Hi Greg, Walt and all We've had a few messages like this recently:
>If you want, contact me directly at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] , I >have a couple more thoughts about the project. Why would you want to take this interesting, very on-topic subject off-list? Of course list members discuss all sorts of things with each other off-list, on- and off-topic, but having brought it up here please don't take it away again unless you've good reason. The discussion would surely be more fruitful on-list with more people to contribute, everyone can share what comes of it, and it'll be in the archives for future reference instead of just on two list members' hard disks. The list is for sharing, after all. Thanks Keith Addison List owner >Hey Walt, > >If you don't mind, I have a question. > >In an earlier post ( see below ), you talked about using >electricity, in an organic solution, to generate H2 and CO. > >In the post you mention that you used sugar solution, have you tried >it with Ethanol? What I was wondering, would it be easier to >convert biomass to Ethanol, then with electricity, convert the >Ethanol to syngas? > >If you want, contact me directly at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] , I >have a couple more thoughts about the project. > >Greg H. > >----- Original Message ----- >From: Walt Patrick >To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com >Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 10:03 >Subject: [biofuel] working on the methanol part > > > > Another nifty patent to come down the pike involves using a 36 >volt arc to >decompose a solution of some organic in water producing syngas. Because of >the presence of a carbon material, the plasma from the arc generates not a >mix of H2 and O2, but rather H2 and CO. > ><snip> > > We're looking at trying to make this work with a slurry of saw dust >instead of the sugar solution mentioned in the patent. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Walt Patrick > To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 15:15 > Subject: Re: [biofuel] Methanol > > > At 09:22 AM 1/19/04 -0800, Jeff wrote: > >I have been looking on how to make methanol out of wood. I have seen a > >couple of articles on how to make ethanol out of wood, but not methanol. > > > >If anybody could share some information on what would be involved and what > >it would take, please let me know. > > This is the part of the biofuel world that we're most interested in. > > Traditionally, methanol has been condensed from CO and H2 using a zinc > oxide catalyst. The challenge was that the reaction was quite exothermic > and it was very easy for the reaction to accelerate and burn up the > catalyst. Common conversion rates per pass were between four and >five percent. > > In the early 90's, they were able to get around that by grinding the > catalyst into a powder and then suspending the catalyst as a slurry in > mineral oil. The oil adsorbed the extra heat and allowed the reactor to > increase the per pass yield to the range of twenty percent. > > Even better, from our point of view, was that the developers built the > test reactor out of a six foot long piece of one inch diameter stainless > steel pipe. > > Since then there have been even more exciting developments >arising out of > the work of Dr. Mahajan. He's developed a process which uses two catalysts > dissolved in a solvent to get conversions in the ninety percent per pass > range. > > That's significant because it makes the process much more >forgiving as to > the inclusion of inert gases in the feedstock since you can just burn off > the unconverted feedgas. > > As a bonus, this catalyst is also much more forgiving >regarding the CO2 > content of the feedstock. > > The process is also a significant break through in that it >can initiate at > room temperature, and operates at between 100 and 150 psi. > > As you can imagine, we're pretty excited about these >developments which we > believe allow us to start down the road of building a micro-reactor for > producing quantities of methanol sufficient to meet our automotive needs. > > Our current efforts are focused on feedstock issues. Here at >the Windward > site, we have a hundred acres of forest that we steward; grooming the > forest generates substantial quantities of limbs and branches that we want > to convert to methanol, but first we needed a way to process forest waste. > > We tracked down a heavy duty PTO mounted chipper that mounts >on our main > tractor and makes short work of branches and limbs, producing lovely little > quarter-inch size bits of wood, but that's about as far as we got before > winter shut us down. > > This coming year, we're looking forward to getting a woodgas >generator on > line using the chips. Once we're producing reliable quantities of CO and > H2, we'll embark on building the reactor. > > Anyone who's interested in getting involved with this >project is invited > to check us out and make contact. > > http://www.windward.org/ > > with best wishes, > > Walt Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! 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