Good points Jones, indeed butanol seems preferable.
Michel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jones Beene" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 5:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Vo]:Sargassum for ethanol experimented in Taiwan
> --- Michel Jullian wrote:
>
>> Summary: Sargassum is a high growth species ("10
>> times the output volume of gracilaria"), convertible
>> to ethanol.
>
> Well - to be precise, any biofuel system should aim
> for butanol instead of ethanol...
>
> Butanol is highly preferable for several reasons
> already mentioned in past postings: better energy
> density, lack of corrosion and low water affinity,
> less vapor pressure, and easy substitution into either
> diesel or gasoline, and unlimited blending in any
> ratio, etc... That choice is a no-brainer.
>
> ... plus AFAIK biomass which is convertible into one
> alcohol can be converted to the other by changing the
> bacteria strain.
>
> PLUS - back in 2005, we broke the so-called
> "fermentation barrier" using "electrical assist"...
> which is a big jump in the hybridization of the
> fermentation process itself.
>
> The first electrically-assisted process was aimed at
> getting more hydrogen out of fermentation for fuel
> cells, but fuel cells are a bust. And hydrogen can't
> be easily stored. That new wrinkle in fermentation was
> able to produce four times the quantity of hydrogen
> over typical fermentation by eliminating one of the
> parasitic demands of the process.
>
> There is every reason to believe that that with
> genetic engineering, in consort with electrical
> assist, we can convert sargassum into butanol VERY
> efficiently, since it is closer to cellulose in
> chemical makeup than is ethanol.
>
> As I understand it, the fermentation barrier is about
> limiting the effect of acetic acid and other unwanted
> chemical pathways by providing a slight power boost to
> the bacteria in the form of a direct electric current
> at 0.25 volts or so. If you put in much higher
> voltage, the higher current kills the bacteria but a
> small boost can accelerate a desired pathway.
>
> At any rate, this and other rapidly evolving R&D shows
> that new methods are out there, which can be tailored
> to needs, and are ready to provide increased renewable
> energy from biomass over what has been the traditional
> approach and expectation.
>
> Jones
>
