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Musk's xAI in Memphis: 35 gas turbines, no air pollution permits (politico.com)
26 points by JumpCrisscross 34 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 11 comments



Isn't it a conflict of interest to be overseeing the part of the government enforcing environmental laws and also own this operation?


... I mean pretty much everything the guy does is a conflict of interest, what's one more?


>methane gas turbines

>nitrogen oxides

Can someone explain to me how those produce nitrogen oxide? High school chem taught me CH4 + 2-O2 -> CO2 + 2-H2O... where's the nitrogen oxide?


You wrote the formula incorrectly, the proper left side of it is:

CH4 + 2 O2 + 8 N2 /* there are 4 N2 molecules for each O2 molecule in air */

Or do you think someone is feeding pure oxygen to the turbine?


The turbine produces high temperatures which then causes reactions with the nitrogen that's present in the atmosphere. There's also nitrogen present in the fuel. It's not 100% pure methane.


>There's also nitrogen present in the fuel. It's not 100% pure methane.

That seems like the actual problem.


There's vastly more nitrogen in air than in methane. The ratio of air to methane in a gas turbine is also high, over 15:1.


Does AGR Acidic Gas Reduction work with methane turbines?

Shouldn't all methane-powered equipment have this AGR (or similar) new emission reduction technology?

From https://www.ornl.gov/news/add-device-makes-home-furnaces-cle... :

> ORNL’s award-winning ultraclean condensing high-efficiency natural gas furnace features an affordable add-on technology that can remove more than 99.9% of acidic gases and other emissions. The technology can also be added to other natural gas-driven equipment.

FWIU basically no generators have catalytic converters, because that requires computer controlled fuel ignition.

...

FWIU, in data centers, "100% Green" means "100% offset by PPAs" (power-purchase agreement); so "200% green" could mean "100% directly-sourced clean energy".

Should they pack up and pay out and start over elsewhere with enough clean energy, [ or should force methane generators to comply? ]


It sounds like that's what they're adding for their permanent generators. Unfortunate that their portable "temporary" generators weren't equipped with this technology.


Though it's not a methane leak, in their case the problem is the poisonous byproducts of combustion FWIU;

Looks like methane.jpl.nasa.gov isn't up anymore? https://methane.jpl.nasa.gov/

We invested tax dollars in NASA space-based methane leak imaging, because methane is a potent greenhouse gas.

Is this another casualty of their distracting, wasteful, and saboteurial hit on NASA Earth Science funding?


> Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is belching smog-forming pollution into an area of South Memphis that already leads the state in emergency department visits for asthma.

I have been to that place and sadly a lot of industrial pollutants in that area. This would make it even worse and the resdients probably won't be able to do anything about it.




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