[Bioconversion] How do you make Methanol along with Charcoal?

[sylva at iname.com]

My third try to post this message, looks like I've been blacklisted
again :-(.

AJH

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 11:07:37 EDT, Carefreeland at aol.com wrote:

>       If I could divise a way to distill off even a small percentage of the 
>offgas and seperate the methanol it would be worth it. Making methanol would 
>not even require a permit. 

>        Anybody have ideas where to start?    

It seems unlikely to be worth doing but I'll have a bash.      

I've never done it but I did experiment with condensing the off gas
from the top lit updraught stove Ronal introduced me to on the stoves
list some 10 years ago. I just inserted a beer bottle with its top
removed over the outlet.

There's been a television program called "rough Science" screened here
in UK, on one episode methanol (for use as an evaporative coolant) was
made from wood but I cannot remember how it was fractionated.

For first try I guess I'd heat a retort and see how much liquid I
could condense, this is pyroligneous acid and its make up varies with
the rate of the carbonisation reaction. Then this liquid could be re
boiled in a fractionating column which should leave a tarry water
remaining in the flask and methanol at the outlet if this is held near
70C.

Ultimately you would have the fractionating column built into the top
of the retort with the tar and gaseous fractions piped to heat the
retort.

AJH