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7 minutes ago, Frosty said:

. It's cheap enough to make if it were a suitable fuel it'd be in use. You can crack water in a heat exchanger on the exhaust circuit. It recoups waste heat and makes fuel and oxy in the PERFECT ratio, no electricity necessary. 

Frosty The Lucky.

I have to disagree with that Frosty, its takes a lot of electricity to crack the bond between Hydrogen and Oxygen and as physics states about the conservation of energy, there is no free ride, it takes more electrical power to crack it than you get from re burning hydrogen. so its neither free nor cheap

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Agreed, cracking water electrically is an economic negative. Thermally cracking water is less so. It takes a heat exchanger in the exhaust circuit that can amplify the temperature. The water being cracked controls the final temperature and prevents damage to the system. Recirculating the furnace exhaust through the cracker would save energy as well.

While thermal cracking works you don't see anybody doing it so it's not an economic positive.

A good example of a thermal amplifying device is the "Vortex Tube." Nifty things.

Frosty The Lucky.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It may seem a bit unrealistic, but you could theoretically create a carbon neutral forge by using algae bioreactors. It's a pretty experimental technology at the moment, but we've figured out that when you press algae in an oil press, it produces a substance similar to crude oil. 
You could build a battery of bioreactors to grow algae in and then use the pressed oil as fuel in an oil forge. Algae absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere very quickly and anyone who has had an outdoor pond or fish tank will know that it grows everywhere and fast too. 
I do realize that it seems very out there, but it is food for thought. 

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Probably the most carbon neutral forge would be either, A) a charcoal fueled one since that is just cycling carbon that is in the natural carbon cycle and does not involve fossil fuels or, b) an induction forge using electricity generated by either hydro, solar, or nuclear power.  Again, no fossil fuels.  In the US Pacific Northwest and eastern Canada much of the grid is provided by hydro power.  Or, you could have your own small hydro plant but you would need running water, a certain head of water, and probably a lot of state, federal, and local permitting.  For solar you would need a pretty big collector array and some serious batteries.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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