Emitting 1 kg of CO2 whilst using 0.2 kg of fuel. Where does that 0.8 kg come from?

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Hi There I didn’t pay much attention in sciences classes I am afraid.
But some one should be able to help me out.
I try to live as consciously as possible and deal with the environment and CO2 emissions. But one thing always stays with me: The volume of CO2.
People always talk about kg CO2 per… For example: diving 5 km in a average car would emit 1kg of CO2. I drive a Toyota Aygo, so a little less then average, but lets say could drive around 20km on 1 litre of fuel. That would mean I’ll use around 0,25 litre for 5 km.
Typical E10 fuel weighs around 0,85kg per litre. That should mean I used around 212 grams of fuel to produce 1kg of CO2. That math doesn’t count up for me… Where does the other 788 grams come from?

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9 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Conventional fuels are hydrocarbons, some combination of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) atoms in a chain or ring.

When you burn these, oxygen (O) molecules in the air jump in too to create carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O)

Your final emissions will weigh more than the fuel consumed because a chemically equivalent amount of oxygen gas is also consumed to make the final product.

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