[Bioconversion] Carbon Arc Steam Reforming of biomass

[tombreed at comcast.net]

Dear All:

In one sense we are all "up to speed" on this.  

DUring WWII the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe ran to a great degree on synthetic fuels - BTX from coal pyrolysis for high octane aviation fuel;  Fischer-Tropsch diesel for tanks and trucks.  The allied air forces went after the sythetic fuel plants and brought Germany to its knees.  

After the war South Africa scooped up the German syn-fuel engineers, took them to SA, gave them incentives to build Lurgi gasifiers and FT conversion and now more than half the liquid fuel in SA comes from their dreadful coal.  Meanwhile engineers in the US thought they knewbetter with coal hydrogenation and we have nothing here.  

During WWII the whole civilian economy ran on WoodGas for trucks buses and cars.  
~~~~~~

It is well known that the rate of chemical reactions doubles  for every 10 degrees C rise in temperature.  So those operations from 400-1000 C are much more compact than those at room temperature.  Compare the size of breweries and distilleries to syn-fual plants.  Also room temperature plants produce 10 gallons of dirty water for every gallon of fuel.  Yes, Brazil has been moderately successful with ethanol from sugar cane, but it is highly land and labor intensive.  

So we know a lot about high temperature processes that have worked in the past and now need to be modernized.

Yours truly,]

TOM REED   (in Beaverton, OR)

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Jeff Davis" <jeff0124 at velocity.net>
> Peter wrote:
> > OK -- anyone out there up to speed on this??
> 
> Not yet Peter.
> 
> Jeff
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jeff Davis
> 
> Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA
> 
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