[Gasification] Fast-Growing Biomass

[Jeff Davis]

Hi Mark,

I plan on writing a small report when I can fit it in.

No I did not dry the algae.

No time to compare drying rates.

I just kept adding water until the agglomeration phase seems to appear.


Jeff



> Jeff,
>
> How wet do you think these balls were? Did you try to dry the algae at all
> before you mixed it?
>
> Are you comparing the drying rate to newsprint?
>
> Mark
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
> [mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Davis
> Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 4:22 PM
> To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] Fast-Growing Biomass
>
> 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
>>


-- 
Jeff Davis

Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA