Re: [Vo]:Wind-Switching.: Making butanol for < a dollar a gallon

[Nick Palmer]

Jones, far be it from me to knock any idea to expand the use of wind power 
but wouldn't it be simpler to use a pyrolysing/gasification process to turn 
the cellulose into syngas? This has the added benefit that part of the 
biomass feedstock could be turned into bio-char which is being researched at 
Cornell Uni because it acts as an amazing soil conditioner inasmuch as it 
stabilises soil, reduces the need for so much fertiliser, harbours useful 
bacteria and fungi, reduces irrigation etc. It also acts to (virtually) 
permanently sequester large amounts of carbon in the soil - carbon negative 
energy! Woody material is better at increasing fertility than grasses. Try 
googling Terra preta. It was investigating the "black soil" of the Amazon 
that brought these properties to the fore - a surprisingly fertile (that 
should have been poor) soil caused mostly by repeated burning off of 
vegetation.

Nick