Before the catalytic reaction process, methanol was made from the destructive distillation of wood, or making charcoal and distillation / condensing of the gasses given off in the process. A very time consuming and un-efficient process, I think that it was on the order of 1 gal of mixed liquid ( mostly methanol ) for every 100 lbs. of wood, and cost about $10.00 a gal. ( before the catalytic process ) when reasonably pure.
The catalytic process is doable on the village level, but, is still expensive compared to the large scale production. I was checking into this when I first joined the list, and there was a book that I had some information from (about a farmer that made a farm scale plant ) that I mentioned, it should be in the list archives. Greg H. ----- Original Message ----- From: "girl_mark_fire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 00:14 Subject: [biofuel] biomethanol Re: Methanol Production > This is all very interesting to me- I just spent part of last night > looking for diy methanol info, with no success. My interest was in > looking for info on turning methane (from a digester, digesting > glycerine and other waste) into methanol. I now know more about fuel > methanol (yuck) and no more about making the stuff. But google > searches for biomethanol turn up that Smithfield Farms hog-waste-to- > biomethanol-to-biodiesel-elsewhere plan. It was in the news a few > months ago- and they hadn't at that point decided on where the > biodiesel itself was going to be produced- and I;m kind of curious > now about where that project has gone. > Someone who was a list member turned up a plant that made industrial > ethanol whose 'waste product' was quantities of methanol of > questionable purity (contaminated with ethanol)- which the plant > didn't know what to do with. something to definitely investigate in > california- we can work with it if it's part ethanol and we're using > good oil. > If I remember correctly, I think that making methanol out of wood is > pretty challenging and energy intensive- you have to heat it with no > oxygen or something like that. It's pretty different than fermenting > waste for ethanol production. > > I'm curious about biomethanol from methane, though- is it doable on > a village (small business?) scale? > > mark > > > > In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, Icarus Solem <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello, > > I've been trying to find technical info on the use of ethanol in the > > biodiesel manufacturing process, with no luck. I've been > discussing the > > possibility of a small-scale plant that produced both biodiesel and > > ethanol, using agricultural raw materials (we are lucky in > California - > > lots of raw materials). It seems that there would have to be an > internal > > production of methanol to feed into biodiesel production- perhaps > not hard > > to do if you are making ethanol at the same time? Apparently any > woody > > material can be used for methanol production. I don't know of any > yeast > > that churn out methanol, although there may be some bacteria that > do. You > > would need some good distillation equipment, in any case. > > > > On Tue, 22 Apr 2003, Bryan Brah wrote: > > > > > Since it is so difficult to make BioDiesel with ethanol, how hard > would > > > it be to make methanol at home? I know that methanol is a by- > product of > > > ethanol distillation of fruits containing high concentrations of > pectin, > > > is there a way to exploit this fact and make just methanol? > > > > > > > > > > > > -BRAH > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor > > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > > > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > > > > > Biofuels list archives: > > > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > > > > > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > > > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of > Service. > > > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z_CBYA/vB5FAA/AG3JAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
