[Terrapreta] Folke's retort kiln

[Kevin Chisholm]

Dear Folkefolke Günther wrote:
>
>
>     My 200 l drum retort is too big for cooking. Really, I would like
>     to find
>     out how to control the process and store the extra gas for other
>     purposes.
>
> *Perhaps it would help if you lead the gasses through a Fishcer 
> -Tropsch catalyst 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch_process>? (Mainly 
> consisting of iron fillings)*

The "Wonderful World of Charring" would be a much better place if we 
could convert excess pyrolysis gas into liquids. I would guess that if 
the FT Process was cost effective and easy to run on a small scale, that 
it would be in widespread use. There is no question that the FT Process 
works on a large scale, but is it inherently a process that is only 
practical at a large scale? Specifically, for example, the process may 
be complicated and critical, such that it must have a high degree of 
instrumentation and control, such that the plant must inherently be 
large to get the "economies of scale" necessary to support gas 
pretreatment, gas conditioning, product refining, and instrumentation 
people necessary to keep a FT plant operating properly.

Is there any reason to believe that the FT process can actually run 
economically on a small scale?

Best wishes,

Kevin
>
>
>
>     Someone told me once not to complicate subjects when talking to simple
>     folks. KISS, KISS ( Keep It Simple Stupid)
>
>     We have no choice in audience on internet, but if we want to
>     influence large
>     numbers to become of active participants in applying TP for its many
>     benefits, perhaps the experts should try hard to introduce KISS KISS
>     technology and use KISS KISS communication. And a drum equals a
>     bag of rice
>     in cost here. That's a big investment when many earn less than
>     that per
>     month.
>
>     Kind regards,
>
>     Bakary Jatta
>