Biomass: Hope and Hype

Comments

• 	Distillation costs Guest (Jim Demers) on 02/15/2006 at 12:00 AM
  Posts: 1	Gasoline also has to be distilled, with attendant energy costs and CO2 emissions.  You need to factor that into your calculations of how much CO2 plant-based fuels would keep out of the atmosphere. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	Distillation without heat Guest (Arnold Larsen) on 02/16/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts: 1	Distillation cost nothing when I was young in Iowa.  We simply put the product outside on a cold winter night and the water froze, but the alcohol didn't. We crushed the ice and collected the almost pure alcohol. Rate this comment: (Reply)

    • Algae Guest (Jim Demers) on 02/27/2006 at 12:00 AM

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      Algal blooms are actually caused by toxins that kill zooplankton.  The little buggers would eat up all the algae you could ever hope to grow, however much phosphate you put in the water, if their population is healthy.  They feed the whole oceanic food chain, so you really don't want to mess with them. But there is that superweed, an exotic escapee from home aquariums, that grows like kudzu in warm water.  I wonder how much fuel one could extract from an acre of that stuff, vs. an acre of corn or sugar cane. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • ThermoDePolymerization Guest (James) on 02/19/2006 at 12:00 AM

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    I saved an old article from this site a while back and it seems to have been completely forsaken. http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/03/06/visualize0603.asp though this is little more than a blurb, more info can be found on the web and I'm just shocked its fallen by the way side. I mean, garbage into oil? it gives new meaning to the old cliche of killing two birds with one stone Rate this comment: (Reply)

• oil from algae Guest (Harmon Everett) on 02/15/2006 at 12:00 AM

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  An entirely overlooked biomass source is developing in creating oil from algae.  Fossil Petroleum is probably the byproduct of ancient algae in the first place. As such oil from algae can replace fossil petroleum on a one to one basis with no new technology needed.  It can be grown on land not otherwise suitable for land crops, and can reduce CO2. But millions of barrels of it each year is probably a long long way off. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	Biomass oil from Hemp Guest (Stan) on 02/15/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts: 1	Why not?  It contains lots of oils. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	Fix Tampa Troubles Guest (SirLanse) on 02/15/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts: 1	We have runoff from phosphate mines that are causing algea blooms.  Change that to an oily algea and turn the Gulf of Mexico into oil farm. Rate this comment: (Reply)

    • The back track to Fossile Fules Guest (Jessey) on 02/15/2006 at 12:00 AM

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      Zero Emission Coal powerplats are suppose to be used for the bio mass distillation process if every thing goes the right way. "Zero emissions" is a catch phrase however, the emissions are compressed and sold as co2 to others. Including Canadian Oil companies who pump it into their wells to make their oil yeilds more efficient. Thus increasing not decreasing the fossil fule market. Does anyone have more detailed insight into how these zero emmisions coal plants work. Rate this comment: (Reply)

• What about Methane Guest (Anonymous) on 02/15/2006 at 12:00 AM

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  Why is there so much talk about ethanol? Why not develop methane into a viable fuel? It's created naturally anytime something biodegrades which when I last checked is happening constantly in a wide variety of forms. Every landfill and waste treatment plant could be converted into a fuel producing station. And what about those millions of chickens and cows? They all produce waste that could be used to make methane. Don’t let anyone fool you there are plenty of ways to produce viable renewable energy. It’s my belief that ethanol is being proposed only because it’ll encourage American agriculture and will line the pockets of our Presidents friends. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • Politics and ethanol Guest (Jim Demers) on 02/16/2006 at 12:00 AM

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    Corn growers are the principal political force pushing for ethanol as a fuel.  But generating any fuel (methane, methanol, or ethanol) from "junk" plants or from a bio-waste stream makes a whole lot more sense than using corn. If one adds in the energy costs associated with plowing, planting, growing, harvesting, and transporting corn, and factors in the CO2 generated as the necessary ammonia-based fertilizer is produced and distributed, I have serious doubts that corn-derived ethanol gains us anything at all.  Rate this comment: (Reply)

    • 	Developing countries as source of corn ethanol? Guest (Harminder) on 02/16/2006 at 12:00 AM
      Posts: 1	If it's costly to grow corn in the US, since farming is already highly subsidised, wouldn't it be a better idea to grow it in Africa and ship it over in tankers? But that would have to overcome the farming lobby and the big agro-businesses.. :< Rate this comment: (Reply)

• Where Bush Gets His Ideas Guest (Cash) on 02/15/2006 at 12:00 AM

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  I'd love to claim that what President Bush said was original, but he (along with all US scientists) are getting the ethanol idea from what Brazil has had success in doing over the past 20 years. Currently, they can make ethanol at $1 a gallon that can run in cars. This does have its own unique set of problems, but it would break our dependence on oil and the middle east. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	a note on Brazillian ethanol Guest (Anonymous) on 02/16/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts: 1	Something to keep in mind is that ethanol made in Brazil comes from sugar, which is easier (cheaper, more efficient) to turn into ethanol than corn is. Rate this comment: (Reply)

• 	What about Brazil? Guest (Jeff Rosner) on 02/15/2006 at 12:00 AM
  Posts: 1	Brazil has strategically chosen biomass production and represents an excellent REAL study case...it is heinous that this article does not even mention their progress... Rate this comment: (Reply)

• 	Soil Degradation Guest (CVE) on 02/17/2006 at 12:00 AM
  Posts: 1	Today the nonedible stalks of plants are plowed back into the soil for fertilization. If the stalks are also taken out for ethanol production, the soils will quickly become poor. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	Soil degradation - not necessarily Guest (Jim Demers) on 02/23/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts: 1	Making ethanol only takes C, H, and O out of the plant matter, and those elements aren't needed to keep soil fertile. The process residues, at least in theory, could be returned to the ground with all the phosphate and nitrogen that was originally in the stalks. Rate this comment: (Reply)

• Biomass is a real solution despite naysayers. Guest (Ron Wagner) on 02/27/2006 at 12:00 AM

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  1. Much of our petroleum is used for heat. That need is easily and cleanly met by pellets made from biomass, or by grain kernels. 2. Heat is a more basic need than meat eating, but both can be produced plentifully. Meat takes about eight pounds of grain to a pound of meat. 3. Marginal lands ,not presently used for farming, can be used for switchgrass or hemp etc. Genetic engineering will make this even more efficient and feasible. 4. Distributed energy production is the key to a secure energy future. It also cuts the monopolists out of the picture to a great extent. Small entrepreneurs can produce energy in many ways. Rate this comment: (Reply)

• Biodiesel from Algae Guest (Ecacofonix) on 06/16/2006 at 12:00 AM

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  As a gentleman (Mr Harmon) has remarked earlier, I also feel that more research dollars should be put into biodiesel production from algae...if this works, it will take care of most of the bottlenecks - for one, we are not using an edible crop, two, algae can grow in all sorts of areas and need not necessarily be grown on arable land - most algae are grown in ponds - and three, most important, they seem to have yields that are over a 100 hundred times that for traditional oilcrops...this then appears to present a realistic solution to replace most if not all the petro-diesel... Let's hope that this area gets the attention it deserves...one site I found that focusses on <a href="http://www.oilgae.com">biodiesel from algae is Oilgae.com</a> @ http://www.oilgae.com Ec @ http://www.eit.in Rate this comment: (Reply)