionengines,bothhavetheiradvantagesanddisadvantages."

Theattractionofasteamengineisthattheworkingfluidofthewater

vapor does not poison the environment. The question naturally arises: is it
possibletocreateahighvaporpressuredirectlyinsidethecylinder?Andres
answeredintheaffirmative:"Yes,ifweusetheenergyoftheexplosive..."

In fact, even small amounts of explosives generate large volumes of

gasesandgeneratealotofheat.Theenergyofexplosionandheatcanbring
water to a gaseous state with high pressure. "Clearly, Andreas chose
nitroglycerin as an explosive," writes historian, "I think so, because in the
form of a 1% alcohol solution, nitroglycerin can be bought at a pharmacy
whereitissoldasamedicinethatdilatesthebloodvessels."

In its pure form, nitroglycerin is a heavy oily liquid that solidifies at

temperaturesbelow13°C.Itdissolvespoorlyinwater:only1.8gperliter.
Butitisverysolubleinalcohol-upto250gperliter.Whenheatedto260
°C and detonation explodes.And the process of explosion instantly covers
theentiremassofnitroglycerin,transferringallthemoleculesatonceintoa
certainmixtureofgases.

As the analysis shows, the mixture of gases formed during the

explosion contains from 58 percent of carbon dioxide, 20 percent of water
vapor, 18 percent of nitrogen and 4 percent of oxygen. All gases are
absolutely non-toxic, they are the natural components of the Earth's
atmosphere.

"Ibelieve,inconnectionwiththeforegoing,thatthefuelofAnreswas

an aqueous emulsion of nitroglycerin," finished his letter to historian, who
was preparing it, pouring a mixture of a pharmacial alcohol solution of
nitroglycerin with an emulsifier to the water, and an emulsifier could be
liquidpotassium("green")soap,whichisalsosoldinpharmacies.

So it was the greenish liquid that Andreas injected into the water

beforepouringitintothefueltank,selectingthequantitativeratioofallthe
componentsexperimentallyandexperimentally."

Asyoucansee,Andre'srebuswasnotsocomplicated.Andifaperson

has unraveled it without special preparation, then probably German
chemists,whohavelongenjoyedahighreputationinthewholeworld,have
coped with this task for a long time. Moreover, before the war, as even a
cursory search showed, there were many publications on this subject.
Experiments were also carried out, the purpose of which was to search for
the optimal composition of fuel and to gain practical experience in its
application.However,theseexperimentsandwasnotdestinedtogobeyond
therange.Why?Afterall,Germany,ashasbeenrepeatedlysaid,wasindire
needofreplacingnaturalpetroleumproductswithsyntheticones.

Thereareseveralreasonsforthis.Let'snameatleastthemainones.In

principle, you can shove anything into the engine, even naphthalene -
similarexperimentswereconductedbackinthe1920s.Thewholequestion
is,isitprofitableandrational?

3.

Experiencehasshownthat,evenifaninsignificantamountofwateris

added to the engine, this leads to a sharp deterioration in its characteristics
anddurability.Inaddition,nitroglycerinisacapricious,insecureliquid.Itis
no coincidence that the well-known Alfred Nobel spent a lot of time and
energy before he could get dynamite - quite safe in circulation explosives.
Ingeneral,NobelPrizefortheuseofnitroglycerinmixturesasfuelhasnot
yet been obtained by anyone. And the same chemists of the Third Reich
chose to go the other way - they began to get synthetic gasoline, for
example,fromcoal.

There was one more way they had left. Oil, it turns out, can be

extracteddirectlyfrom...air!

Imustsaythatthehistoryofthisrecipeisalsoquiteold.Backin1908

the Russian chemist E.I. Orlov drew attention to the possibility of
synthesizingpetroleumhydrocarbonsfromcarbonmonoxideandhydrogen.
This mixture is also called water gas (or synthesis gas) and is contained in
sufficientquantitiesintheatmosphere.

A few years after the First World War, this method was tested in

practice. Kaiser Germany was cut off from natural sources of oil, and here
German scientists K. Fisher and A. Tropsh in 1922 worked out the
technologyofobtainingsyntheticliquidhydrocarbonsinpractice.

True, they decided to first receive water gas from the air, as it turned

out to be technically too difficult, but from brown coal. The synthesis of
hydrocarbonswascarriedoutbycontactingthisgaswithiron-zinccatalysts
at high temperature. In 1936 the first industrial installations were put into
operation.

A total of 14 plants were launched with a total capacity of about one

million tons of fuel per year. They successfully worked until the end of
WorldWarII.

Whenpost-warGermanygainedaccesstocheapnaturaloil,gradually

all European and Asian plants for the production of synthetic fuel were
stoppedortransferredtoproduceotherproducts.ButinSouthAfrica,which
wassubjectedtoanoilembargobytheinternationalcommunityandwhere
coal production is also extremely cheap, in the mid-1980s, about 4 million
tonsofliquidhydrocarbonswereproducedannually.

And only nowadays the idea of obtaining fuel from the air, or rather,

fromthecarbondioxidecontainedinit,seemstoacquireaspecialurgency.
A huge amount of fuel burned on the planet threatens the formation of the
so-called"greenhouseeffect."Duetothehighcontentofcarbondioxidein
the atmosphere, some of the sun's rays, which should be reflected off the
surface of the planet and retreat back to outer space, is now delayed.And
this,accordingtosomeexperts,intheendcanleadtoageneralwarmingof
theclimateonEarth.

At first glance, it's okay. Well it will be warmer by a degree or two.

What's wrong with that? But such warming, as calculations show, can lead
to the fact that a significant part of the current land will be flooded. Here
scientists and offer a way how to turn evil for good. First of all, it is
necessarytoisolateexcesscarbondioxidefromtheatmosphericair.

Already, today's technology offers several ways for this. The air

constituents can be separated by means of porous membranes, freezed or
combined under certain conditions with gaseous ammonia. Ammonia,
reacting with carbon dioxide, forms ammonium carbonate. This white
crystalline powder is easily separated from the gaseous components by a
purely mechanical means - in apparatuses such as cyclones or centrifugal
separators.Theair,whichnolongercontainscarbondioxide,returnstothe
atmosphere. Subsequently, ammonium carbonate is easily decomposed by
heatingtocarbondioxideandammonia.Ammoniagoesbackintobusiness;
itisusedtocatchnewportionsofcarbondioxide.

The resulting carbon dioxide is decomposed into carbon monoxide

(carbon monoxide) and oxygen. This reaction requires a lot of energy.

Therefore, in all likelihood, it will be profitable to produce it only with
cheap energy sources. Such sources can be nuclear reactors or
thermonuclearinstallations.Here,atatemperatureofabout5000°C.inthe
presence of catalysts, carbon monoxide will be obtained. The released
oxygen will again be sent to the atmosphere, and carbon monoxide will be
connected to hydrogen. The resulting hydrocarbons can later be used in
chemical production in much the same way that oil derivatives are used
today.

4.

In the Oklahoma company "Sintrolium," founded in 1978 by the

brothers Mark and Kenneth Age, only 16 people work so far. However,
contacts with the company are urgently sought by such giants of the oil
empireasShell,ExxonandTexic.Withthelatter,bytheway,"Syntrolium"
just concluded an agreement on the joint production of a product called
syncroatapriceof$15perbarrel.

Of course, it is expensive, but it is already clear that the further

improvementofthetechnologycansignificantlyreducetheprice,andthen
the syncro will be cheaper than natural oil. And this is very interesting,
becausethenewnamehidessyntheticoilproducedfromnaturalgas.Andits
reservesintermsofthissamesyncroareestimatedatleasttwiceasmuchas
fossiloil.

Americanengineerstookasabasisthesametechnology,theoriginsof

whichdatebacktothebeginningofthiscentury.

The company "Sintrolium" has improved this process. Now, to get

carbonmonoxideinsteadofoxygen,atmosphericairisused,whichledtoa
significant reduction in the price of the product. In the pilot plant, which
hasbeenoperatingsince1990,theproductivityis2barrelsperday.Butthe
technologyofproductionof2000barrelsperdayhasbeendevelopedandis
being sold, and preparation of documentation for the construction of a

facilitywiththecapacityof5000barrelsperdayiscomingtoanend.

The company is convinced that the future belongs to such relatively

small, compact installations that can be installed in close proximity to the
consumerandreceivefuelalmostfromtheair.

A great advantage of the syncro is the fact that it does not contain

sulfur and aromatic compounds, which have to be disposed of with great
difficultywhenworkingwithnaturaloil.

In addition, as recent studies have shown, natural gas on Earth is in

factmuchlargerthanthestandardestimates.Theydonottakeintoaccount
the reserves of so-called solid gas. And many geologists seriously believe
that the bottom of the World Ocean is lined with hydrates of hydrocarbon
gasescompoundsinwhichmethanemoleculesfillthevoidsinthelatticeof
crystalline ice. The thickness of the deposits reaches half a kilometer,
which, you will agree, is quite a lot considering the area of the World
Ocean.

OnlyintheNorthAtlantic,wherethegroupofDr.J.Bickensfromthe

University of Michigan worked, it turned out that in a relatively small
section of the ice bottom there are up to 35 billion tons of methane. In
addition, here it contains up to 7 percent of carbon - so that all the raw
materials(plusatmosphericair)areavailablefortheproductionofsynthetic
oil.

In general, it turns out that the Nazi chemists did not bring the

businesstheystartedtothelogicalend.Perhaps,becausetheydidnotreally
want to help the ruling regime? One way or another, but they were missed
andanotherchancetoprolongtheagonyoftheThirdReich.

Pay attention, the inhabitants of Europe, including major cities and

our country; have become accustomed to trucks with red gas cylinders
instead of gasoline tanks.There was also the first "Volga" -taxies, working

on gas. And, as the accumulated experience shows, natural gas can quite
compete with traditional gasoline and diesel fuel. Gas has a higher octane
number, it less pollutes the air with toxic gases when burned in engine
cylinders,doesnotspoilthelubricatingoil...

5.

Bytheway,allthiswasknownforalongtime.AttheParisexhibition

in 1878 N. Otto and E. Langen demonstrated the gas car in action. He,
however,stunnedthosearoundhimwithadesperatebang,butheconsumed
relativelylittlefuel.

So in this case, the new is a well-forgotten old.And is it any wonder

that by now only half a million cars in our country run on natural gas?
Rather,itissurprisingtoanotherwhytheyarestillsosmall?..Youcanalso
use biogas as a fuel. The source for its production is waste, in large
quantities - up to 500 million tons per year! - formed on livestock farms,
poultryfarms,andevensimplyonthefieldsofthecountry.

Theproductionofbiogasisverysimple.Inaspecialtank-amethane

tank load organic waste, add a little water and a special anaerobic starter.
Now you just need to maintain a positive temperature in the methane tank.
The rest of the bacteria will do it themselves: they will carry out the
necessary fermentation process, process the waste into biogas and sludge.
Biogas, as analysis shows, consists of 50-70 percent of ordinary methane,
andthesludgeisafineorganicfertilizer.

By itself, such a simple technology, of course, does not represent

anythingfundamentallynew.Somescientistsbelievethatapproximatelythe
sameprocessesofthetransformationoforganicsubstancesintomethanego
alsointhebowelsoftheEarth.

Accordingtoeconomists,inthenext20-25years,intheSovietUnion,

according to already developed technologies, it is possible to produce

annually 15-18 billion cubic meters of useful gas. Potential opportunities
are even higher. After all, in each industrially developed country, as
calculation shows, there is about two tons of organic waste per person per
year,whichcorrespondstothepossibilityofobtaining1000cubicmetersof
biogas. For reference, we add that currently the urban resident spends 100
cubic meters of domestic gas per year, which is equivalent to 150 cubic
meters of biogas. Thus practically the entire population can be provided
withgas!

Andthatisnotall.Theveryprocessofobtainingbiogas,accordingto

experts, holds a lot of reserves. In particular, you can speed up the
fermentation process. For example, if a part of fermented biomass is
removedfromthebiomassandmixedwithnewfeedstockthroughthepipes,
the decomposition of organic substances will begin even before they enter
themethanetank.Thismakesitpossibletoshortenthemaincyclefromfive
days to one. And if microbiologists remove highly active species of
microorganisms, then the entire cycle of reactions can probably be brought
toseveralhours.

Biogas can be obtained not only from waste, but also from specially

designedplantations.Andinordernottooccupyusefulareasonland,such
plantationsarelogicallylocatedinthesea.

6.

Scientists believe: for industrial plantations of this energy biomass,

the estuaries of the Black Sea, the Caspian andAral Seas and other water
bodiesofourcountryaresuitable.Withacropyieldof20gramspersquare
meter of water surface per day, over a summer vegetation period from one
hectareyoucancollectupto24tonsofbiomass.Itsprocessinginmethane
tanks will give 12 thousand cubic meters of gas. Such researches are
activelycarriedoutundertheprogram"Biosolar".

Imagine a narrow pool, over which the huge lamps shine dazzlingly.

Onthesurfaceofthewaterfloatsubmergedtroughsofplastic.Inthemthe
water is noticeably darker and as if thicker than around. In any case, this
seems to be the impression, although, according to the head of the
laboratory accompanying us, the water is the most ordinary - from a water
pipe,onlywithadditivesofnutritivesalts.

Butthenhebentdownand,holdingontothehandrail,scoopedupthe

test tube from the trough. The greenish contents of the test tube seemed
completelyhomogeneoustotheeye.Onlyunderamicroscopecouldwesee
thatthewateristeemingwithtinyorganisms.

These unicellular algae are the main "mechanism" of the plant. It is

they who consume the nutrients contained in the substrate, and multiply
rapidlyunderbrightlight.Fromtimetotime,the"broth"fromthetroughis
diluted, pumping out the excess into the methane tank already familiar to
us.Heretherearefermentationreactions,and,please,biogasstartstocome
outofthemetalcylinder.

Inthelaboratory,itwascalculatedthatifyouspreadthesetroughs,or,

as they are called here, photosynthetic blocks, the surface of theAral Sea,
you can provide the whole of our country with fuel that will provide heat
and electricity for all needs. Fantastic? .. For now - yes. But the fantasy,
based on accurate calculation. Researchers show a map of the globe where
the most favorable places for creating such plantations are marked. It is
estimated that more than 300 billion tons of standard fuel per year can be
harvested from them. This is approximately 15 times more than humanity
willneedin2000!

Finally, bacteria can also be used to increase the efficiency of

conventional oilfields. We already know that with the current methods of
extraction,asignificantpartoftheoilremainsintheearth'sinterior.Butif
you start invisible workers in your well, they will very quickly transfer the
remainingoiltobiogas,andoldfieldswillhaveanewlife.

Afterword

Thanks to everyone who read this book. I hope she expanded your

horizons.

Sincerely,BillCarson