From: Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de
Date: Mon Jun 11 2001 - 15:51:38 MDT
Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
>
> Another name for methanol is "wood alcohol." Synthesis gas is simply that,
Yes, it used to be destilled from wood pyrolysis products, where it is
contained to <<1% (coming from lignin's methoxy groups, I presume).
> of course, not gasoline. Unless you are considering running your motor
> vehicle on methane?
Um? Methanol is mostly made from synthesis gas, which is made from fossils,
and can be in principle made from biomass (but rarely is, so it's academical).
Gas as is gas, not gasoline. But of couse you can make gas from gas... or petrol.
> Biochemists at the University of Colorado at Boulder have developed a means
> of reducing costs and increasing production of ethanol fuel, by using
> hydrothermal baterial reactions (from bateria from Yellowstone's geysers) to
> process all manner of celluslose into (not methanol) but ethanol fuel.
> Whether this will prove to nothing but a laboratory curiosity or a new
> industry is anyone's guess. It needs to be factored in though.
Dunno, it's hard to see how critters can make more than max 10% ethanol
mix, with a lousy efficiency (they need to live, too) and it needs to
be destilled still. Sorry, don't see it fly but in a few niches (such as
on Cuba, on background of oil embargo and ubiquitous sugar byproducts).
-- Eugen* Leitl
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