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Saturday 18 December 2010
Government Support to Drive Indian Solar Home Lighting Systems Market
Solar Home Lighting Systems can support small household loads and are promoted and prioritized through rural financial institutions. These systems are one way to provide electricity to non-electrified and under-electrified rural households. According to our research report “Indian Solar Energy Market Outlook 2012”, Solar Home Lightening Systems (SHLSs) will witness significant growth during 2010 - 2013 with compound annual growth of around 22%. The growth will be primarily driven by the state and central governments’ support, which has already been aligned by environmental objectives and clean energy goals.Our report reveals that, SHSs have already experienced substantial growth during the past few years. Clean kitchen lighting and better quality of light for reading and studying are some of the benefits from SHSs. Our report also find that in addition to SHSs, solar Water Heating Systems will also witness significant growth during the coming years. SWHSs are used in many industries including textile, dairy, drugs and pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, food processing, electroplating, fertilizer, and leather industry. However, hospitals, hotels, and college hostels are the prime target segments at the initial stage of SWHS installation.
According to our report, many states will start promoting solar water heating systems due to tariffs and initiatives offered by the Indian government. Additionally, many states have already started promoting solar water heating systems, for instance, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, etc. Further, Rajkot city has been selected to be developed as a Solar City during the 11th plan period by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. According to our analysts, many factors will fuel solar powered equipments industry in India, which will lead to more private players’ participation in this industry.
“Indian Solar Energy Market Outlook 2012” presents thorough study of Indian Solar Energy Market with state wise analysis of growth potential. The report provides current and future market scenario of Solar thermal and Photovoltaic segments including Solar Water Heating Systems, Solar Cookers, Street Lighting System, Solar home Lighting Systems, Solar Lanterns, Solar Power Plants, and Photovoltaic Pumps. The report provides regulatory developments of different states like, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal etc. The report also covers key players’ analysis to provide relevant industry information to clients.
For FREE SAMPLE of this report visit: http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM187.htm
Check DISCOUNTED REPORTS on: http://www.rncos.com/promotion.htm
About RNCOS:
RNCOS specializes in Industry intelligence and creative solutions for contemporary business segments. Our professionals study and analyze the industry and its various components, with comprehensive study of the changing market behavior. Our accuracy and data precision proves beneficial in terms of pricing and time management that assist the consultants in meeting their objectives in a cost-effective and timely manner.
[Submitted by rncos]
Saturday 18 December 2010 - 16:11:34 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Solar Energy | Comments: |
Friday 10 December 2010
Germany Solar Inverter Market to Grow at 6.5% CAGR by 2014
According to our latest research offering “German Photovoltaic Market Analysis”, Germany retained its top slot in the global PV industry in 2009 and registered record year on year installations growth. The government support along with commitments to lessen oil imports has driven PV market to expand exponentially. Especially, the solar inverter segment has orchestrated notable strives and was one of the key beneficiaries of the PV industry developments. The study revealed that in coming years also, solar inverters will continue to be in strong demand in both domestic and exports markets and the market will register 6.5% CAGR growth during 2009-2014.The research revealed that, the solar inverter market in the country is quite organized and top four players constitute the majority of market revenue. However, a number of small players are also active in the industry and providing significant contribution to the industry’s value chain. It is anticipated that, decent market growth will continue to attract new market entrants, which will increase market competition and lessen products price. The developments will ultimately favor the consumers most and will sustain Germany’s leadership in the global arena.
Despite these developments, there still exist some growth inhibitors which can dent industry’s future outlook. For instance, Germany’s dominance is now being challenged by its Asian counterparts. The research showed that country can lose substantial market share due to its high production costs and effective competition from China and other South East Asian countries.
Our report “German Photovoltaic Market Analysis” provides extensive research and objective analysis of the German PV industry and its future market potentials. It facilitates information and statistics on all prominent market segments including residential, commercial, and solar parks. Besides, it provides market trends on cell manufacturing, solar inverter market, PV power plants etc. Separate sections on industry value chain analysis and after effects of FIT cuts & road ahead will help clients identify factors, critical to their successful strategy formulation and gain competitive edge over their rivals.
For FREE SAMPLE of this report visit: http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM281.htm
Check DISCOUNTED REPORTS on: http://www.rncos.com/promotion.htm
About RNCOS:
RNCOS specializes in Industry intelligence and creative solutions for contemporary business segments. Our professionals study and analyze the industry and its various components, with comprehensive study of the changing market behavior. Our accuracy and data precision proves beneficial in terms of pricing and time management that assist the consultants in meeting their objectives in a cost-effective and timely manner.
[Submitted by rncos]
Friday 10 December 2010 - 15:12:32 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Solar Energy | Comments: |
Tuesday 02 February 2010
Harvesting hemp at Hartacre Farms for biofuel
In a white cloud of pollen, 43 acres of hemp was harvested from Hartacre Farms last Tuesday. Herb Hart grew the crop in partnership with Performance Plants Inc. of Kingston, as part of a biofuels project for Lafarge Bath Cement plant, which is working on methods of reducing their reliance on fossil fuels.According to Kevin Gellatly, director of biofuels business development and media relations for Performance Plants, this particular test plot faced some challenges.
“There were some tough conditions on the lower ground, it got rained out.” There were delays in planting, and then rain and more rain which soaked out some of the seeds.
Gellatly said they were hoping for four to five tonnes per acre, but final yield won’t be determined for a while.
Because it’s a test plot, the seed was provided to Hart, but he said the input costs for the entire season were much lower compared to corn, but similar to other crops. Based on soil tests at the beginning of the season, he added 100 pounds of potash, 25 pounds of 11-52-0 and 20 gallons of UAN. The test plot Hart used is a randomly-tiled field and he said “you can see the patterns of the tiles in the height of the plants.”
“I added no chemicals after planting and that’s one of the biggest savings right there,” he added.
One other positive impact of hemp is that it breaks the disease cycle of other crops, as it is added into a crop rotation, according to Gellatly.
Industrial hemp has been used for centuries for fine fibres, sail cloth, and rope. Some of the hemp Hart was harvesting was up to eight feet tall. Because of the length and strength of the fibres harvesting hemp is a special challenge, and Larry Palmateer of Tweed was brought in by Hart.
This hemp is destined for a furnace, so the strands were not preserved. Instead a special double ‘conditioning’ system on a disc-bine, notches the stalks at one inch intervals to aid in the drying.
“It’s the best machine we’ve found for hay and it helps condition it,” said Palmateer.
The mower is specialized to hemp because a normal mower would get gummed up by the long tough fibres. This is another of the cost factors that Palmateer, growers, and end users have to deal with. The same equipment used for corn and other grains can’t be used with the hemp.
In all, 20 hemp fields are being tested as well as a sterile corn variety. After its baled into square bales, it will be ground up to be fired at the same time as coal in the kiln furnace at Lafarge. There is a special grinder/chopper being installed on site at the plant.
According to Gellatly, there will be a test burn at Lafarge in October with all kinds of things being measured in the emissions, in the temperature of the burn, even the quality of the cement product using the alternative fuel source.
“Just making sure it’s a viable alternative to coal.”
Gellatly says all indications are that using biofuels will improve air quality.
“There’ll be no negatives, it will be very seamless,” he said.
To improve the hemp variety, which is called Anka, PPI uses an accelerated breeding program.
“We’re looking for any ways we can to increase the tonnes per acre,” said Gellatly.
“If you can increase the tonnage that’s going to decrease the price for Lafarge and still provide the farmers a good return.”
As well as all the tests at Lafarge, PPI will be conducting a three-year, detailed assessment of the impact of hemp cultivation on soil quality – a seed-to-flame life cycle assessment.
While Ontario is experiencing a wet summer, hemp crops grown in Western Canada will be good candidates for drought tolerance testing.
“When you’re trying to produce biomass, you just want it to keep growing and growing,” Gellatly said, noting that if suddenly Lafarge decides hemp is the way to go, tens of thousands of acres will be needed to supply the demand.
Gellatly said, “there is lot of pressure to reduce carbon emissions so they’re experimenting with replacing a percentage of coal with biomass.”
PPI is trying to improve the genetics of the hemp with increased yield, increased stress tolerance, and decreased cost per tonne.
“The whole objective for the biomass industry is to get to the price of coal,” he said. Currently biomass is about the double the price. It also has other challenges such as storage. Coal can be heaped, can get wet, and can be stored in varied conditions. The hemp is sensitive to light and moisture.
[Submitted by infinitypoint]
Tuesday 02 February 2010 - 23:20:33 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Hemp for Fuel | Comments: |
Wednesday 27 January 2010
“First economical process” for making biodiesel fuel from algae
Chemists are reporting development of what they termed the first economical, eco-friendly process to convert algae oil into biodiesel fuel — a discovery they predict could one day lead to U.S. independence from petroleum as a fuel.One of the problems with current methods for producing biodiesel from algae oil is the processing cost, and the New York researchers say their innovative process is at least 40 percent cheaper that of others now being used.
Supply will not be a problem: There is a limitless amount of algae growing in oceans, lakes, and rivers, throughout the world. Another benefit from the “continuously flowing fixed-bed” method to create algae biodiesel, they add, is that there is no wastewater produced to cause pollution.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1296516
[Submitted by KEVswr]
Wednesday 27 January 2010 - 23:22:47 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Biodiesel | Comments: |
Tuesday 28 July 2009
ExxonMobil to Launch Biofuels Program
http://www.rdmag.com/New-To-Market/2009/07/ExxonMobil-to-Launch-Biofuels-Program/
Exxon Mobil Corporation announced an alliance with biotech company, Synthetic Genomics Inc., to research and develop next generation biofuels5 from photosynthetic algae. ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company has entered into a research and development alliance with SGI, a privately held company focused on developing genomic-driven solutions and founded by genome pioneer, Dr. J. Craig Venter, to develop advanced biofuels from photosynthetic algae that are compatible with today’s gasoline and diesel fuels. Under the program, if research and development milestones are successfully met, ExxonMobil expects to spend more than $600 million, which includes $300 million in internal costs and potentially more than $300 million to SGI.
[Submitted by KEVswr]
Tuesday 28 July 2009 - 16:20:51 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Biofuels - Alcohol / Ethanol / Methanol | Comments: |
Tuesday 14 July 2009
Exxon to bet its money on algae to fuel
July 14, 2009Oil giant Exxon Mobil plans to announce a 600-million-dollar investment to produce liquid transportation fuel from algae, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The effort by Exxon, whose chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson once derided ethanol as "moonshine," includes a partnership with the biotechnology company Synthetic Genomics.
A top Exxon research told the newspaper that the company has researched fuel alternatives for years.
"We literally looked at every option we could think of, with several key parameters in mind," said Emil Jacobs, vice president for research and development at Exxon's research and engineering unit.
"Scale was the first. For transportation fuels, if you can't see whether you can scale a technology up, then you have to question whether you need to be involved at all."
But Jacobs acknowledged that it would take at least five to 10 years before large-scale commercial plants could produce algae-based fuels.
Environmentalists struck a note of skepticism at the plans.
"Research is great, but we need to see new products in the market," Greenpeace research director Kert Davies told the Times.
"We've always said that major oil companies have to be involved. But the question is whether companies are simply paying lip service to something or whether they are putting their weight and power behind it."
Algae, Exxon said, could produce over 2,000 gallons of fuel (7,570 liters) per acre (0.4 hectare) of production per year, compared to 650 gallons (2,460 liters) for palm trees and 450 gallons (1,703 liters) for sugar canes, while corn only yields 250 gallons (946 liters).
Alternate posting
SOURCE: AFP
R&D Daily
Advantage Business Media
[Submitted by Hemp4Fuel]
Tuesday 14 July 2009 - 22:09:35 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Biofuels - Alcohol / Ethanol / Methanol | Comments: |
Saturday 27 June 2009
Biofuels could clean up Chernobyl 'badlands'
http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/4f90221/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A2271440B50A0A0Ebiofuels0Ecould0Eclean0Eup0Echernobyl0Ebadlands0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm27 June 2009 by Fred Pearce
CONTAMINATED lands, blighted by fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, could be cleaned up in a clever way: by growing biofuels. Belarus, the country affected by much of the fallout, is planning to use the crops to suck up the radioactive strontium and caesium and make the soil fit to grow food again within decades rather than hundreds of years.
A 40,000 square kilometre area of south-east Belarus is so stuffed with radioactive isotopes that rained down from the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power station in 1986 that it won't be fit for growing food for hundreds of years, as the isotopes won't have decayed sufficiently. But this week a team of Irish biofuels technologists is in the capital, Minsk, hoping to do a deal with state agencies to buy radioactive sugar beet and other crops grown on the contaminated land to make biofuels for sale across Europe.
The company, Greenfield Project Management, insists no radioactive material will get into the biofuel as only ethanol is distilled out. "In distillation, only the most volatile compounds rise up the tube. Everything else is left behind," says Basil Miller of Greenfield. The heavy radioactive residues will be burned in a power station, producing a concentrated "radioactive ash". This can be disposed of at existing treatment works for nuclear waste, he says.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency is not so sure, however. Its head of waste, Didier Louvat, told New Scientist that, while the biofuels process should be safe, neither Belarus nor Ireland has an adequate way of disposing of the radioactive residues at present. "The disposal facilities Belarus set up after the Chernobyl accident are not acceptable, so they will need safe storage until they have something better."
Belarus has been tight-lipped about the project, though it is clearly keen to tackle the problem. Last September Andrei Savinkh, Belarus representative at the UN in Geneva, called decontamination of the soil "the number one priority for the Belarus government".
Chernobyl is in Ukraine, close to the Belarus border. But prevailing winds meant 80 per cent of the fallout from the burning reactor fell in Belarus. Both were then part of the Soviet Union. The accident left vegetation and soils heavily contaminated with strontium-90, caesium-137, plutonium and americium. The most heavily polluted areas remain evacuated but 8 million people live in a much wider contaminated zone.
Farmers grow some grain crops here. The radioactive material concentrates in roots and stalks, which they plough back into the soil after harvesting. So the soil is almost as contaminated now as it was after the accident. The Belarus government hopes that by growing biofuels and using the whole plant, it can cleanse the soil. "Instead of centuries of natural decay [of the radionuclides] this process will cut the time to 20 to 40 years," Savinkh says.
Greenfield plans to build the first biofuels distillery next year at Mozyr, close to one of the most contaminated areas (see map). The €500 million plant will turn half a million cubic metres of crops a year into 700 million litres of biofuels, starting in 2011. As many as 10 more plants will follow provided funding can be raised, says Miller. The European Union reckons it will need about 25 billion litres of bioethanol by 2020 to meet green fuel targets.
One of Greenfield's partners will be Belbiopharm, a state biotech company that wants to develop genetically modified crops able to clean the soil more quickly.
The hope is that in the long run these measures will make life safer for local people. A study in 1999 by Nick Beresford of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Lancaster, UK, found that tens of thousands of people in the contaminated region are consuming dangerous levels of radioactivity in their food.
[Submitted by KEVswr]
Saturday 27 June 2009 - 19:37:51 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Biofuels - Alcohol / Ethanol / Methanol | Comments: |
Thursday 04 June 2009
Xinhua - Lao Gov't to Promote Biofuel Production
2009-0604 - Xinhua - Lao Gov't to Promote Biofuel ProductionLao Gov't to Promote Biofuel Production
2009-06-04 16:28:43 Xinhua Web Editor: Hu Weiwei
The Lao Ministry of Energy and Mines said that the government will promote the production of biofuel in the wake of imported fossil fuel price fluctuations over the past year, the Lao newspaper Vientiane Times reported Thursday.
The Lao Ministry of Energy and Mines said that the government will promote the production of biofuel in the wake of imported fossil fuel price fluctuations over the past year, the Lao newspaper Vientiane Times reported Thursday.
Electricity Department Acting Director General Hatsady Sisoulath said the department was now establishing a draft of national strategy on biofuel development, as an important reference for promoting biofuel production in Laos.
The draft is expected to be submitted to the government for approval at the end of this year, said Hatsady at a workshop on " Future Resource Economy and Policies in Laos until 2020" held in Vientiane on Wednesday.
Hatsady said Laos had the potential to produce biofuel because of the abundance of agricultural land and a climate that was conducive to biofuel crop cultivation for supply to processing plants.
The country's biofuel development strategy must be drawn up in cooperation with the various sectors involved, such as the Ministry of Energy, Mines and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, banks when considering loans for investors in this field, and even private sectors if they want to involve in this business, said Hatsady.
If the production of biofuels comes into reality in Laos, this form of energy will constitute about 30 percent of total fuel consumption by 2020 and help the country reduce fossil fuel imports, said Hatsady.
Copyright by CRIENGLISH.com, 1998-2009. Email:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/archive-laonews/message/15802
[Submitted by Hemp4Fuel]
Thursday 04 June 2009 - 10:05:32 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Biofuels - Alcohol / Ethanol / Methanol | Comments: |
Tuesday 02 June 2009
Methanol challenges hydrogen to be fuel of the future
Methanol challenges hydrogen to be fuel of the future* 18:03 02 June 2009 by Colin Barras
Could methanol be at the center of a cleaner, greener future infrastructure? (Image: Rex Features)
For years many companies, governments and researchers have predicted that our energy future must lie with the universe's simplest element. The mooted hydrogen economy would use the gas to store and transport renewable or low-carbon energy, and power fuel cells in the transport sector or in portable electronics.
But creating the necessary society-wide infrastructure has proved difficult and expensive to get off the ground. And now a rival idea, first suggested in 2006 by Nobel chemistry laureate George Olah at the University of Southern California, has received a boost.
The methanol economy, say its supporters, could be with us much sooner than the hydrogen one.
Hydrogen dangers
Olah's rationale is that modifying our existing oil and petrol-focused infrastructure to run on methanol will be much easier than refitting the world's liquid-fuel-based economy to deal with an explosive gas.
Methanol has already been used to power portable gadgets and could potentially power vehicles and other devices. Now US chemists have worked out the conditions needed to make the feedstock for methanol production using renewable energy.
The research is significant because just as the lack of an efficient way to generate and store hydrogen is a major barrier to the idea of running civilisation on it, sourcing methanol on a vast scale is a similarly major hurdle.
Clean solution
The best way to make methanol is by steam reforming methane, produced from syngas - a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide - which can be made via the Fischer-Tropsch process.
This uses catalysts to convert the syngas into liquid hydrocarbons. The process is used today to make diesel and other liquid fuels from coal, and kept South African cars going during the country's international isolation in the 1980s and 90s.
However, the whole point of the methanol economy would be to create a greener society, so any syngas must come from an environmentally friendly source, not fossil fuels.
Now chemist Scott Barnett at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and colleagues have shown that a solid oxide electrolysis cell, more normally used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, could be that source.
Viable brew
Using a mix of one part CO2, one part hydrogen and two parts water in the device generates syngas at a rate which compares favourably with the processes used to make it from natural gas, says Barnett. At peak conditions of 800 °C and 1.3 volts, the system can produce 7 standard cubic centimetres of syngas per minute for every square centimetre of the electrolysis cell's surface.
The next stage, turning the syngas into methanol, is a standard industrial reaction that is well understood.
Barnett's method requires a steady stream of water vapour and CO2, but both gases are released when the methanol is used in fuel cells, and could be captured and re-used, he says.
That would add to the costs involved, but a hydrogen economy would require similar gas-capture technology, says Barnett, because hydrogen production requires a plentiful source of fresh water, which is heavy to cart about.
Olah thinks Barnett's study is a useful one. "This [methanol economy] approach is now starting to be implemented around the world," he says. "New methanol plants are being built in China, South Korea, Japan and Iceland."
Limited scope
But others remain sceptical that methanol will ever occupy more than a small niche. There are several well-known problems with the use of methanol. Like hydrogen, and unlike petrol, methanol is not a source of energy, but simply an energy store, points out Ulf Bossel at the European Fuel Cell Forum in Oberrohrdorf, Switzerland. "The energy carried by methanol is less than was needed to make it," he adds.
Barnett agrees that methanol is a poor substitute for using the power from a renewable generator like a wind turbine directly. But he says that in cases where direct use is not possible, liquid methanol beats the efficiency of hydrogen for storage and transportation.
Methanol could be used to store energy from renewable sources that often produce more electricity than is needed at a particular time, he says, and could also be useful at off-grid sites.
In these situations, Bossel agrees a modest methanol economy makes sense. "The hydrogen idea is gradually fading," he says. "Methanol could be a better solution because it is easier to handle."
Journal reference: Energy and Fuels (DOI: 10.1021/ef900111f)
[Submitted by Hemp4Fuel]
Tuesday 02 June 2009 - 21:03:35 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Biofuels - Alcohol / Ethanol / Methanol | Comments: |
Monday 25 May 2009
Hemp as a Fuel / Energy Source
By Jeremy Briggs - Radio Free Exile BlogBiodiesel fuel from Hemp Seed Oil
Hemp seed oil can be used as is in bio-diesel engines. Methyl esters, or bio-diesel, can be made from any oil or fat including hemp seed oil. The reaction requires the oil, an alcohol (usually methanol), and a catalyst, which produces bio-diesel and small amount of glycerol or glycerin. When co-fired with 15% methanol, bio-diesel fuel produces energy less than 1/3 as pollution as petroleum diesel.Energy and Fuel from Hemp Stalks through Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is the technique of applying high heat to biomass, or organic plants and tree matter, with little or no air. Reduced emissions from coal-fired power plants and automobiles can be accomplished by converting biomass to fuel utilizing pyrolysis technology. The process can produce, from lingo-cellulosic material (like the stalks of hemp), charcoal, gasoline, ethanol, non-condensable gasses, acetic acid, acetone, methane, and methanol. Process adjustments can be done to favor charcoal, pyrolytic oil, gas, or methanol, with 95.5% fuel-to-feed ratios. Around 68% of the energy of the raw biomass will be contained in the charcoal and fuel oils -- renewable energy generated here at home, instead of overpaying for foreign petroleum.
Pyrolysis facilities can run 3 shifts a day, and since pyrolysis facilities need to be within 50 miles of the energy crop to be cost effective, many new local and rural jobs will be created, not to mention the employment opportunities in trucking and transportation.
Hemp vs. Fossil Fuels
Pyrolysis facilities can use the same technology used now to process fossil fuel oil and coal. Petroleum coal and oil conversion is more efficient in terms of fuel-to-feed ratio, but there are many advantages to conversion by pyrolysis.
1) Biomass has a heating value of 5000-8000 BTU/lb, with virtually no ash or sulfur emissions.
2) Ethanol, methanol, methane gas, and gasoline can be derived from biomass at a fraction of the cost of the current cost of oil, coal, or nuclear energy, especially when environmental costs are factored in. Each acre of hemp could yield about 1000 gallons of methanol.
3) When an energy crop is growing, it takes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, and releases an equal amount when it is burned, creating a balanced system, unlike petroleum fuels, which only release CO2. When an energy crop like hemp is grown on a massive scale, it will initially lower the CO2 in the air, and then stabilize it at a level lower than before the planting of the energy crop.
4) Use of biomass would end acid rain, end sulfer-based smog, and reverse the greenhouse effect.
Coal
Unlike petroleum reserves, America has enough coal to last 100-300 years, but burning it for electricity puts sulfur (toxic to every membrane in which it comes in contact, especially the simplest life forms - into the air, which leads to acid rain, which lills 50,000 Americans, and 5,000 - 10,000 Canadians, annually, and destroys the forests, river, and animals.
Charcoal can be created from biomass through pyrolysis (charcoaling), which has nearly the same heating value in BTU as coal, virtually without sulfur. Biomass can also be co-fired with coal to reduce emissions.
Ethanol and Methanol
Ethanol is a water-free, high-octane alcohol which can be used as fuel to drive cars. Under current conditions, use of ethanol-blended fuels such as E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) can reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases by as much as 37.1%. Ethanol-powered vehicles do suffer in performance (barely), but ethanol is effective as a fuel additive because it helps engines burn cleaner.
Once pyrolysis facilities are up and running, converting biomass into charcoal for electrical power plants, it will be more feasible to build the complex gasifying systems to produce ethanol and/or methanol from the cubed biomass, or to make high-octane lead-free gasoline from the methanol using a catalytic process developed by Georgia Tech University in conjunction with Mobil Oil Corporation.
Ethanol is currently being used as a fuel additive, replacing toxic methyl tertiary ether (MTBE). Ethanol producers are currently providing only 1% of America's liquid fuel. Soon though, as new development processes are researched, and with the use of hemp, the plant worlds number one producer of biomass, the cost of this alternative fuel will give petroleum vigorous competition.
Hydrolysis: A process whereby cellulose is converted to fermentable glucose, which holds the greatest promise for production and feedstock, because it could produce 100 gallons/ton. Tim Castleman and the Fuel and Fiber Company are researching this technology. Their method extracts the high-value bast fiber as first step. Then the remaining core material (mostly hurd) is converted to alcohol (methanol, ethanol), and then to glucose. Hydrolysis could produce 300,000 to 600,000 tons of biomass per year per facility, if each facility could process input from 60,000 to 170,000 acres.
Gasification: A form of pyrolysis which converts biomass into synthetic gas, such as ethanol, and low grade fuel oil with an energy content of about 40% that of petroleum diesel. This process is good for community power-corporation and people seeking self-sufficient energy needs. A small modular bio-powered system is in place in the village of Alaminos in the Philippines, using gasification techniques for energy.
Anaerobic Digestion: A process of capturing methane from green waste material (biomass). This process is toxic, but well suited for distributed power generation when co-located with electrical generation equipment.
Boiler: Biomass can also be burned in a boiler, but this energy has a value of $30-50 ton, which makes it impractical due to the higher value of hemp fiber, unless used on a local small scale, and in remote rural applications.
Hemp Produces the Most Biomass of Any Plant on Earth.
Hemp is at least four times richer in biomass/cellulose potential than its nearest rivals: cornstalks, sugarcane, kenaf, trees, etc.
Hemp produces the most biomass of any crop, which is why it is the natural choice for an energy crop. Hemp converts the sun's energy into cellulose faster than any other plant, through photosynthesis. Hemp can produce 10 tons of biomass per acre every four months. Enough energy could be produced on 6% of the land in the U.S. to provide enough energy for our entire country (cars, heat homes, electricity, industry) -- and we use 25% of the world's energy.
To put which in perspective, right now we pay farmers not to grow on 6% (around 90 million acres) of the farming land, while another 500 million acres of marginal farmland lies fallow. This land could be used to grow hemp as an energy crop.
Conclusion
The most important aspect of industrial hemp farming, the most compelling thing hemp offers us, is fuel. Right now we are depleting our reserves of petroleum and buying it up from our Arab enemies. It would be nice if we could have a fuel source which was reusable and which we could grow right here, making us completely energy independent.
Petroleum fuel increases carbon monoxide in the atmosphere and contributes heavily to global warming and the greenhouse effect, which, the EPA has warned, will lead to global catastrophe in the next 50 years if these trends continue. Do you want to find out if they are right, or do you want to grow the most cost effective and environmentally safe fuel source on the planet?
Using hemp as an energy and rotation crop would be a great step in the right direction.
Hemp Seed Oil
Hemp seed oil has historically been used as lamp oil. It is said to shine the brightest of all lamp oils. Hemp seed oil lit the lamps of Abraham Lincoln, Abraham the prophet, and was used in the legendary lamps of Aladdin.
Anything which can be made from fossil fuels can be made from an organic substance like hemp. Toxic petrochemicals can be replaced with hemp oil.
Hemp oil can be made into anything with an oil base, including paint, varnish, detergent, solvent, and lubricating oil. The advantage of these product is that they are earth friendly and biodegradable, and do not destroy ecosystems around them like petrochemicals do.
Until the 1930s most paint and varnishes were made with non-toxic hemp oil. Hemp paint provides superior coating because hemp oil soaks into and preserves wood, due to its high resistance to water.
Hemp oil is a good base for non-toxic printing inks. Soy is currently made into inks, but soy ink requires more processing and takes longer to dry than hemp oil based inks.
Original Article on Radio Free Exile
[Submitted by dlenef]
Monday 25 May 2009 - 13:10:25 by Hemp4Fuel
Posted in Hemp for Fuel | Comments: |
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