[Bioconversion] Data file refs for arc reforming research clues

[andrew]

Firstly Peter slow down, I'm quite happy to look at a focused subject 
but I haven't the inclination nor judgment to be able to sort out 
your ideas when they arrive like scraps fired from a blunderbuss, I 
cannot separate out the original input from old quotes. Please don't 
monopolise the list in your enthusiasm.


On Sunday 24 June 2007 17:59, Peter Singfield wrote:

> It would be great to get some more professional input -- as this
> all sounds so much like another perpetual motion machine to me.
>
> As Leonard put it:
>
> "1.5 more energy comes out than went in"

I have received a reply about this and it is:

"Looks like the reaction your propose is endothermic - there is no 
waste heat. Subject to the same caveats as last time, my crude calc 
ignoring latent heat and specific heats says that the free energy 
change is positive (i.e. reaction will not occur) for all 
temperatures up to about 2200K. For each mole of cellulose (in fact 
I considered glucose) 2.1MJ of heat must be given to it, to convert 
it to your syngas and this will happen where T>2000 oC approx"

There's an accompanying spreadsheet with the calcs if you want.

I'll just explain the reference to the waste heat, this was made 
because the equation I posted was not rigorous, I am not a chemist, 
and I meant it to represent the heat that was wasted in the hot 
gases leaving the reaction, not heat given up by an exothermic 
reaction.

So As I originally surmised this process only looks feasible when 
electricity is very cheap, possibly from a hydro or wind, and in 
combination with the biomass the process can "store" the electrical 
energy as syngas.

I was interested to see the calculated temperature for the reaction 
was so high, meaning my thoughts about feeding back heat would not 
work and the arc is about the only means of getting the heat into 
the process.

AJH