[Gasification] Pyrolysing compost to make fuel

[CAVM at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/3/2006 9:36:49 AM Central Daylight Time,  
kchisholm at ca.inter.net writes:

It seems  to me that conversion to energy forms is fundamentally "the use of 
last  resort" for biomass resources. If there is any alternative use for the  
biomass, then almost invariably, it has a higher worth.

Energy  projects seem highly distorted because of subsidies. Ity surprises me 
that  the Researcher is taking compost and then "setting fire" to it, to make 
a  fuel, rather than using it as a soil amendment and fertilizer substitute.  
I don't have the benefit of a Mass and Energy balance for the process, but  
it would intuitively seem that applying the compost to the soil would save  
more fuel than could be produced from the pyrolysis  oils.



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Kevin, I have been a composter for over 20 years.  I enjoy the process  of 
making something valuable out of something less so.  However, marketing  compost 
is a steep hill to climb.  With municpalities composting grass,  leaves, 
biosolids, sorted solid waste, etc, and then giving it away the market  suffers.
 
We have about 500,000 tons of well composted material on our site now and  
would love to get $10/ton for it.  We would all retire.  However, we  are 
searching for value added uses for this material since the compost market  can't 
take it all at the rate we make more.
 
If we could make ethanol, methane, butanol, wood gas, syngas, or any other  
fuel from it we would be way ahead of trying to market compost. Of course our  
situation is not normal for a compost facility but there are many many  
composters making 100,000 tons per year in the USA and basically giving it away  to 
get rid of it.
 
Neal