Well, I respect the fact that you and others here already make ethanol, and other similarly useful chemicals, generally from biomass or pre-existing H-C-O bonds and other chemically bonded atoms. What I'm trying to get at is that, working from the second type of motivation, where you have a more primal energy source that hasn't yet been harnessed by nature into biomass, via photosynthesis or the like, we have this human attempt to harness that energy... sort of to bypass photosynthesis or do artificial photosynthesis.
But all these attempts to harness energy (a good example is your example of a desire to harness solar energy, perhaps for use in a car or whatever other use you want) seem to focus on either battery storage or H2 storage. Why H2? So many of the folks in this biofuel group have developed this expertise in manipulating various chemicals. I wonder if you have as a basic starting point solar energy and water and a few other things, if you could make ethanol (for example), rather than having to start with biomass. On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 19:20:59 +0200, you wrote: >Hi, >I allready make ethanol ( well, I don't but the yeast does ). >I intend to use it for making BD > >I'm interested in making H2 out of water as a way of storing surplus solar >energy, or perhaps drive a petrol car on it. In Holland ( probably also in >US ) we have many cars driving on LPG ( liquified petroleum gas ), wich >maybe also can drive on H2. > > >Met vriendelijke groeten, >Pieter Koole >Netherlands >> What I don't understand is why, in addition to experiments with making >> Hydrogen, folks don't also seem to be experimenting with going >> "further" than that. Why not make ethanol and methane and so forth? >> Hydrogen has a drawback in that it's a gas at room temperature. So, >> if you're experimenting at home trying to devise a chemical means of >> storing energy, is this ideal? If you could take the H2 and somehow >> immediately combine it with Carbon and Oxygen in such a way as to make >> Ethanol or Methanol, then you could use those liquids more at your own >> liesure? >> >> There are plenty of other molecules you could experiment with. I'm >> just suggesting as a matter of principle there's no reason (no good >> one that I can see) to just stop at H2. Sure, it could require extra >> energy to get to other chemical products, but the advantages (such as >> easier storage) might be worth it, and we don't know yet if the amount >> of energy would be prohibitive. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> ReplayTV: CNet Ranked #1 over Tivo! Instant Replay & Pause live TV. Special Sale: 50% off! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UUMW7B/.5qGAA/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/
