[Gasification] [Stoves] Avocado Peel

[Thomas Reed]

Dear William and All:

In the movie "Oh God" (played by George Burns) God says he made a few 
mistakes, in particular for avacados he says "I made the pits too big." 

For eating that is, but for fuel and maybe biodiesel, they should be 
fabulous, probably full of oil. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pellet stoves and WoodGas stoves need small fuels for combustion and 
gasification, so there will be a developing market here for all kinds of 
biomass derived fuels. I first became interested in limonene when a 
friend sent me a few gallons and I ran my lawn mover on it.   Probably a 
great octane enhancer (like turpentine).  Concerning d-limonene from 
citrus fruits, Wikipedia says

d-Limonene (dipentene) is increasingly being used as an environmentally 
friendly alternative to mineral oils 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_oil> as a solvent 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvent> for cleaning purposes, such as 
the removal of oil from machine parts, being more easily biodegradable 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradable> than mineral oils, and 
produced from a renewable source (citrus oil, as a byproduct of orange 
juice <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_juice> manufacture.) Limonene 
works as paint stripper when applied to painted wood. The 
(/R/)-enantiomer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enantiomer> is also used 
as botanical <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanical> insecticide 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insecticide>.

Also see http://www.biochemcorp.com/dlimonene2.htm

I also found "AN OVERSUPPLY OF D-LIMONENE is expected by the end of 
year, market sources project. And given the potential flood, developing 
new outlets and finding new users will become important to processors. 
As a way of alleviating the surplus, Brazilian processors are 
considering burning excess d-limonene, a move used with other products 
as well. On the positive side, domestic and Brazilian sources say that 
the paint and solvent industries may drop chlorinated solvents and 
switch back to d-limonene, givce its low pricing."

I can't believe that more than a very small fraction of the limonene is 
currently collected.  If we are serious about biomass energy we should 
open our eyes to all these "industrial wastes" and develop markets.

2007 is not too soon. 

Yours truly,

TOM REED            BEF


William Carr wrote:
> Another thought as to alternative fuels:  Avocado Peel.
>
> I air-dried an avocado peel for one day and one small piece was  
> already dry enough to burn.
>
>
> I threw a piece about an inch square into my pellet stove and  
> watched.   The oils in the peel burned all right.
>
>
> The flare wasn't as bright as oil-soaked sawdust of course, but the  
> point is, it did burn.   Pelletized, avocado peel might make a good  
> biomass fuel.
>
>
> The peel burned for thirty seconds before burning out.    Compare  
> that to a similar piece of orange peel that flared up and went out in  
> half the time.
>
>
>
>
> Orange peel would make a good pellet, but the whole crop gets steam- 
> rendered for it's d-Limeonene oil.
>
>
>
> I couldn't find anything on Google to indicate anyone else has tried  
> this.   Does anyone have any information?   Where are all the  
> guacamole factories?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> William Carr
>
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