Hi Brian,
Why not use the cellulose and convert it to methane
using anerobic fermentation. The residue is fertilizer
and the products are CO2 and methane gas. One glucose
molecule gives you 3 parts methane and 3
parts(molecules) CO2. Burn the methane directly in the
generator. Separating the methane from co2 should not
be too difficult since CO2 is water soluble and
methane is not. Cow dung has all the appropriate
enzymes for the breakdown and its cheap. Hal
--- Brian Rodgers [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
-
Thank you Tom, Robert, andeveryone for the
fantastic feedback.
I received an email from myDad, the retired chemist.
He suggests we move away from the idea
ofde-polymerizing cellulose as it seems out of our
reach financially andtechnologically. I am happy to
let the process of mycelium-rotto the fungi folks and
let them see whatthey can do with it. Dad said he
could find no serious research intocellulosebreakdown
by any of his friends at the university. Without the
help oftheseacademics, he believes we can not continue
on our own. I told him wewouldcontinue to knock it
around at the Biofuels email list.
I will continue to pursue theethanol angle, but I
will stick to conventional methods offermentation.For
instance, I will explore the naturally occurring sugar
plants. Afriendcame by the other day with wine made
from prickly pears. Very potentdrink withall the
flavor a wine enthusiast can wish for. I will search
for morelocallyavailable, naturally occurring, sugary
feedstock to get my experimentsgoing withfermentation.
My next research project willbe steam power.
With more great info found through thevast wealth of
knowledge at theJourney to Forever web site, I think
it makes a lot of sense to burnthe readily available
waste wood asopposed to breaking it down in order to
ferment it. I realize that thesmoke isgoing to be a
problem, so I am hoping with experience I
gainedbuildingseveral wood burning heat stoves I can
build an efficientfire box.
ItÂ’s weird, but the morningprocess around here is
similar to the steam engine. As I work on
mydailynewsletter, ideas are slow to build up, gain
momentum, albeit sloppyandsluggish, then the whistle
blows, and I finally figure out what I wantto
writeabout. Then I have to read what I already have,
edit out the erroneousfiller that got me focused in
the first place, and then I really getgoing,full steam
ahead.
I was talkingwith my older brother last night. I
attempted to inspire him with mynew plansfor a steam
powered ranch community. One massive, centrally
located,wood firedboiler which easily converts waste
wood to energy. Steam is routed toseveralhouseholds in
close proximity. A nearby steam powered
electricgenerator shouldbe able to furnish enough
power to run the entire ranch with power
leftoverduring non-peak electric use hours to sell
back to the local ElectricCo-Op. Istill need to
research the circuits needed to reverse power
backthrough themeter. But this is well within my
understanding, much more so thanchemistry.
Sincerely,
BrianRodgers
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