Posted on 09/11/2008 7:11:20 PM PDT by neverdem
Now if they could only make fuel out of Desert Broom!
Because of this I guess.
“These conditions are pretty nasty,” says Dumesic. Handling highly corrosive concentrated hydrochloric acid in an industrial process is no easy matter. But Mascal counters that “engineering know-how and materials science have advanced to the point where this is not a critical issue”. Dumesic adds that it could be challenging to remove all traces of chlorine from the final product, which is crucial if it is to be used as a fuel.
Nitrocellulose is made into gun powder, should work.
Thirty years ago I saw a report of an experiment where hydrolysis of cellulose was accomplished very rapidly with concentrated warm sulfuric acid. The lab was somewhere in the British isles.
bmflr
Very interesting and encouraging. I think cellulosic feedstocks make a lot of sense, but according to process folks I’ve talked with, they’re incompatible with today’s biorefineries, especially on the front-end. Granted the plants could be modified and new ones built, but it’s an issue. But on the other hand, todays ethanol plants are located in corn producing areas, and cellulosic plants should be located near where the switchgrass or whatever is grown.
I was four when I first heard the announcement of the perfect ‘acid’; nothing could withstand its solvent properties; alas, it remains a commercial failure as no one has found a way to package it and put it to use.
Cheez---somebody needs to tell these guys that this isn't the eighteenth century. The chemical industry handles "concentrated hydrochloric acid" in multi-ton quantities on a daily basis. Yeah, it's corrosive, and yes, "we have the technology".
let me guess 10 yrs out with good grant money
It has been. What these guys are doing differently is continuously extracting the product as it is formed, thus shifting the reaction equilibrium.
"“These conditions are pretty nasty,” says Dumesic. Handling highly corrosive concentrated hydrochloric acid in an industrial process is no easy matter. But Mascal counters that “engineering know-how and materials science have advanced to the point where this is not a critical issue”. Dumesic adds that it could be challenging to remove all traces of chlorine from the final product, which is crucial if it is to be used as a fuel."
No, none of this is particularly problematic. The chemical industry knows how to do this stuff. They do more complicated and difficult things on a daily basis.
It seems to me that a sustainable fuel source is aborted Democrat fetuses. There is always a supply and they could be mashed up and fermented which should yield burnable fuel. What could be better than a Prius running on the owner’s aborted fetus? Now there is a true environmentalist!!!
Detailed Study on Spread of H.I.V. in U.S.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Nitric acid...
Nitro cellulose = gun grass?
Chop it up fine, blow it into the cylinders, and diesel it?
If it works for grass, maybe it will also work for ‘grass’, giving the Hippies a use for their seeds?
I think that oil from ALGAE is going to be the best way to capture solar energy for transportation. Algae were the primary source of the fossil petroleum that we use today.
One pathway extracts raw algal oil from the dried algae, and processes it into biodiesel that is very similar to other plant oils.
The other pathway uses algae that produce a “green crude” - it is literally green in color - that can be fed directly into the petroleum refineries in use today.
In either case, the productivity of algae per acre is far higher than any land-based crop, and the requirement for fresh water is almost eliminated - most strains of algae grow in sea water, brackish water, or even sewage.
Innerestin’
thanks neverdem.
The Bum Rap on Biofuels
American Thinker | 5-13-08 | Herbert Meyer
Posted on 05/14/2008 3:59:06 AM PDT by Renfield
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2015711/posts
Campaign to vilify ethanol revealed
ethanol producer Magazine | May 16, 2008 | By Kris Bevill
Posted on 05/17/2008 9:22:13 AM PDT by Kevin J waldroup
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2017389/posts
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