VOA常速英语2014--美国海军实验室成功将海水转变成燃料（在线收听）

US Navy Lab Turns Seawater Into Fuel 美国海军实验室成功将海水转变成燃料

For centuries, alchemists have tried to turn lead into gold. That transmutation has long been proven impossible, but another similar dream - turning water into fuel - seems to be achievable. Scientists at a U.S. Naval Laboratory proved it by flying a model airplane burning re-engineered seawater.

Natural gas and liquid fuels, burned in all kinds of internal combustion engines, are chemical compounds of hydrogen and carbon, coming mostly from underground reserves.

在各种各样内燃机里的天然气和液体燃料经过燃烧转化成主要来自地下储备的碳氢化合物。

But oceans also are huge reservoirs of hydrogen, increasingly-carbon dioxide, or CO2. Dissolved in seawater from the air, it makes the water more acidic.

但海洋也是氢及越来越多二氧化碳CO2的巨大储藏库。来自空气的这些物质在海水中溶解使得海洋的酸性更强。

Extracting those chemicals from the ocean and converting them into a form of liquid fuel was made possible by some recent technological advances, says U.S. Navy researcher, Dr. Heather Willauer.

最新的技术使得从海洋中提取这些化学物质并将它们转化为液体燃料形式成为可能,美国海军研究员希瑟·威劳尔博士说道。

“We've been actually able to show that we can recombine CO2 and hydrogen in the laboratory on a lab-scale, laboratory scale, into a liquid-type fuel.”

“我们实际上能够证明我们可以在实验室中以实验规模重组二氧化碳和氢气转化成液体形式的燃料。”

The process requires a lot of electrical energy, which-to be economical -has to come from a cheap source, such as a nuclear power plant.

这样的过程需要大量的电能,出于经济考虑，需要来自如核电站的廉价资源。

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Obviously, the most efficient place to do it would be aboard a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. Willauer said these ships may someday manufacture their own jet fuel.

显然,进行转化最有效的地方是登上一艘核动力航空母舰。威劳尔称这些船只可能有一天会自行制作自己的喷气燃料。

“Well, it is a game-changer potentially for the Navy or commercial entities because you can make fuel potentially where and when you need it.”

“嗯, 对于海军或商业实体公司而言,这是一种潜在游戏规则的改变，可能因为你可以在你需要的地方及时间制造燃料。”

The new fuel was tested successfully on a model airplane with a two-stroke engine. For now, making it requires twice as much power as the fuel can produce, but researchers hope to lower that ratio.

新燃料通过二冲程功率发动机的模型飞机测试成功。现在,它需要可以生产燃料的2倍,但研究人员希望降低这一比例。

Willauer said the new process will not increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming.

威劳尔表示这样新的过程不会增加大气中二氧化碳的数量,从而引发全球变暖。

“Once we've pulled it out of seawater, the ocean is ready to pull it back in from the atmosphere, 'cause it's in constant equilibrium. So what we hope is it's a carbon-neutral footprint.”

“一旦我们从海水中提取,海洋已经准备好将它放回到大气中,因为它总是处于不断的平衡状态。所以我们希望这是一种碳中和。”

Scientists hope a small scale industrial plant may start converting seawater into fuel within the next 15 years.

科学家们希望未来15年内一家小规模工厂能够开始将海水转化为燃料。