And know I am not kissing al gore's ring in hopin to get the US off OPEC oil.
Quick! Quick! Plow under all that corn and plant sugar beets.
Although people already know how to turn corn into ethanol, I have discovered a truly remarkable way to turn beans into gas. It earns murmurs of attention, and it certainly turns heads! It’s worthy of the Goracle, too.
It really makes no difference if you are using non edible crops or parts of crops because you are either using land that would have been used for food crops or are depleting the soil by not plowing under the cellulose.
Oh great. The price of candy will make an Easter basket cost $500. lol
“Sorry kids, the Easter Bunny could only afford to leave you toys this year like Santa does. Now enjoy the lead poisoning.”
All right! Let’s chop down the Rain Forest for my car.......
It’s a great source of cheap plant sugars.....
It would solve several problems if they could use the corn stalks and cobs (unedible) instead of the tasty seeds.
The same people who extoll the virtues of a hydrogen economy somehow forget the Hindenberg put an end to the Dirigible Economy.
Or as the computer people have said for decades- Garbage In, Garbage Out.
Best regards,
I think the biggest problem is the massive amounts of energy it takes to make and isolate sugar from it’s plant form. Then take all the additional energy it takes to convert that sugar to hydrogen fuel.
The laws of physics guarantee that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
And just over 50% of a barrel of oil goes to make fuel. Our entire civilization is dependent on oil for making food, roads, clothing, medical supplies, plastics, paints, and just basic materials used to produce hydrogen fuels.
We cannot expect to be oil independent for at least another century or so. But wishful thinking is just that.......
So let me get this straight. If you want to trash your cheating ex-boyfriend's soon-to-be new car you'll put gasoline in his sugar tank?
There may be parts of the edible crops that provide alternative fuel sources for all we know. And I can’t stand the “putting fuel into our gas tanks” whines. Nothing but emotional heart string plucking.
Fuel cells are at least 4 times more efficient than ICE. However as soon as you start trying to force a mobile vehicle to use hydrogen, you lose all the advantages.
We are only a few years from solid oxide fuel cells that will be motor vehicle appropriate. Then you can burn petroleum in a car with enough effiency to make us fuel self sufficient.
Money spent trying to cram hydrogen into a car or burning food for fuel is a waste.
As long as we are burning 6+ billion barrels of oil for transportation fuel, there is nothing but oil that can fill that need. Through effiency, if you can decrease that demand to 1.5 billion barrels then you are approaching levels where advanced biomass technology can meet. However, with a decreased demand of this level, petroleum will become to cheap for alternatives to compete.
Which leaves us with petroleum for the forseeable future.
Think on the practicle industrial application of this technology.
Starting out with a vat of crushed vegatible mater add you enzymes (or bacteria).
Evacuate the atmosphere from the tank.
Wait for the enzymes to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide to fill the void.
At this point how do you separate the hydrogen and carbon dioxide?
If you use the methods of industrial gas producers you are using refrigeration, cooling the gases until one of the gases changes to a liquid.
That is a huge expenditure of energy.
Other than a diffusion process which requires compressors (more use of energy) I know of no other method of separating gasses.
Bring it on.
I just ran through 7000# of corn to heat my house all winter for $420.
Actually Dane, if this panned out it would be revolutionary. The hydrogen/solar hype is a plain crock. The best way to transport hydrogen is as a hydrocarbon (i.e. gas, diesel, or yes cellulose).
More burning of food for fuel.
Every idiot who comes up with another lame brain scheme like this costs us more in higher food prices.
I do not look forward to paying $5 for a bottle of pop.
HYDROGEN! The fuel that’s just 5-10 years away from any date in the future.