[Rhodes22-list] The Hydrogen Economy

Sat Jan 8 23:37:59 EST 2005

There's a guy in Norfolk or nearby who has invented a few parts that will 
convert the average diesel car engine to run on any old oil and uses 
discarded kitchen oil collected from grease traps... not a practical 
solution for the masses, but pretty neat... takes him an hour an a half or 
so to do the conversion.

Saroj

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "brad haslett" <flybrad at yahoo.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] The Hydrogen Economy

> Roger,
>
> Unfortunately for you, most big businesses operate
> under the principle of "it's easier to ask forgiveness
> than permission" and that includes universities.  The
> Wright brothers didn't patent the airplane, they
> patented the three axis of flight and then spent the
> remainder of their lives unsuccessfully defending the
> patent.  I think the bio-mass fuel market will follow
> a natural oligopoly pattern just as petroleum refining
> has.  ADM and Volkswagon are already doing joint
> research.  The big grain processers will also be the
> big bio-fuel producers for obvious reasons.  For the
> time being there are a few mom-and-pop operators but
> they won't last.  The problem with biodiesel as jet
> fuel is the low temperature jelling issue.  If that is
> solved, there is no reason biodiesel won't work in
> jets.  Gas turbine engines aren't too fussy about fuel
> until the ambient temperature gets below freezing.
> Dr. Diesel designed the engine to run on peanut oil
> but crude based diesel came along and that was the end
> of it, or not!
>
> Brad Haslett
> "CorsShen"
>
>
> --- Roger Pihlaja <cen09402 at centurytel.net> wrote:
>
>> Brad,
>>
>> The whole issue of how Dr. Schilling and I are
>> coinventors on a patent that
>> is mostly "owned" by Saginaw Valley State University
>> (SVSU) and partly by
>> The Michigan Corn Growers Association has been
>> covered before on the list.
>> SVSU's intellectual property policy only grants a
>> small royalty stream to
>> the inventors.  Dr. Schilling isn't interested in
>> anything but the royalty
>> stream.  But, I've been trying to negotiate an
>> exclusive license to practice
>> my own invention from SVSU since last April.  SVSU
>> is pursuing bigger fish,
>> like the Archer Daniels Midland Corp. in an attempt
>> to maximise the royalty
>> revenue stream to the university in as short a time
>> frame as possible.
>> Without the exclusive license to practice, it's
>> nearly impossible to attract
>> the required start-up capital.  In addition the
>> risks involved starting up
>> my Bio-Energy Corp. are much greater if SVSU is free
>> to license the
>> technology to anyone that waves a large pile of cash
>> in front of their nose.
>> Basically, it feels as if everyone owns a piece of
>> my patent except me & I'm
>> pretty raw about it.
>>
>> Since I can't get the university to negotiate in
>> good faith, I figured the
>> next best thing was to leverage the research into a
>> job with one of the
>> major players in the industry.  Last fall, I sent
>> information packets
>> marketing my idea and myself to the top 10 companies
>> in this industry.  So
>> far, the only response has been from Broin &
>> Associates, Inc. in Sioux
>> Falls, SD.  They're the #2 player in this industry.
>>  I hope to know by the
>> end of next week if I got voted off the island
>> before the next round of
>> interviews with Broin.  Stay tuned!
>>
>> Why won't biodiesel made from soybeans or rape seeds
>> work with aircraft
>> turbine engines?  The viscosity & vapor pressure of
>> biodiesel are about
>> right & I don't think there's alot of organic sulfur
>> compounds or anything
>> like that which might harm the turbine blades.
>> What's the problem?
>>
>> Roger Pihlaja
>> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "brad haslett" <flybrad at yahoo.com>
>> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list"
>> <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 8:10 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] The Hydrogen Economy
>>
>>
>> > Roger,
>> >
>> > Hopefully you've patented your process, you're on
>> to
>> > something.  The demise of easy oil has been
>> predicted
>> > since Col. Drake's first well and Rockefeller's
>> > monopoly but this time it looks for real.  Hubbert
>> was
>> > dead on the money about when US oil production
>> would
>> > peak and it looks like his turn-of-the-century
>> > prediction for world peak production is true as
>> well.
>> > I download the Association for the Study of Peak
>> Oil
>> > and Gas newsletter each month and the outlook
>> isn't
>> > pretty.  If crude had stayed at $55/barrel we
>> would
>> > have seen more biodiesel plants coming on line and
>> > more people trading their Surburbans for diesel
>> VW's.
>> > When oil gets to $100/barrel, and it will, the
>> market
>> > will move in that direction without anyone from
>> the
>> > government telling consumers to do so.  The
>> Europeans
>> > currently drive about 40% diesels, many of which
>> are
>> > fueled by rapeseed based diesel.  The one area we
>> > can't replace with biofuels is Jet Fuel.  With our
>> > current technology we need crude.  I burn over
>> 10,000
>> > gallons of the stuff every day at work and that's
>> a
>> > lot of trips to the grocery in the SUV.  We've got
>> > lots of coal.  If we can figure out how to burn it
>> > clean or convert it at a lesser energy and
>> > enviromental cost, we're in business.  I stick
>> with my
>> > original prediction, NUKES is the way to go.  The
>> > French produce 70% of their electricity this way
>> and
>> > we'll have to join with them sooner or later.
>> >
>> > Brad Haslett
>> > "CoraShen"
>> >
>> > --- Roger Pihlaja <cen09402 at centurytel.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > > Brad,
>> > >
>> > > For ethanol, the efficiency depends upon which
>> crop
>> > > feedstock and which
>> > > process you use.  For corn feedstock, using
>> "smart"
>> > > water & ag-chem farming
>> > > strategies, the dry milling process, molecular
>> > > sieves for the final water
>> > > removal, and waste heat recovery, a current
>> > > state-of-the-art ethanol process
>> > > is about 1.7 to 1 efficient.  That means you get
>> > > about 1.7 btu of energy out
>> > > in the form of fuel ethanol for every btu put
>> into
>> > > running the farm,
>> > > transporting the harvested corn, and operating
>> the
>> > > ethanol plant.  Add my
>> > > process for energy recovery from the byproduct
>> > > distiller's dry grain (DDG)
>> > > and the efficiency number jumps to around 3.2 to
>> 1.
>> > > Plus, my process gets
>> > > rid of the byproduct DDG in an environmentally
>> > > acceptable way.  Remember,
>> > > the corn-to-ethanol process generates about 1 lb
>> of
>> > > byproduct DDG for every
>> > > lb of ethanol produced.  DDG is currently sold
>> as
>> > > animal feed; but, it's
>> > > high in protein and fat content.  You can only
>> feed
>> > > about 20%wt DDG in the
>> > > diet of a plant eating animal like a cow or a
>> sheep
>> > > before they start to get
>> > > sick from it.  So, as we ramp up ethanol
>> capacity,
>> > > there aren't enough
>> > > critters on the planet to feed the byproduct DDG
>> to.
>> > >  So, you've got to do
>> > > something with the byproduct DDG or we'll be
>> buried
>> > > in it!  By the way, DDG
>> > > doesn't store very well & the smell when it
>> starts
>> > > to rot is almost
>> > > indescribable.
>> > >
>> > > Anyone for a nice Soilent Corn milkshake? :)
>> > >
>> > > Rummy, for you we can leave the 6%wt ethanol in
>> the
>> > > sludge as it comes from
>> > > the fermenter.  Soilent beer!
>> > >
>> > > Long term, it would be better to use cellulosic
>> > > crops like switchgrass and
>> > > fast growing woody plants as an ethanol
>> feedstock
>> > > because they require less
>> > > energy input at the farm in the forms of water,
>> > > ag-chemicals, and are easier
>> > > to harvest than row crops like corn.
>> > >
>> > > Hey, it all depends upon whether you believe the
>> > > energy crisis is "real"
>> > > this time around.  Personally, this time, I
>> think it
>> > > is "real" because it's
>> > > not being driven by the US economy.  This time,
>> the
>> > > demand for oil is being
>> > > driven by 3rd world economies, primarily China
>> and
>> > > India.  With their GDP
>> > > growth rates, we'll have to push real hard using
>> the
>>
> === message truncated ===
>
>
>
>
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