[Gasification] Fast-Growing Biomass

[Jeff Davis]

Andy and Jim,

My pond doesn't have much algae but I was able to rake up enough to roll
some sawdust/algae-binder fireballs. Can't wait for them to dry so that I
can see if the algae really does work as a binder.



Jeff



>
> Howdy Jim, REPP (gasification) listers,
>
>   Thank you for the invitation for the workshop on algae. I cannot attend
> because I live many miles away from the shipyard.
>
>    I understand algae is the fastest growing biomass of any.  Trees may be
> the slowest-growing.
> Much CO2 is being absorbed by algae mass in Lake Michigan today. When I
> was a child I saw no such growth in the lake.
>
>   When Captain Cousteau dived on the wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald, in
> cold Lake Superior, he seemed angry that there were no plants and
> animals to photograph. He deemed the Great Lakes  "sterile". This was
> the natural state of the ecosystem in those days.
>
>   Excess phosphate, zebra mussels, and late-summer warm water may have
> combined to make the lake a giant bioreactor. I am finding masses of
> algae on the shores of the little finger of the mitten large enough to
> fill big barns if baled. Jeff Davis would begin thinking hard if he saw
> these. This area of the lake has strong currents and very cold
> surface-water most of the year.
>
>   Algae has always been part of the system. We can guess why the waters
> west of the Door Peninsula is called Green Bay.
>
>   Please keep us informed on what you learn from Dr. Friendly.
>
> Andrew Schofield
> Great Lakes Renewable Fuel Systems
>
>
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>


-- 
Jeff Davis

Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA