[Terrapreta] Char made made under pressurized conditions?

[Greg and April]

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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Sean K. Barry 
  To: Terra Preta ; Greg and April 
  Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 0:12
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Char made made under pressurized conditions?


  Hi Greg,

  I'm not surprised.  Danny Day and Michael Antal play it pretty close.  They are are both heavily involved commercial ventures with licensee contracts now.  Their IP and their time is probably somewhat "owned" by licensees, I suspect.

  Methanol and Dimethylether (DME) are other possible liquid fuel replacements for gasoline, which can both be made from biomass.  I am not sure what refining there would be required to get automobile/farm equipment usable "liquid fuels" from wood vinegar.  

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  This I am sure, is dependant on the engine type, heavier fractions are better used by diesels, while if blended properly, diesels can make some use of lighter fractions, OTOH, if all you get is light fractions, a regular gas engine might be more effective ( I will add this in a pinch I added diesel to my gas at a rate of 1 to 10, and not has any problems ).

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  I know that synthetic diesel, methanol, and other alcohols can be made using a catalyst assisted process called Fischer-Tropsch to convert "Synthesis gas" into "liquid fuels".  
  Which "liquid fuels" often depends on the catalyst, and the proportions of reactant sub-gases (CO, H2, CO2, CH4, O2, H2O, etc) in the syngas.
  It may not depend so much on the biomass feedstock itself, but the proportion of CO vs CO2 and H2 in the syngas may need to be adjusted to make the catalyst work.  CO vs CO2 and H2 is changeable via an energy-intensive "water-shift" reaction.  This energy costs money or eats largely into the total energy harvested from the biomass.

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  I disagree.    Things like acatone, tall oil, and turpentine, come not so much from what catalyst and what proportion of sub-gasses you have, but from the plant material it self - yet these products can be used in vehicals ( to one extent or another ).

  There is one tree, the Jeffrey Pine ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Pine ) the resin of which is almost pure n-heptane, and while high tempature dry distalation may be out of the question, low tempature and/or wet distalition may alow recovery of the heptane for blending with heavier fractions to make them more accaptable for vehical use - it might even be useful in increasing the centane level in alternate diesel fuel.


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  I have read, too, that Methane-CH4 can "poison" the iron/cobalt catalyst that will make Methanol from syngas.  This is why "producer gas", which is richer in CH4 cannot be used to catalyze Methanol.  "Producer gas" also is to diluted with inert Nitrogen-N2 from the air.  This makes is unusable and/or in-efficient with gas to liquids catalysts.  

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  Last year I found out that Titaniun Dioxide will reduce hydrocarbons to more simple molacules - why not use it to reduce methane, before it get's to the other reactants?

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  "Synthesis gas" (syngas) has to be made from an "oxygen only blown" pyrolysis reaction.  The air contains 78% Nitrogen-N2, so it cannot be used as the oxidant.  Getting pure oxygen, by buying it or making it costs money and/or again eats into the total energy harvested from the biomass (in the forms of heat, gaseous & liquid fuels, and charcoal).

  The point is, that to make liquid transport fuels usable in today's vehicles from biomass is really pretty complicated and requires close control on the chemistry involved, or losses due to inefficiency and its no longer economically sensible.  It IS DOABLE, but economies of scale for manufacture of the biomass based liquid fuels, along with the design of current types of heat engines do not lend themselves easily to biomass based "liquid fuels".  It is easier to make usable heat and to generate electricity.  Excess electrical generating capacity can be sold back to the electrical utility companies in many states under a program called "net-metering".  The advances in electrical cars and high capacity/fast charging/lightweight batteries will sooner be available than farm run Fischer-Tropsch processors, I think.


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  No doubt that most biomass to liquid fuels are beyond the average person, at least as far as the synthesis gas conversion is concerned.    

  What I'm talking about is more along the lines of acetone, tall oil, and turpentine ( and perhaps heptane ) and other biologicals that can be recovered in simple distillation efforts ( in comparison with trying to make a liquid fuel from synthesis gas ), and can be burned in engines, in place of ( or blend with ) conventional fuels to make driving more economic.    

  Can more distillates be recovered ( or the general type of distillates be changed ) when making char under pressure?

  I'm more concerned with the distillates that can be recovered as a liquid, rather than synthesis gas, for the very difficult conditions that are needed to make Fischer-Tropsch based fuels.

  Did this make sense?

  Greg H.
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