Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
Fuel always a concern for the railways..

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Overmod FM -- my understanding, perhaps incorrect (but I doubt it is ;-}) is that one of the principal drivers of the ethanol process is that it's biologically driven. Are there 'safe' microorganisms that can catalyze generation of the higher alcohols directly, or are we looking at synthesis from natural gas via the same general processes used for methanol? Can you provide direct links to references for the production methods you mentioned? I, for one, would like to see their protocols... [/quote] OM, the one I am most familiar with is the MixAlco Process developed by Mark Holtzapple of Texas A & M. Here are two links with brief descriptions of the process: <http://www.ct.ornl.gov/symposium/22nd/index_files/oral03.07.htm> <http://www.fuelandfiber.com/Archive/Fuel/Research/Holtzapple/holtzapple.html> You can get a more in depth description if you want by searching for "MixAlco" and/or "Mark Holtzapple". The MixAlco process has the advantage of both using biowaste as a prime feedstock (rather than higher priced grains), and has a solvent recovery rate of over 50%. Other methods such as using acid fermentation of producing higher chain alcohols from either grains or cellulose only recover a fraction of the solvent compared to the MixAlco process. The one paradox of MixAlco is that the intermediary products (e.g. acetic acid) are of a higher value than the end product of fuel grade alcohols without subsidies. Also, to get the alcohols from the ketones, the ketones must be hydrogentated, which does use natural gas.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag