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How To Measure Some Energy Judgments

Jan 29, 2010 Energy Talks

Robert Rapier, bless ‘em, attracted Frank Weigert a retired DuPont chemist to express his views on the pathway to renewable fuels. Odd, Mr. Rapier is quite the one to skewer the biofuel field generally, relying on his considerable practical knowledge without investigating the paths research can use in getting to new developments.  Mr. Weigert had sent Mr. Rapier an email describing his views on a pathway that could lead us away from our dependence on petroleum. Rapier in turn asked if the material could be turned into an essay for others to read.

For our purposes Mr. Weigert offers biofuel definitions.  The narrative is exactly on point and done such that it can be used to assist people in understanding what’s going on.  Its educational grade, I quote with some edits:

The differences in chemical nomenclature and more conventional terms all too often confuse non-chemists. Oil as an ingredient in salad dressing is not the same oil as a synonym for petroleum.

Green plants make nucleic acids, proteins, hydrocarbons, carbohydrates, and lipids. Only the latter three need concern us as fuel precursors. Hydrocarbons have only carbon and hydrogen in their structure. (Other) Examples include natural rubber and other materials made from isoprene oligomerization.

Carbohydrates have formulas around (CH₂O) n: Carbo (C) – hydrates (H₂O). Glucose, C₆H₁₂0₆, is a monomer. Sucrose is made from glucose and another sugar fructose with the loss of one water molecule. Both sugars are soluble in water. Polysaccharides such as starch and cellulose are insoluble in water. Yeasts ferment soluble sugars to ethanol, an alcohol. The technology to ferment (some) insoluble carbohydrate polymers practically (at commercial scale) does not yet exist.

Lipids are esters of the alcohol glycerin and long-chain fatty acids. Transesterification with short chain alcohols such as methanol or ethanol converts these lipids to glycerine and esters generically known as biodiesel. Biodiesel is not a hydrocarbon (its still a carbohydrate).

Hydrocarbon (formation) reactions are generally many orders of magnitude faster than the reactions of polar molecules such as those involving alcohols or esters. That means that the equipment required to reform hydrocarbons is much smaller than that required to ferment carbohydrates to ethanol or transesterify lipids to biodiesel. Hydrocarbon chemistry does not require a solvent. Fermentation must be carried out in water, and yeast generally can only produce an ethanol concentration of 10% or so. The ethanol must then be separated from a large excess of water. Transesterification to make biodiesel is an equilibrium process that will not go to completion without a large excess of the small chain alcohol. That means large equipment for separation and recycling. While a hundred or so refineries provide all the transportation fuel America uses, many thousand fermentation or biodiesel facilities would be needed to produce the same amount of fuel.

Mr. Weigert concludes that investments to obtain a carbohydrate economy like methanol and ethanol are going to be quite high, then asking why bother when using hydrocarbons like gasoline and diesel when both can be produced from biological materials?

Before answering lets give Weigert and Rapier credit, Weigert educates simply and accurately about the chemistry basics.  Thank you to both of them.

The question’s first answer is in a whole different field – economics, meaning markets and the consumers that determine the course. Everyone, no matter where geographically or where on the current consumption scale, want more energy powered assistance for raising their standard of living.  The job here, and hopefully in business and government is to drive the cost of energy and fuel lower and the tools that use energy and fuel to higher efficiency.  Driving a distance in whatever style is chosen isn’t decided by the fuel or energy choices alone.

Weigert says, “Consumers should not have to change anything.”  Well, not compulsorily, price and feature incentives are better tools.   But change is inevitable, it’s the policies that governments form and the reactions in business that create prices and incentives – a fact lost on the U.S. government for now.  Business is just as guilty in the failure; lobby work is mostly about maximizing the status quo, blanking developments, and bleeding out advantages from the whole economy.  Throw in the regulatory battles and gridlock is quite understandable.

That might be the best consumers can expect, but it does produce a distorted economic landscape.  People will fill that landscape however its formed with the things they want.  Maybe the U.S. ethanol industry has excess advantages, but the drive to light molecule fuel cells using things from the hydrocarbon methane to the alcohols methanol and ethanol offer prodigious amounts of energy stored as fuel that when compared to fossil oil products can be quite advantageous.  At fuel cell efficiencies with some buffer storage in batteries or capacitors, the combustion path has an effective competitor offering features and prices for consumers to measure.

The question’s second answer is that hydrocarbon formation from biomass is a field with several contenders.  Pyrolysis, the oldest, might lead the field but others have great potential as well.  The business may find that extracting the sugars and then engaging into a hydrocarbon formation process yields the maximum amount of commercial products at the lowest cost.  The field also is faced with the costs to form hydrocarbons to the desired molecules needed in the market.  It’s just not simple, and the market for products using fuels is going to go for efficiency and the larger hydrocarbons as jet and diesel, so far at least, are destined for combustion to convert the stored energy into work.  That is getting to be a disadvantage in the largest markets.  The combustion market will exist; flight, heavy equipment and other markets may well choose the pure hydrocarbon path.  Most machines as tested by the airlines and military get along fine with biofuel carbohydrates, biofuel hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons and appropriate blended combinations.  Biofuel hydrocarbon production plants are going to be needed in the thousands as well.

Humanity’s principle challenge is to preserve and improve itself.  History is replete with attempts to do such things with power at the pinnacle forcing it down to the masses.  It is clear to anyone curious enough to look –  that method can get people killed by the millions.  What does work is for the masses to have the maximum choices available and let the intelligence of the billions do its magic.

Keep an eye on the energy and fuel landscape.  There are choices with prices and features that are going to change and get much, much better in the coming years.  Mr. Weigert offers a useful lesson, but the important lesson is what you find from making your own choices.

The original post: New Energy and Fuel

Tags: energy, equipment, fuel cells, fuels, products

Where $60 MILLION dollars in LED Research is going…

Jan 29, 2010 Lighting Design & Controls

Blue LED + Yellow + Orange = ?

So where does $60 million in LED research going? It seems a large chunk of grants from the department of Energy is going towards improving the 3 things that we’ve been talking about for a while: Price, light output and color.

Looks like CREE, Philips and GE are receiving the bulk of grant money. It will be interesting to see what they can come up with as well as what the future brings for LED lighting… My question is how long until all this great research is APPLICABLE to us? 2,3,4 years? Let’s hope not…

Source: Popular Mechanics

Original post here: The New Light

Tags: led, led feeds, led news, Light Output Focusing, materials, Price Bringing