samfp1943 Firelock76 So much for the sweet, nostalgic aroma of coal smoke! Before they put that stuff in a steam engine they better mix in a little JT's Mega-Steam O gauge smoke fluid. I prefer the coffee scent myself. Not sure if you made that 'party' in Southeast Asia, Wayne(Firelock76). But in that part of the world 'night soil' was a collected commodity, and 'buffalo chips' were burned to dry our uniforms.Particularly, if there were a Korean laundry at work, in an area. When I got back home..my wife burned all the clothing I brought back, I went to the PX, and bought me new utilities to wear, the odor was distinctive. It was a comodity of all sorts of uses.
Firelock76 So much for the sweet, nostalgic aroma of coal smoke! Before they put that stuff in a steam engine they better mix in a little JT's Mega-Steam O gauge smoke fluid. I prefer the coffee scent myself.
So much for the sweet, nostalgic aroma of coal smoke!
Before they put that stuff in a steam engine they better mix in a little JT's Mega-Steam O gauge smoke fluid. I prefer the coffee scent myself.
Not sure if you made that 'party' in Southeast Asia, Wayne(Firelock76). But in that part of the world 'night soil' was a collected commodity, and 'buffalo chips' were burned to dry our uniforms.Particularly, if there were a Korean laundry at work, in an area.
When I got back home..my wife burned all the clothing I brought back, I went to the PX, and bought me new utilities to wear, the odor was distinctive. It was a comodity of all sorts of uses.
I suppose hydrothermal carbonisation would be a Godsend for countries where dung is traditionally used as fuel. Burning dried dung causes health problems such as blindness. HTC of dung and human poo would produce a fuel with less toxic smoke whilst extracting the nitrogenous compound, phosphates and potassium for use as fertilizer.
Actually, the buying and selling of cell phones loaded with "contraband" is quite rampant over there. I remember seeing a documentary on PBS a few years back concerning the subject. It may have been an installment of "Frontline". The South Koreans also float currency accross the border inside helium balloons.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
One or two years ago there was an excursion to North Korea from the U.K. This film may have come from that trip. One article about it in "The Railway" magazine said that you are never allowed to be on your own so whoever filmed this must have had permission. That's my guess, anyway.
I recall the movie, "Those Magnificent Men in Thier Flying Machines" where one guy asks another, "Say old chap, what is that over there?" He said, "Sewage. Nasty stuff, actually." That still cracks me up as does most of what's in the Daily Mail.
The real question about that North Korean operation is who managed to take that video and how did they manage to get it out of the country?
Looks like a narrow gauge 2-8-0 with a bobber tender in commuter service...
NDG-- What in tarnation is going on in that video? People freeze and hide when they see the camera, then a whole bunch of people riding in an ore car, then they are suddenly not there...nothing makes sense.
North Korea I guess!
When the miners went on strike in Sudbury in the 70"s they piled up tires along along the property line fencing, 6-12 high and set 'em on fire , 24/7. We staff were called in at midnight and were "locked in" ...taking "to the mattresses" like in the GodFather movie.
Thick black smoke loaded with particulate matter and a smell you will never forget, all day, all night long right in the middle of the city ( Frood Mine). Took a shot as us as well, in a helicopter. My newborn daughter was a month old before I could touch her.
Wonder if they could get away with that crap today?
Don't think the smell coming from that locomotive would be very nice.
USA has gigantic coal reserves and terrific technology for clean coal and scrubbing...what the heck is everyone talking about.
Can't see the forest for the trees.
The original 'perfume' doesn't even carry over to the dried 'remediated sludge' except for a vaguely "mucus-y" scent when damp.
Torrefaction of this is not particularly different from that conducted on other natural base material ... wood/pellets, switchgrass, seaweed, etc. The end product is still largely carbon and more-or-less inorganic salts, with the remaining material being destructively-distilled off and recovered or burned as for more established process streams.
I for one do not, and never will, find the smell of sulfur in coal smoke attractive. It's better without, and not just to SJW types...
Thank You.
Fortunately I think the process alters the 'material' out of all recognition, so the original perfume doesn't carry over into the product!
Apparently the biocoal has very little sulfur, so in this respect the smell of the smoke would be different from real coal.
kgbw49 Actually, all kidding aside, if this process works, it will be a process that almost every major metropolitan area on the planet could use, because as we know, there are mountains of waste produced daily across the planet. It might make a difference in baseload electrical generating capacity, because it could keep existing coal baseload plants operating burning carbon neutral fuel (a key phrase for a lot of people). And for areas of the planet where they are still looking to establish an electrical grid and needing to keep their water supplies clean, it could be very beneficial. It will be interesting to watch for sure.
Actually, all kidding aside, if this process works, it will be a process that almost every major metropolitan area on the planet could use, because as we know, there are mountains of waste produced daily across the planet.
It might make a difference in baseload electrical generating capacity, because it could keep existing coal baseload plants operating burning carbon neutral fuel (a key phrase for a lot of people). And for areas of the planet where they are still looking to establish an electrical grid and needing to keep their water supplies clean, it could be very beneficial.
It will be interesting to watch for sure.
I came across the article whilst looking for stuff about 'hydrothermal carbonisation'. This process essentially duplicates the natural processes that produced coal from organic matter, but takes minutes or hours rather than millennia.
Hydrothermal carbonisation can also be used with algae, e.g. seaweed. The significance of this is that seaweed (kelp) is being investigated as a potential biofuel. Seaweed grows very rapidly and unlike many biofuel crops, does not take up land used for growing food. The link below gives some info on this:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/08/22/542903378/scientists-hope-to-farm-the-biofuel-of-the-future-in-the-pacific-ocean
If seaweed biofuel took off, the UP RR and BNSF would do very well!
I came across this article whilst messing about on the Net:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2545900/Scientist-given-1million-euros-build-UKs-plant-turning-sewage-energy.html
(No, it's not from the April 1st. edition of the paper!).
There have been experiments in using 'biocoal' as a fuel for heritage locos, but the fuel used was made from wood waste.
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