Crossing Savage (39 page)

“That's right, Dad. Your biggest accomplishment may not be in the details of the science but in changing the way people the world over view oil and energy production. You've catalyzed a revolution in perception, in attitude. Who knows where it will lead us? But I have to believe it will represent an improvement in the standard of living for most people.”

The professor seemed to be thinking about this. Maybe Jim and Peter were right. Maybe it is not so important what one does himself, but what he can encourage others to do.

Sensing that the conversation had become too solemn, Jim raised his glass. “I'd like to offer a toast to what is truly important and most sacred. To the health and well-being of our friends and families.”

Peter raised his glass and drank. Even Professor Savage had to agree with Jim, and he drank to the toast.

Author's Post Script

Let me begin with a note of caution
: if you read this before you read the entire story, some of the suspense will be lost. If you don't care, then go ahead and read on… but you have been warned.

As fantastic as it may sound, the theory of abiogenic (also known as abiotic) oil formation does exist. There has been a lot of scientific research into this alternative theory, and you can find a wealth of information with a simple internet search of the topic. It is interesting, to say the least, that petroleum is found in many locations where conventional wisdom says it should not exist. The debate about how oil and gas are formed, and whether or not it continues to be formed at an appreciable rate, continues in scientific circles.

Personally, I find it interesting that gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel have been synthesized from
inorganic
starting materials for decades. Those inorganic starting materials are water and carbon (derived from coal). Now, the chemistry experts out there may immediately complain that coal is correctly classified as an
organic
material—itself formed from ancient plant life—and I would fully agree. However, the process I am referring to is based on the reaction of water with elemental carbon, which, according to the rigors of chemical nomenclature, is an inorganic material.

But, putting aside the technicalities of chemical nomenclature, the point is that industrial-scale chemical engineering processes exist for making liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels from widely available starting materials. This is not unlike the premise of
Crossing Savage
. The process is generically called the Fischer-Tropsch process after two German scientists who developed it in the early twentieth century. Indeed, Germany relied heavily on this method to make fuels to support their domestic economy in the 1930s and a few years later to fuel their war effort. Only when the Allied bombers and fighters were able to reach deep into central Europe and bomb the synthetic fuel factories near the Czechoslovakian border, resulting in a loss of more than 95 percent of Germany's fuel capacity, was World War II brought to an end in Europe.

Following the defeat of Germany, the technology to make fuels was put to commercial practice again in South Africa and is still an important source of transportation fuels in this oil-poor region of the world. Closer to home, the United States Department of Energy, in concert with major oil companies, has long funded development of coal-to-gas and coal-to-liquids technology. So, given that the United States has abundant coal reserves, one might reasonably ask why do we seem so intent on importing the majority of the oil we consume to make liquid transportation fuels. The answer is simple: economics. The cost of making gasoline from water and coal is higher than is the cost of refining gasoline from imported petroleum. However, the details behind such a simplistic statement are not so simple. The total cost includes factors such as the capital cost of building new plants (in the range of $1 billion apiece); the cost of converting or decommissioning existing oil refineries; and the cost of transporting coal which, unlike oil and gas, cannot be moved in pipelines.

So, although Professor Ian Savage and his colleagues have not yet found a practical method to make synthetic oil from water and common minerals, rest assured that the chemical and engineering processes to make synthetic liquid fuels from water and coal, or water and tar, or water and waste biomass—really any material containing carbon—are known. It is only a matter of cost. With current political pressure to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, new incentives are being discovered to convert renewable biomass—cellulosic material, not food—into liquid fuels. When the true societal costs are considered, importing oil may not be as cheap as we once believed. The era of energy independence may finally be within reach.

About the Author

Dave Edlund is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a doctoral degree in chemistry. A leading expert in hydrogen energy, he is an inventor on 90 US Patents and more than 120 foreign patents. He has published in excess of 100 technical articles and presentations, and has been an invited author of several technical books on alternative energy. An avid outdoorsman and shooter, he's hunted throughout North America for big game ranging from wild boar to moose to bear. Edlund is a long-time resident of Bend, Oregon, where he lives with his wife, son, and three dogs (Lucy Liu, Murphy, and Tenshi).

Follow Dave Edlund at www.PeterSavageNovels.com, where you will discover esoteric aspects of geochemistry (could diamonds and crude oil be closely linked?). Tweet a message to @DaveEdlund, or leave a comment or fascinating link at the author's official Facebook Page www.facebook.com/PeterSavageNovels.