[Gasification] coal coocking

Wed Sep 27 12:32:08 CDT 2006

A similar process requires 120atm. Not exactly stovetop friendly!

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Tom Miles
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 10:02 AM
To: 'Hans'; gasification at listserv.repp.org; funfisherman at prodigy.net
Subject: Re: [Gasification] coal coocking

Hans,

The video on the website is good. 

Hydrothermal carbonization = add water, lemon juice (citric acid); heat for
12 hours at 180C. Pressures not given. Yield about 40% carbon (20 000 tons
per year/50 000 tons per year in Berlin - see video). No CO2. Wastewater
effluent. How much citric acid catalyst?

Mostly leaves were used which means the form of carbon may be important.

The process looks similar to hydrothermal gasification which was extensively
investigated in the 1990s. No commercial plants have been built yet that I
know of.

Thanks for this link. 

Tom Miles 

-----Original Message-----
From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Hans
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 5:14 AM
To: gasification at listserv.repp.org; funfisherman at prodigy.net
Subject: [Gasification] coal coocking

*MEH (funfisherman at prodigy.net) wrote:

What is it Hans? *

Well MEH, here is one of the articles offline and without pictures:

( http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2071791,00.html )

A Stroke of Genius? A New Recipe for Coal Markus Antonietti from the
Max-Planck Institute has developed a simple but ingenious way of producing
coal using biomass - such as waste from the garden or leaves from the local
forest.
The process is environmentally friendly, as the only by-product is water
- not carbon dioxide which would contribute to global warming. 
Antonietti has successfully managed to develop this method so that it could
be used for commercial coal production. Such coal could just be used for
heating purposes, but it could be used far more effectively in electricity
and gasoline production. The 70 million tonnes of biomass that Germany
produces every year would be sufficient to cover the country's energy needs.
We take a closer look at this potentially revolutionary discovery.
What is this chemist doing for in the woods armed with a pair of scissors?

He's gathering the ingredients for a very special recipe.

Markus Antonietti from Max Planck Institute for Colloid and Interface
Research: "I'm collecting leaves and twigs. We want this material to solve
one of the great problems of the age."
It's the problem of the planet's energy supplies. Markus Antonietti wants to
use a technique he's developed to cook up some coal, based on the way nature
does it.

But instead of millions of years, his method takes only a few hours.

But stop! First the ingredients.

The biomass goes into the autoclave, a kind of pressure cooker. Leaves, pine
cones and other plant residues are put into the pot. Water goes in, too,
along with a citric acid catalyst. The mixture releases a lot of heat - in
other words, energy.

Markus Antonietti from Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces: 
"We underestimated this when we started. We could calculate how much energy
was stored in the sugar - in the leaf material. But the first time - as you
see - we had a runaway reaction, which is obviously dangerous, so we need to
carry it out under safe conditions."
Now the reaction is being carried out in an experimental "kitchen" on the
roof of the institute. Here it's no problem if the hydrothermal
carbonization, as the process is called, causes minor explosions.

It's all part of the joy of experimentation for the 46 year old director of
the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Antonietti says he's
only been able to pursue this simple idea since establishing himself in his
field.

It really is a simple reaction. The ingredients just have to be heated....

...for 12 hours at 180 degrees Celsius.

And the coal is ready.

The single major by-product of the reaction is water, which can filtered
off. In contrast to other biomass techniques this reaction does not generate
carbon dioxide. And it gives a higher-energy product, which even smells
acceptable.

Markus Antonietti from Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces: 
"It has a strong smell. (Very masculine.) Like tobacco."
If it were up to Antonietti, this reaction could go large-scale. The 50,000
tonnes of plant refuse that accumulate yearly in Berlin could be converted
into 20,000 tonnes of usable carbon.

Markus Antonietti from Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces: 
"The Max Planck Society only does basic research. But with enough
engineering back-up, we could establish this in two to five years. It's very
simple, there just has to be support for it."
Could this laboratory coal be produced on a large scale? Antonietti says it
makes economic sense. The energy needed for the heating is no greater that
that required by other methods.

Until that day comes, the Max Planck scientists intend to go on with their
research.

They want to study their laboratory coal in detail. This is the structure of
a pine cone before ...

... and after carbonization. But not all coal is alike.

Markuis Antonietti from Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces: 
"Like in a restaurant you can have your steak rare or well done. We can
adjust our coal to be just a bit refined, or we can cook it until it's like
hard coal. One end of the spectrum is topsoil, the other is hard coal."
When the researchers cook their coal mixture for just five hours, the result
is topsoil,

This nutrient-rich earth can be used to help barren landscapes bloom.

Soft lignite requires nearly as much cooking as hard coal. But in order to
get energy out of the laboratory coal, it doesn't necessarily have to be
burned.

Markus Antonietti from Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
says: "We are dreaming of a carbon fuel cell. That would be direct
electrochemical conversion of the coal, without the actual burning process.
Other applications are in chemistry, for example, directly making gasoline
out of the coal."
The scientists intend to pursue those dreams, using nature as a model. 
Their next project is to make petroleum - which is a stage in the production
of coal. So sometime in the near future these laboratory visions may find a
place in everyday life....

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx 

More information you find on:

*Coal from biomass :* Go to

http://www.mpg.de/bilderBerichteDokumente/multimedial/filmeWissenschaft/2006
/07/KochKohleEN/downloadEngl.html 

right click the desired video format and choose "download as".

* Zauberkohle aus dem Dampfkochtopf: *Go to

http://www.mpg.de/bilderBerichteDokumente/multimedial/mpForschung/2006/heft0
2/index.html 

find : FOKUS, right click "Zauberkohle aus dem Dampfkochtopf [1985 kB]"  
and choose "download as"

Regards

Hans Plank, Brazil

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