Posted on 08/04/2005 6:35:33 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
MOSCOW, Idaho - A University of Idaho graduate student believes the answer to the world's crude oil crisis grows on trees. Juan Andres Soria says he has developed a process that turns wood into bio-oil, a substance similar to crude oil.
The process — in which sawdust and methanol are heated to 900 degrees Fahrenheit to create the bio-oil — is already drawing some interest from energy and wood product companies, Soria said.
"But because it's quite novel, there's a bit of reserve," he said.
Soria is testing his theory with the help of Armando McDonald, associate professor of wood chemistry and composites in the University of Idaho's College of Natural Resources.
Though the idea may sound far-fetched, Soria and McDonald say the theory has precedent in nature — coal is the result of trees being subjected to high amounts of heat and pressure.
"We're trying to speed up the process," McDonald said. "Rather than doing it in millions of years, can we do it in minutes?"
So far, Soria's research has focused on sawdust from Ponderosa pine trees, although he said any variety of tree could be used, including fast-growing varieties like those being cultivated for wood pulp. Only about 2 percent of the mass is lost in the heating process, he said. After the bio-oil is produced, he separates it by boiling points, or grades. So far, he said, he's identified oil grades that could someday replace gasoline, tar, glues and resins that make things like lawn furniture.
Ponderosa pine sawdust is only the beginning, Soria and McDonald claim. Next, they will begin testing to see if they can get bio-oil from pine needles and bark.
The two are doing the research without grant money. Soria plans to use the research in his dissertation for his doctorate. If the private sector likes the idea enough to back it financially, Soria said he could put together an industrial-size bio refinery in five years.
Still, he said, the bio-oil isn't likely to be an immediate competitor to crude oil. Crude oil currently costs about $60 a barrel, and bio-oil will only be competitive when the cost of crude oil reaches $80 a barrel, Soria said.
What do you heat it to 900 degrees with?
So all we'll be doing is replacing the Muslim Terrorists' with Eco Terrorists?
"What do you heat it to 900 degrees with?"
A a big magnifying glass.
Hey Juan, I have a novel idea, why don't we simply drill for oil?
Not a very good plan... It's more expensive than oil and would result in even more loss of forestry.
Hemp makes far superior paper products as well.
The only problem is that another name for hemp is marijuana.
I guess these youngsters didn't catch the switch from wood to coal in those old steam engines. Seems they were'nt getting enough energy from the wood.
Hydrogen.
So we take wood pulp,skip turning it into COAL,but turn it into oil...and at the same time we are taking coal and turning it into GAS...and at the same time we want to some how produce hydrogen fuel from....nevermind,i need another cup of joe
I grew up in the logging business,and always believed we needed to collect the MASSIVE amount of scrap left behind....there is a dump truck load of useable material around that Cat
2005 becomes 1905, and town gas becomes all the rage again.
Sounds like he "discovered" what Changing World Technologies has already figured out.
A company called Changing World Technology is already trying this idea. It's received alot of press about a demonstration plant in Missouri and it's backed by alot of big players.
Unfortunately the demo plant just can't the process working properly. It sounds like everything in these high pressure, high temperature reactors has to work together perfectly or its a no-go.
http://www.changingworldtech.com/
Typically, either part of the feedstock, product, or a waste product from the process. Best would be the waste product, obviously.
But why bother. Seems far easier to do destructive distillation of the wood to produce more methanol, and then just burn the methanol. Converting wood AND methanol to "bio-oil" seems a bit counter-productive.
Exactly, you can't cut a tree down to make a good baseball bat ... let alone a gallon of bio-oil.
Ethanol!
Like any of the depolymerization techniques, this can be done with a small fraction of the energy gained in the output, as is true with oil refineries. Trees, as all life on earth, are hydrocarbon based. Trees get their energy from the sun to grow, which is converted into hydrocarbons. Therefore, all hydrocarbon based energy sources are really "solar power."
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