Lee, Catalytic cracking is a rather involved chemical and mechanical process, conducted under high temp and quite often high pressure. Primary and co-products are extracted at different stages throughout the process, using multitudes of techniques.
One look at a petrochemical facility and its multiple fractional distillation toweres should give you an idea that, no matter what scale the, in general the process is intensive in design. Which puts the process in general out of the hands of "shadetree biodieselers." Mind you, working with a simple product containing but a handful of different esters would be far easier than a bbl of crude with its multitudinous co-products. But the intensity of the mechnics, processes and procedures would still be a hurdle. I'd say that you might care to pick up a loaf sourdough and a couple bottles of wine, then corner your favorite professor in chemistry for a little sit down chat. Talk is usually inexpensive. It's when you have to start buying all the stainless, valves, fittings and vessels and putting them together under the tutilege of a professional that the kroners start to add up. Todd Swearingen ----- Original Message ----- From: Lee Sheppard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuels-biz@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2002 9:44 PM Subject: Re: [biofuels-biz] Cracking > So then maybe building a solar cracking unit might be a option. What > would be involved in cracking? Is it a just purely a heat process. Or > are other factors involved? From the previous discussions it sounded > like an involved process or can you run a calculation that gives you the > right input and output yields? > > Appal Energy wrote: > > >Lee, > > > >First thing? Utilize alcohols such as isopropanol and isobutyl > >rather than methanol. To what degree the process would need to be > >altered to achieve high conversion ratios isn't clear, but there > >would almost assuredly need to be some alterations. > > > >You could just fractionally distill the esters without any > >catalytic cracking. Shuttle your longer chain esters to southern > >climes and the shorter chains to northern climes. But if high > >energy inputs were put into a distillation effort, cracking would > >probably be included just to keep the cost/yield ratio low. > > > >One could also go the route that US DOD and NREL have toyed with, > >cryo-cooling the esters and separating them. Rumour has it that > >this type of experimentation was being done with biodiesel so > >that it could be used at high altitudes, where the reduced > >emissions from biodiesel would contribute to con-trail formation > >to a lesser degree than petroleum based fuels. > > > >Now if you were to ask me what I would personally do to reduce > >the gel point, it would be one of two things. The first is > >"absolutely nothing,"modifiying the system to accomodate that > >particular "weak point" of the fuel. Such modifications would > >include the usual tank heater with a few mods to forward heat to > >the injectors and pump, a two tank system (one being but a liter > >or two for fossil diesel) and fuel heating systems that utilize > >both exhaust and coolant as the heating mediums. > > > >It's not uncommon in my experience to push the nose of a vehicle > >or plane under a tent flap, where a well vented pot belly stove > >is stoked all night. (Nights can get kinda' long north of the > >Goldstream Valley.) A few simple mods to accomodate biodiesel > >would be of considerably less overall effort. Granted...neither > >approach is as "turn key" as society has come to expect. > > > >The second approach would be to start working with alternative > >alcohols. But even then, zero and sub-zero conditions (*F) would > >still prove quite problematic. > > > >The idea of distillation and cracking is not at all attractive > >from an energy inputs perspective, but would probably become the > >approach of choice using centralized "mega-facilities," rather > >than micro. One problem there would be that the fuel is only > >seasonal, which would force such a facility to distill and store > >fuel in advance or leave the facility without any functional > >purpose relative to biodiesel ~one-half of each year. > > > >I don't think you'll see Appal going that route unless we could > >implement solar concentrators. Rather, we'll probably stay in the > >right hand lane and keep travelling 55, getting wherever everyone > >else goes in just about the same time and style. > > > >Todd Swearingen > >Appal Energy > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: Lee Sheppard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: <biofuels-biz@yahoogroups.com> > >Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 11:26 AM > >Subject: Re: [biofuels-biz] Cracking > > > > > > > > > >>Todd Swearingen so what can be done to bio-diesel to lower the > >> > >> > >gel > > > > > >>point? I know that adding gasoline to diesel in winter is done > >> > >> > >by some > > > > > >>to stop diesel gelling in winters lower temperatures. > >> > >> > >> > >>------------------------ Yahoo! Groups > >> > >> > >Sponsor ---------------------~--> > > > > > >>4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now > >>http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/MVfIAA/9bTolB/TM > >>--------------------------------------------------------------- > >> > >> > >------~-> > > > > > >>Biofuels at Journey to Forever > >>http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >>Biofuel at WebConX > >>http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm > >>List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: > >>http://archive.nnytech.net/ > >>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> > >> > >> > >>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to > >> > >> > >http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > > >Biofuels at Journey to Forever > >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Biofuel at WebConX > >http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm > >List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: > >http://archive.nnytech.net/ > >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now > http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/MVfIAA/9bTolB/TM > --------------------------------------------------------------- ------~-> > > Biofuels at Journey to Forever > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > Biofuel at WebConX > http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm > List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Sell a Home for Top $ http://us.click.yahoo.com/RrPZMC/jTmEAA/MVfIAA/9bTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
