[Gasification] sugar beet ethanol

[Ken Boak]

List,

Yield from short rotation coppice (willow or poplar)  around 8 to 18 tonnes per hectare per year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_rotation_coppice

Note the figure of around 100 hectares (1 sq km) of SRC per MW to keep a power plant fuelled.

>From a figure of say 2000 km per tonne using vehicle gasifier, this equates to 4050 to 9100 miles per acre. 

Yield from rapeseed   1190 litres per hectare  equates to  4240 miles per acre for a 40mpg diesel car.

A rough rule of thumb would be 4000 miles per acre planted for biofuel.

The truth of the matter is that centralised electric power generation throws away 60% plus of the energy content of the fuel as waste heat , as does a vehicle mounted IC engine.

Perhaps the only solution is to use decentralised combined heat and power plants based on gasification or dual fuelled IC engines, and use the waste heat for heating buildings.

The enabling step for this to happen, is a fully automated gasifier/generator system with a electric power and thermal output matched to the requirements of standard domestic dwellings, either individual homes or appartments/schools/hospitals etc.



Ken