[alloysteel]

Why is it necessary to go through the intermediary of producing alcohol, when it is possible to make kerogen DIRECTLY from biomass? Take just about ANY kind of organic material, put it in a sealed retort in anaerobic conditions, and heat it up to about 900° F., for about two hours, maintaining a pressure of two atmospheres. The product is the aforementioned kerogen, a precursor of most of the fractions which are extracted from crude oil, and some slightly brackish water.

This is just a very rapid acceleration of the process that goes on, continuously, in nature. Petroleum IS a renewable resource.

[TKDietz]

"Why is it necessary to go through the intermediary of producing alcohol, when it is possible to make kerogen DIRECTLY from biomass? Take just about ANY kind of organic material, put it in a sealed retort in anaerobic conditions, and heat it up to about 900° F., for about two hours, maintaining a pressure of two atmospheres. The product is the aforementioned kerogen, a precursor of most of the fractions which are extracted from crude oil, and some slightly brackish water."


How much energy would that take? How much energy would it take from the time you prepare the fields to plant the biomass up to the point where it is finally converted into the end product you can pump into your vehicle? You can produce more energy from ethanol than it takes to make it, but not by much, and you don't have to get the temperature anywhere near as high as 900 degrees, especially if you distill your "beer" under negative pressure, in a vacuum.

[P-40]

That sounds like a lot of work....

[cogitator]

his is just a very rapid acceleration of the process that goes on, continuously, in nature. Petroleum IS a renewable resource.

Your process is basically the same as the oil-from-turkeyguts (and potentially a lot of other feedstocks) being done in Carthage, MS by Changing World Technologies. The process was called "thermal depolymerization", but now they just call it "thermal conversion". Find the April 2006 Discover magazine for an update.