Like the illusion of Wall Street, with its vast and powerful investment banks, now shuttered, China too is an illusion perpetuated by the Globalists that gave us the 15,000 mile Caesar salad, poisoned cat food and lead based paint on babies' pacifiers. Like the illusion that money would come from thin air to always push housing prices higher, China has spent a generation pursuing its illusion. Pursuing an unattainable dream to be like the West, while 6000 years of its carefully shepherded top soil blows into the sea.
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:34 am Post subject: Re: cellustic wave of the future
Cellulosic ethanol has all the same problems as corn ethanol. It depletes the soil of nutrients, it takes money and energy to transport the feed stock, and then dispose of the solid waste. The only advantage of cellulose over corn is that it can be grown on marginal land where erosion would normally be a problem.
Most cellulosic tech tries to make sugar from cellulose, and then ethanol from the sugar. This take a whole extra step, and the by product has no value as animal feed. This whole setup will misguided, like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Low temperature pyrolysis with catalytic upgrading has much more potential since it is a waterless process which produces a charcoal fertilizer/soil conditioner needing no energy intensive drying process. Biofuels need low cost fertilizer, and soil carbon conservation more than anything else. Until we solve these problems, all ethanol is just another non renewable fossile fuel mined from the earth.
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:20 am Post subject: Re: cellustic wave of the future
"I think our way of life is about to change."
"What do you mean?"
"We can't keep on using things up."
"Oh? That's not true because we are no using things up. We are adding value to the earth."
"How can you add value to all that is there?"
"We give inanimate objects meaning. We create civilization where there was nothing. That is progress."
"Is it progress to destroy the oceans? Kill species?"
"No. of course not. But that death comes from laziness, ignorance, political corruption. When all are educated and act well then our technology will flow like a river. Technology solves everything."
"Not too many humans."
"You hate yourself."
"No. I don't. Just you." _________________ This is not me
Joined: Nov 06, 2007 Posts: 756 Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject: Re: cellustic wave of the future
A quick update on Genecor. They broke ground on their pilot cellulose ethanol plant(research plant, not commercial plant). The plant will be able to process switchgrass and corn stover.
Tennesse Breaks Ground _________________ The oil barrel is half-full.
Joined: Nov 06, 2007 Posts: 756 Location: Illinois
Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:11 pm Post subject: Re: cellustic wave of the future
Several companies are racing to be the first to complete a commercial cellulose ethanol plant.
Range Fuels - Broke ground in 2007 on a commercial plant and hopes to complete Phase 1 of the plant by 2009. Phase 1 consists of 20 million gallons of ethanol per year. Later phases are planned to scale that up to 100 million gallons per year. Range fuels appears to be in the lead at the moment for the first to commercialize cellulose ethanol.
POET - secured funding to expand it's existing ethanol refinery to prodce cellulose ethanol(corn stover). Construction is planned to start in 2009 and commercial cellulose ethanol production is planned for 2011.
Danisco - Plans to have it's pilot plant up and running in 2009, and a commercial plant running by 2012.
However, something not often mentioned is that the "waste" material from crops is normally returned to the soil. Removing the "waste" material and turning it into Ethanol reduces the soil fertility. This lost fertility must be compensated for by using more fertilizers.
Quote:
the removal of stover would result in having to apply more fertilizer to the soil for future crops, the USDA said. Depending on whether you remove the whole plant or just the top half of the plant, removing corn stover from the field results in a per-acre loss of up to 45 pounds of nitrogen, 2 to 4 pounds of phosphorus, and 23 to 38 pounds of potassium, which translates into $25 to $30 per acre in additional fertilizer costs. Other soil nutrients including calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, and manganese are also lost and in some soil types, the loss of potassium might result in long-term potassium deficiencies that would reduce crop productivity.
IMHO, this reduction of soil fertility is a step in the wrong direction for farmers. We should be moving towards more sustainable methods of farming and using less fertilizers and pesticides, not more. Cellulose ethanol may be commercially viable in the near future, but it will further our dependence on "soil mining" and dumping even more fertilizer onto our fields to maintain yields. So even if this technology is commercially viable, I don't think it is a good idea. _________________ The oil barrel is half-full.
All times are GMT - 6 Hours Goto page Previous1, 2, 3
Page 3 of 3
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
