Hi Walt That's very good news! Good for you - it's been a long time coming, we've been fussing about this for years to no avail. All we've really had up to now has been the Hynol Process, which failed to impress:
http://www.methanol.org/methanol/report/hynol.cfm MI: Hynol-A Process for Producing Methanol from Renewable Biomass Feedstocks "... the Hynol Process, a high-temperature, high-pressure method for converting biomass to methanol fuel." But low temps, not much pressure, high conversion rates, and a stainless steel pipe, that all sounds just about right. Please keep us informed of your progress there in the Washington woods, and if you need any help please ask the list. Best wishes Keith Addison Journey to Forever >At 06:24 PM 12/1/03 +0900, Keith wrote: > >Main reason for us is that you can make > >ethanol yourself, but not methanol, or not easily anyway - not > >something a 3rd World villager can do. > > Just a quick note to say that we're committed to working on >that part of >the puzzle. > > Over the past decade, there have been some remarkable >advances in methanol >synthesis, and we're committed to creating micro models of those reactors >that will enable folks to covert wood and paper waste directly into >methanol for use as an automotive fuel. > > One such advance is the liquid process in which the zinc >oxide catalyst is >ground into a powder and then made into a slurry with mineral oil. Syngas >(a mix of H2 and CO) is then bubbled up through the slurry, enjoying a >conversion rate of around 20% per pass, which is way up from the standard 5%. > > The moment I got really excited about this was when I was reading the >details on the pilot reactor was used to generate the engineering data used >to build the first operating facility, and came across the detail that the >test reactor they used to get those numbers was a six foot length of one >inch diameter stainless steel pipe. > > Bingo - a micro-methanol reactor! > > Since that work was done, Dr. Mahajan ( of Brookhaven >National Laboratory >working on a DOE grant) has come up with what appears to be an even better >route that uses two catalysts and methanol itself as the working solvent. >This method not only works at room temperature (on up to about 150C) but at >a mere 100 psi instead of between 750 and 1,000 psi required by the liquid >process system. > > And even better, the reactor offers a 96% conversion rate, which means >that you don't have to recycle the syngas through the reactor, and is >vastly more tolerant of CO2 in the syngas. > > Another nifty patent to come down the pike involves using a >36 volt arc to >decompose a solution of some organic in water producing syngas. Because of >the presence of a carbon material, the plasma from the arc generates not a >mix of H2 and O2, but rather H2 and CO. Whereas the former is explosive, >the latter is not and can be stored for later conversion to methanol, which >in turn can be used as an automotive fuel. > > We're looking at trying to make this work with a slurry of saw dust >instead of the sugar solution mentioned in the patent. > > Anyway, that's what we're up to here in the Washington woods. > >Walt >http://www.windward.org/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
