I believe Brazil already has floating oil fired power station or two on
the amazon river. It was used to power mining operations originally.
Jones Beene wrote:
Below are the headlines that got me originally thinking about a
floating nuclear-powered ethanol + fertilizer plant ...but the FFF may
be one F too short for US aggies.
"Russia to Build World’s First Floating Nuclear Power Station for
$200,000"
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2005/09/09/floatingnuclearplant.shtml
Obviously the real numbers could not be 'that' low, but it does
demonstrate that there is likely to be an affordable window of
opportunity somewhere, using the expertise of the whole world to
create a sustainable liquid fuel.
Recently the idea of using this kind of smaller capacity fission
plant, in tandem with a combined fertilizer plant, fermentation plant,
and an ethanol distillation unit seemed even more interesting - 4
floating factories anchored in a freshwater delta area - but where to
locate it?
Not in the USA - no way - that would take a decade for the regulators
to make up their mind, and big-oil would never allow this kind of
competition anyway.
Nope - somewhere a) sunny, 2) wet 3) poor 4) no-oil interests 4) and
with officials who can be easily bought(oops, I mean persuaded)....to
act hastily for the good of all concerned.
Is there any better site than about 50 miles up in the river delta
area of some large equatorial river, where biomass can be grown,
harvested, fermented, and distilled using waste heat from safe nuclear
reactors - combined with the capability of making massive amounts of
nitrogen based fertilizer, to make the whole endeavor sustainable?
Several synergies are possible here -
1) A muddy and heavily polluted river is preferable, so long as the
"pollution" is algae-based not chemical toxins - as green algae and
suspended clay are the perfect feedstock for carrying added nitrogen,
and can be converted cheaply into a most excellent fertilizer. High
yields will be all but guaranteed - plus you can then claim that your
are cleaning up the river - and plus - the algae will really bloom
with the added reactor heat.
2) even before the excess heat is used to create the algae bloom, it
is used to distill the ethanol from bio-mash - so that no combustion
is necessary. All the energy used is either nuclear or ethanol based
and local.
3) Converted ocean firefighter pumpers can be used to spray the
(moated) fields of e-grass with lots of fertilizer, following every
cutting, maybe three cutting per year, which can also be accomplished
from floating harvester barges - all of these being ethanol powered,
of course, with converted gasoline engines.
Anybody know where to raise about a quarter-billion to finance this
baby? Five year payback (following completion)
¡Ay, Caramba! <http://aycaramba.pixelzine.com/> And... 180 proof
ethanol for 45 cents a gallon guaranteed - carbon neutral - US wages
paid, and only modest payola back to government officials ;-). May
have to peddle the stuff in Europe however, unless the US drops the tariff
Jones
