Without the colaborative information exchange and dadta base information on biofuel both chemical and bioenginerring people are wasting the money in research not only in USA , but also in the developing country too as an academic curiosity to make patent and publish papers .Hence Mari the e mail has some fact for all the members to think about .
Any research need sound chemical logic as well as economical objetive .
Ethanol via biochemical route compared chemical syntysis seem to be very practical one .
sd
Pannirselvam
On 8/20/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
HELP!
How can I respond to the negative email below? It's from a
chemical engineer friend researching ethanol from cellulose. I
sent him some info from this list to help his research, and was
surprised by the anger. Anyone have specific things I can say in
response?
The email:
Hi Marilyn
Those guys are out in left field. From my perspective -- having
followed and evaluated various biomass gasification processes
(technology and economics) for 27 years -- is that the
Bioengineering Resources guys are opportunistic promoters --
looking for suckers (e.g., U.S. DOE or some naive investors with
money to waste). The technology is neither prove nor
economical. And who needs more vinegar (dilute acetic acid).
Fermentation of synthesis gas to acetic acid is nonsense.
Producing synthesis gas from biomass is itself unproven at any
significant scale (not even in a decent pilot plant) -- and if it could
be achieved, would be very expensive relative to other options for
producing synthesis gas. FYI -- Synthesis gas is a mixture of
hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which can be reacted over
various catalysts at elevated temperatures to produce many
different products -- such as alcohols, hydrocarbons, and
various oxygenated organic compounds. The synthesis gas first
has to be purified (made extremely clean), and the H2/CO ratio
also has to be adjusted for the specific application. After the
synthesis, further processing is usually required. $$$$$$$$
Most of these assorted biomass energy promoters (and I have
seen many come and go over 27 years) don't understand
chemical engineering, process economics, resource
availability/supply/transportation economics, etc., etc. Yet every
every 5-10 years a new "generation" of biomass advocates and
promoters emerge (or are otherwise born into the light) who
don't know their asses from first base -- but think that biomass
will save the world -- and so promote all kinds of technically
dumb and uneconomical ideas -- and make life miserable for
the people who are doing reasonable work. They all stroke each
other and keep each other going and feeling self-righteous.
This whole business is too complicated and emotion-ridden for
the biomass zealots (and apparently for me too) for me to begin
discussing the many dimensions of it in an e-mail.
I personally favor the idea of exploiting biomass (intelligently) as
a renewable energy resource -- and think that we can be utilizing
it. However, a lot has to change (mostly politically, socially,
economically, educationally, etc.) for that to ever happen. The
cause is not helped by promoters of dumb ideas.
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--
Pagandai V Pannirselvam
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN
Departamento de Engenharia Química - DEQ
Centro de Tecnologia - CT
Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia Química - PPGEQ
Grupo de Pesquisa em Engenharia de Custos - GPEC
Av. Senador Salgado Filho, Campus Universitário
CEP 59.072-970 , Natal/RN - Brasil
Residence :
Av Odilon gome de lima, 2951,
Q6/Bl.G/Apt 102
Capim Macio
EP 59.078-400 , Natal/RN - Brasil
Telefone(fone ) ( 84 ) 3215-37690 Ramal210
32171557
Telefone(fax) ( 84 ) 3215-3770
residencia 32171557
Cellular 84 88145083
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