Hi Chris >The way I see it, this new catalyst isn't environment friendly at all. >So much energy is needed to pyrolyse sugar at 400 degrees centigrade for >15 hours. On top of that, you need to heat it at 150 degrees with 200mL >of concentrated sulfuric acid for another 15 hours. Then you need to >wash it to remove the acid. So then where will the acid wash water go? >Down the drain? Not to mention the fumes produced during the whole >process.
Yes. Hot concentrated sulphuric acid lacks appeal. >With 200mL of sulfuric acid you could have treated 200L of >WVO. They say the new stuff is reusable but I'm pretty sure it is >impossible to complete recover 100% of the catalyst after use. I rather agree. You could use biodiesel for the heating, or by-product maybe. But the fact remains. Anyway it's not a new catalyst, it's just a different vehicle for sulphuric acid, the same old catalyst of choice for acid esterification. Still I think it's worth investigating, though like Jim I'm also sceptical about the transesterification. They say it's as good as or better than the ordinary catalyst, but they don't seem to claim any special properties for it. If it's better than ordinary sulphuric maybe that's because they're using more sulphuric. You can afford to if you're reusing it. Full text of sugar catalyst paper http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/sugarcatalyst.pdf 304kb Acrobat file Supplement: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/sugarcatalystsupplement.doc 40kb MSWord file >Supplementary Information > >Methods > >Preparation of carbon material >20 g of D-glucose or sucrose powder was heated for 15 h at 400 °C >under N2 flow to produce a brown-black solid. The solid was then >ground to a powder and heated in 200 cm3 of conc. H2SO4 (>96%) or >150 cm3 of fuming sulfuric acid (15 wt% SO3) at 150 °C under N2. >After heating for 15 h and then cooling to room temperature, 1000 >cm3 of distilled water was added to the mixture to form a black >precipitate. The precipitate was washed repeatedly in hot distilled >water (>80 °C) until impurities such as sulfate ions were no longer >detected in the wash water. > >Production of higher fatty acid esters >Esterification of higher fatty acids was typically carried out at 80 >°C in an ethanol-oleic acid (C17H33COOH)) mixture (ethanol, 0.10 >mol; oleic acid, 0.010 mol) and ethanol-stearic (C17H35COOH) acid >mixture (ethanol, 0.10 mol; stearic acid, 0.010 mol) under Ar. All >tested catalysts except sulfuric acid were evacuated at 100-180 °C >for 1 h prior to reaction to remove adsorbed water, and 0.2 g of >each catalyst was used in the reactions. The liquid phase during >reaction was analyzed by a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer with >capillary columns. After the reaction for 4-10 h, the samples were >recovered by simple decantation and were reused repeatedly for the >reaction. The table doesn't make sense in ASCII so I left it out, check the Word doc. Manick wrote: >... Also I do not believe sugar char is the ideal since we have not >seen other chars,including activated carbon and silicas. Further >progress is inevitable so let us all keep open mind. I was thinking that too, charcoal or activated carbon wouldn't need the first 15 hours. The report says: "Carbon catalysts identical to those described here have also been successfully produced from carbonized starch and cellulose (results not shown)." Silica is an interesting idea. We use rice husk ash as a refractory material, but charred rice husk might work well. The Japanese use charred rice husk for making bokashi (sort of inebriated compost), though I don't think much of bokashi. Zeolyte has been made from rice husk. What does sulphuric acid do to clay? How would you get the sulphuric acid into a suitable medium without all that heat? Best Keith >Best regards, >Chris > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of JJJN >Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 2:37 PM >To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >Subject: Re: [Biofuel] New Biodiesel Catalyst > >Mike, >I think you have hit it on the head, The sugar catalyst is plays the >role of the Acid in the two stage reaction but I don't think it will >complete a reaction all on its own. And the fact that it is reusable is >on its own a benefit but unless times and temps are increase beyond the >layman grasp I remain very skeptical of it. Now on the other hand this >IA State catalyst really shows promise as it would eliminate washing >altogether -no?. Well enough of my presumptions - we are witnessing >some interesting developments in biofuels. > >Best >Jim > >Mike McGinness wrote: > > >John, > > > >It says the "particles" are made of sand and calcium. The actual >catalysts are > >attached to the surface of the particle and the active catalyst >compound is not > >described (except to call them mixed oxides). I say "catalysts" because >they > >mention having both acid and base catalysts on the same particles. > > > >"by creating a mixed oxide catalyst that has both acidic and basic >catalytic > > sites. Acidic catalysts on the particle can convert >the free > > fatty acids to biodiesel while basic catalysts can >convert > > the oils into fuel." > > > >Mike McGinness > > > >John Beale wrote: > > > > > > > >>Searching the Des Moines Register website, I found this article: > >>http://snipurl.com/q4m4 > >>Searching the Iowa State University website, I found this article: > >>http://snipurl.com/q4mj > >> > >>It says on the second article that the catalyst is made of calcium and > >>sand, not sugar and sulfuric acid. > >> > >>-John > >> > >>On May 6, 2006, at 11:35 PM, JJJN wrote: > >> > >> > >> > >>>My mother in law sent me an article by Anne Fitzgerald writing for >the > >>>(Des Moines?) Register. > >>> > >>> The article states that Victor Lin and two fellow University of Iowa > >>>Chemists have created a new catalyst that is reusable (20 times) and > >>>can > >>>be filtered. The catalyst will be quite a bit more expensive than >what > >>>we are using now but will pay out over time because of the reuse. >West > >>>Central cooperative is going to test the catalyst on a commercial > >>>scale. > >>> > >>>Anne Fitzgerald can be reached at 515 284 8122 or at > >>>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>> > >>>This sounds very much like the glucose/carbon/sulfur carbon >compound. > >>>BUT I do not know if it is or something new. > >>> > >>>Well lets hope this becomes available to us all very soon. > >>> > >>>My best > >>>Jim. _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
