----- Original Message ----- From: "murdoch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, July 04, 2003 09:19 Subject: Re: [biofuel] Researchers find new metal combination forcheaperproduction of hydrogen as fuel
> Thanks for the explanations. Wouldn't ethanol be a good end-goal if not a good > feedstock? > Keep this part of my explanation in mind; > > Ethanol has a few things that detract > >from it as a feedstock, namely a higher carbon to hydrogen ratio, not much, > >but, enough to cause an increase in cost, of manufacture, because of the > >need to do something with it, be it getting rid of it or collecting it for > >other purposes. And; >> Another problem with ethanol, is it's affinity for water, > >the added cost of denaturing, and the denaturing materials themselves, all > >of which may be unsuitable for feedstock purposes. While ethanol would be good for something's, like as a basic fuel, the taxation and denaturing are problems that would make it a poor feedstock - you basically have two choices, you denature it with something that may not be compatible with your chemical processes, or pay a " drinkable ethanol tax " which raises you overhead / lowers your profit margin -- there are ways around this, but, they amount to paying for a BATF agent to be on duty in your facility, not to mention a tremendous amount of paperwork ( personally I would just as soon avoid that, not that I have anything to hide, but, I just don't like the idea of having the Govt. looking over my shoulder any more than it already does ). This is one of the reasons I would rather work with methanol than with ethanol, despite the toxicity issue. Another issue is " Why processes something when you are going to turn around and reprocess it? " Ethanol is a larger molecule, if you don't need to make it in the first place then why do it? Go strait from basic feedstock of H2, CO2, and maybe CH4 and with the proper temps and catalysts, to a useable form, without any stopping along the way, you save time and money. In the end, it all depends on what you want the end product to be, if you want ethanol for is own properties, make ethanol. Greg H. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Save on Coral Calcium. Get Better Health and Stronger Bones. Seen on TV http://www.challengerone.com/t/l.asp?cid-2805&lp=calcium2.asp http://us.click.yahoo.com/9gf46B/EfUGAA/ySSFAA/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/