Jones Beene wrote: [Regarding the CNN video of Vertigro algae factory]
``... Actually, it never hurts to see many different perspectives of a very important topic (potentially) from a variety of news sources. I would suggest adding these comments (features) to optimize such a system, at least when it is realized on a larger scale (several acres): 1) A diesel gen-set to burn a small proportion of the harvest. Also a windmill. The on-site power provides the pumping for the water and the energy necessary to extract the lipids from the protein. If some extra electricity is generated- it is for "peak" power and will bring in top dollar ...'' Hi All, Is it possible that the windmill could generate substantial electrical power with a "spider turbine" pumping the water (analogous to a pond aerator) by breaking hydrogen bonds? See the info enclosed below. A spider turbine is shown on page 32 of Infinite Energy, Vol. 78. Jack Smith ---------------- http://www.infinite-energy.com/iemagazine/issue77/manhattan.html Infinite Energy, ISSUE 77, Jan/Feb 2008 and ISSUE 78, Mar/Apr 2008, by Peter Graneau ``Upgraded Hydroelectric Water Turbines Furthermore, it came as a surprise to find that the gravitational energy of water driving hydroelectric generators is so much smaller, per unit volume of the liquid, than the potential energy stored in the weak hydrogen bonds of the same volume of water. The gravitational head of a hydroelectric plant is the height of the top of the dam above the inlet of the turbine at the bottom of the dam. In existing plants this is usually less than 1,000 m. One liter of water has a mass of one kilogram. Then with a head of 1,000 m, the water stores 9,810 J of gravitational energy or approximately 10 kJ/kg. Compared to this, the hydrogen bond energy stored in one kilogram of liquid water is likely to be of the same order as the latent heat, or 2,360 kJ/kg, which is more than 200 times as large as the gravitational energy. If only a very small fraction of the hydrogen bonds passing through the turbine is ruptured to set their bond energy free, it could easily double the energy available in the turbine to drive the electricity generator. This stunning result demands a major investigation of what is actually happening in existing hydroelectric plants. Here is what we know now. Three quantities have to be measured to determine the efficiency of a hydroelectric installation. First, the gravitational input energy is a function of the height of the dam above the turbine and the mass flow (kg/s) through the turbine. Normal means of optical surveying will deal with the gravitational energy per kilogram of water. The mass flow can presumably be measured with flow meters in the inlet pipe (penstock) of the turbine. The gravitational energy input is the product of the mass flow and the head of water. Secondly, existing instrumentation of the power plant tells us reliably what the electrical energy output is. Thirdly, to calculate the overall efficiency it has to be known how much kinetic energy is carried away by the effluent of the water turbine. This latter quantity is very difficult to determine because every drop of water leaving the turbine may travel in a different direction with a different velocity! So how have the published efficiency figures been justified? The chances are that in some of the efficiency determinations the energy discharged in the form of water kinetic energy has simply been ignored. If this is true, then the 85-95% efficiencies are an underestimate. It is not impossible there exist cases where the allowance for discharged energy may drive the efficiency figure over 100%. This would not be acceptable because it violates energy conservation, unless an unknown energy source comes into play in the rotating turbine. How could something as important as hydrogen bond energy liberation in water turbines have been overlooked? The blame lies with the chemistry textbook writers and teachers. After the discovery of hydrogen bonds by the famous American chemist Gilbert Lewis in 1923, the chemistry establishment simply failed to explore the effects which hydrogen bond energy has on chemistry experiments and how it may be related to the latent heat of water. This historical omission, in 2007, gives us the opportunity to introduce a “new” source of energy. Recognizing the inevitability of hydrogen bond rupture in water turbines, every effort should be made to exploit this discovery for electricity generation. The first task is to investigate how turbo-generators can be modified to double their electrical energy output for the same gravitational energy input. Should a concerted R&D effort be successful in attaining this objective, it becomes feasible, worldwide, to increase electricity generation by about 10% without any major civil engineering work and any changes in the means of water collection and storage. This would outstrip the benefits that can be gained by future installations of wind turbines. How can the turbine adaptation to bond energy liberation be approached? As the hurricane mechanism suggests,8 we should encourage viscous drag between the water and internal turbine surfaces. The streamlined design of the popular Francis turbine has the opposite aim of achieving smooth flow conditions which are expected to reduce turbulence and foster efficiency. Sharp edges and uneven surfaces cause the breakage of hydrogen bonds and set up flow losses. The question arises what is greater, the bond energy gain or the flow energy loss? An alternative to the upgrading of hydroelectric turbo-generators is to drive the water turbine with an electric motor. The turbine would then have to be supplied with water from a river, or lake, or even the ocean. The purpose of the drive motor would be to furnish the tensile energy it requires to break hydrogen bonds. This should liberate bond energy and torque for stepping up the electrical energy of the generator.''
