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Researchers Use Ultrasonic Processing for Fast Biodiesel Production
26 February 2007
An example of inline ultrasonic processing for biodiesel production. Click to enlarge. Source: Hielscher.
Researchers at Mississippi State University report that ultrasonic processing used in biodiesel production delivers a biodiesel yield in excess of 99% in five minutes or less, compared to one hour or more using conventional batch reactor systems. The work is described in the current issue of the journal Energy & Fuels"
"Skim over the existing hot political air". Innovation is the life blood of every nation. We encourage an idea exchange on any topics that is break through technology-simple or complex.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
biofuels international
biofuels international: "Biofuels can make a significant contribution to meeting future road-transport energy needs, helping to promote energy diversity and reducing emissions. Biofuels reach 4% of road-fuel use in the Reference Scenario in 2030 and 7% in the Alternative Policy Scenario, up from 1% today. The United States, the European Union and Brazil account for the bulk of the global increase and remain the leading producers and consumers of biofuels in both Scenarios. But rising food demand, which competes with biofuels for existing arable and pasture land, and the need for subsidy in many parts of the world, will constrain the long-term potential for biofuels production using current technology. New biofuels technologies being developed today, notably ligno-cellulosic ethanol, could allow biofuels to play a much bigger role - if major technological and commercial challenges can be overcome. "
Thursday, February 22, 2007
A sunny forecast for hot water | CNET News.com
A sunny forecast for hot water | CNET News.com: "It's a solar power concept that was popular around the time Calvin Coolidge was president--but now it's poised for a comeback.
Solar thermal water heaters, which use solar energy rather than gas or electricity as a power source, could grow in popularity over the next few years, according to analysts and panel installation companies. While the idea has already caught fire in China, it's barely registered a blip in the U.S.
'The idea that we don't have solar thermal is crazy,' said Bill Green, a partner at VantagePoint Venture Partners who specializes in clean technology.
Interest, nonetheless, is beginning to percolate, said Alex Winch, president of Mondial Energy. Mondial installs solar thermal systems in large buildings and then makes its money by reselling the heat generated by them back to the building owner. The Toronto-based company has put systems in 100-unit senior living centers in Canada, and it recently signed letters of intent for installations in a couple of U.S. hotels.
Solar thermal systems can offset gas consumption even in places not known for sunshine, Winch noted. His first project was the Beach Solar Laundromat in Toronto. It's snowy in that city right now, but the system at Beach Solar has generated 382 kilowatts in the past week, according to its online energy meter. "
Solar thermal water heaters, which use solar energy rather than gas or electricity as a power source, could grow in popularity over the next few years, according to analysts and panel installation companies. While the idea has already caught fire in China, it's barely registered a blip in the U.S.
'The idea that we don't have solar thermal is crazy,' said Bill Green, a partner at VantagePoint Venture Partners who specializes in clean technology.
Interest, nonetheless, is beginning to percolate, said Alex Winch, president of Mondial Energy. Mondial installs solar thermal systems in large buildings and then makes its money by reselling the heat generated by them back to the building owner. The Toronto-based company has put systems in 100-unit senior living centers in Canada, and it recently signed letters of intent for installations in a couple of U.S. hotels.
Solar thermal systems can offset gas consumption even in places not known for sunshine, Winch noted. His first project was the Beach Solar Laundromat in Toronto. It's snowy in that city right now, but the system at Beach Solar has generated 382 kilowatts in the past week, according to its online energy meter. "
Monday, February 19, 2007
Winston-Salem Journal | Current Event: University's prototype uses ocean's energy
Winston-Salem Journal | Current Event: University's prototype uses ocean's energy: "Current Event: University's prototype uses ocean's energy
By Kurt Loft
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
An underwater view shows a ship being loaded with hydrogen, the fuel that could result from the power produced.
(Illustrations courtesy of Florida Atlantic University)
An underwater view shows a ship being loaded with hydrogen, the fuel that could result from the power produced.
A perpetual-motion machine is the stuff of fantasy, but clean, renewable energy sources are within the grasp of societies that marry science, industry and economics.
For years, inventors have dreamed and schemed of tapping power from the ocean, yet nobody has come through with a practical plan. That's the hope of a Florida project that will test the waters on a way to generate electricity from Gulf Stream currents. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton are developing an underwater energy farm that employs a network of turbines secured to the ocean floor. As strong currents turn the turbine props, spinning magnets create electricity and send it to a power plant along the shore.
"The concept is you have turbine blades in the flow of the ocean, much like turbines that harness the wind," said engineer Rick Driscoll, the director of the Florida Center for Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology, a research arm of the university.
"Ocean currents are much slower than the wind, but water is 700 to 800 times denser than air."
By Kurt Loft
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
An underwater view shows a ship being loaded with hydrogen, the fuel that could result from the power produced.
(Illustrations courtesy of Florida Atlantic University)
An underwater view shows a ship being loaded with hydrogen, the fuel that could result from the power produced.
A perpetual-motion machine is the stuff of fantasy, but clean, renewable energy sources are within the grasp of societies that marry science, industry and economics.
For years, inventors have dreamed and schemed of tapping power from the ocean, yet nobody has come through with a practical plan. That's the hope of a Florida project that will test the waters on a way to generate electricity from Gulf Stream currents. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton are developing an underwater energy farm that employs a network of turbines secured to the ocean floor. As strong currents turn the turbine props, spinning magnets create electricity and send it to a power plant along the shore.
"The concept is you have turbine blades in the flow of the ocean, much like turbines that harness the wind," said engineer Rick Driscoll, the director of the Florida Center for Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology, a research arm of the university.
"Ocean currents are much slower than the wind, but water is 700 to 800 times denser than air."
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Health Policy - Dr. Mike Magee stem cell and cancer issues.
Health Policy - Dr. Mike Magee provides education and insight into health policy and current healthcare issues.: "And lastly, we know that in some circumstances, normal blood stem cells accelerate aging in response to chemotherapy and radiation while the cancer stem cells for some reason are immune.5,6 This means that with each successive treatment, the cancer stem cells may be gaining a competitive advantage. It’s imperative that we gain better understanding of the biologic and clinical consequences of our current therapies and continue to use this knowledge to design new ones.
If there’s anything in this information to ponder, it should be this. One, stem cell biology is critically related to the behavior of human cancers. Two, the eradication of cancer stem cells will be essential to improving survival rates for people with some cancers. Three, it is possible that current approaches to therapy in some cancers may be preferentially benefiting those cancers’ stem cells, which mean future therapies must take this into account. And finally, in the future, just wiping out the bulk of a tumor may not be an adequate measure of success. Rather, we will need to address the core of the problem, which is likely to reside where the cancer stem cells live and thrive."
If there’s anything in this information to ponder, it should be this. One, stem cell biology is critically related to the behavior of human cancers. Two, the eradication of cancer stem cells will be essential to improving survival rates for people with some cancers. Three, it is possible that current approaches to therapy in some cancers may be preferentially benefiting those cancers’ stem cells, which mean future therapies must take this into account. And finally, in the future, just wiping out the bulk of a tumor may not be an adequate measure of success. Rather, we will need to address the core of the problem, which is likely to reside where the cancer stem cells live and thrive."
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Ethanol speculation?
The Right Way to Speculate in Ethanol
By Jeff Clark
Imagine being able to fuel your cars with energy produced from yard waste. All the sticks and clippings from our lawns, parks, and schoolyards could be turned into a renewable source of ethanol.
It can happen. But not in the same way that corn-based ethanol is produced...
The two biggest expenses in the production of corn-based ethanol are the cost of the corn and the cost of the natural gas used in the production process.
But what if you could produce ethanol from widely available and essentially useless resources, like the aforementioned yard clippings and wood chips? And what if one of the byproducts of that process – lignin – could replace natural gas as the heat source in ethanol production? That eliminates the two largest expenses in the production process and creates an economically viable alternative fuel.
Therein lays the promise of cellulosic ethanol.
Cellulose is the main component of plant cell walls and the most common organic compound on earth. It's more difficult to break down cellulose to convert it into useable sugars for ethanol production.
Yet, making ethanol from cellulose dramatically expands the types and amount of available material for ethanol production. This includes many materials now regarded as waste requiring disposal, as well as corn stalks, rice straw, wood chips, and "energy crops" of fast-growing trees and grasses.
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Until 2005, companies had no financial motivation to aggressively pursue the production of cellulosic ethanol. But as I pointed out in yesterday's issue, that's all about to change. The increasing price of corn has rendered corn-based ethanol inefficient... and so large agricultural companies such as Archer Daniels Midland are pursuing cellulosic ethanol.
And why not? The government is right there to help with the funding...
The Energy Policy Act, signed into law in August 2005, contains several provisions designed to spur cellulosic ethanol production, including:
A credit-trading program wherein one gallon of cellulosic biomass ethanol or waste-derived ethanol is equal to 2.5 gallons of renewable fuel.
A cellulosic biomass program to produce 250 million gallons in 2013.
A loan-guarantee program that provides up to $250 million for the construction of a cellulosic ethanol facility.
Production incentives to deliver the first billion gallons of annual cellulosic ethanol production.
So here we have the potential for a renewable energy product that's made from otherwise useless resources. It's cheap, highly energy efficient, and funded by the government. And there are several terrific speculations on the future fuel
By Jeff Clark
Imagine being able to fuel your cars with energy produced from yard waste. All the sticks and clippings from our lawns, parks, and schoolyards could be turned into a renewable source of ethanol.
It can happen. But not in the same way that corn-based ethanol is produced...
The two biggest expenses in the production of corn-based ethanol are the cost of the corn and the cost of the natural gas used in the production process.
But what if you could produce ethanol from widely available and essentially useless resources, like the aforementioned yard clippings and wood chips? And what if one of the byproducts of that process – lignin – could replace natural gas as the heat source in ethanol production? That eliminates the two largest expenses in the production process and creates an economically viable alternative fuel.
Therein lays the promise of cellulosic ethanol.
Cellulose is the main component of plant cell walls and the most common organic compound on earth. It's more difficult to break down cellulose to convert it into useable sugars for ethanol production.
Yet, making ethanol from cellulose dramatically expands the types and amount of available material for ethanol production. This includes many materials now regarded as waste requiring disposal, as well as corn stalks, rice straw, wood chips, and "energy crops" of fast-growing trees and grasses.
---------- Advertisement ----------
Do You Own the World's Most Valuable Asset?
If you do, then you could expect a 100% upside, starting immediately.
Why? Because an interest in this asset is the best way I know to both protect and compound your money at high rates of return over time...
And the best part is: Based on my research, I believe that owning this asset could be as safe as holding a U.S. Treasury bond.
Learn more in my full report.
-----------------------------------
Until 2005, companies had no financial motivation to aggressively pursue the production of cellulosic ethanol. But as I pointed out in yesterday's issue, that's all about to change. The increasing price of corn has rendered corn-based ethanol inefficient... and so large agricultural companies such as Archer Daniels Midland are pursuing cellulosic ethanol.
And why not? The government is right there to help with the funding...
The Energy Policy Act, signed into law in August 2005, contains several provisions designed to spur cellulosic ethanol production, including:
A credit-trading program wherein one gallon of cellulosic biomass ethanol or waste-derived ethanol is equal to 2.5 gallons of renewable fuel.
A cellulosic biomass program to produce 250 million gallons in 2013.
A loan-guarantee program that provides up to $250 million for the construction of a cellulosic ethanol facility.
Production incentives to deliver the first billion gallons of annual cellulosic ethanol production.
So here we have the potential for a renewable energy product that's made from otherwise useless resources. It's cheap, highly energy efficient, and funded by the government. And there are several terrific speculations on the future fuel
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Cleaner and Greener | Technology | Trends | Canadian Business Online
Capture co2 use thepollutant constructively -soundsappealing SH
Cleaner and Greener | Technology | Trends | Canadian Business Online: "The solution to finding both a clean method for generating coal, then storing the carbon dioxide, could come out of important, world-class research now being headed by Malcolm Wilson, director of CO¸ management with the Energy Innovation Network, a research group sponsored by various government, corporate and university bodies, including the University of Regina, where Wilson is based. He says the technologies needed to develop clean coal power are readily available; it's a matter of combining them in a commercially viable way at a cost that society is willing to accept. Much of the work of Wilson and others at the university--home to the International Test Centre for CO¸ Capture, one of only four major research centres in the world devoted to developing such technologies--centres on a pilot project at Boundary Dam Power Station, near Estevan, about a two-hour drive southeast of Regina. There, they are looking for cost-effective ways for generating electricity with clean coal methods, including the capture of carbon dioxide.
The Boundary Dam project uses the post-combustion process. It is slightly less effective than the oxyfuel method for separating CO¸, but one (continued on page 49) (continued from page 46) advantage it does have is that it can be added on to existing coal-fired plants currently using traditional 'dirty' technology. Oxyfuel and coal gasification technology can only be considered if building a new plant is an option.
Wilson says the Boundary Dam project captures about four tonnes of carbon dioxide each day--admittedly only a tiny percentage of the 6,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emitted daily by the power plant. However, he adds that the initiative has shown good results in reducing the cost of"
Cleaner and Greener | Technology | Trends | Canadian Business Online: "The solution to finding both a clean method for generating coal, then storing the carbon dioxide, could come out of important, world-class research now being headed by Malcolm Wilson, director of CO¸ management with the Energy Innovation Network, a research group sponsored by various government, corporate and university bodies, including the University of Regina, where Wilson is based. He says the technologies needed to develop clean coal power are readily available; it's a matter of combining them in a commercially viable way at a cost that society is willing to accept. Much of the work of Wilson and others at the university--home to the International Test Centre for CO¸ Capture, one of only four major research centres in the world devoted to developing such technologies--centres on a pilot project at Boundary Dam Power Station, near Estevan, about a two-hour drive southeast of Regina. There, they are looking for cost-effective ways for generating electricity with clean coal methods, including the capture of carbon dioxide.
The Boundary Dam project uses the post-combustion process. It is slightly less effective than the oxyfuel method for separating CO¸, but one (continued on page 49) (continued from page 46) advantage it does have is that it can be added on to existing coal-fired plants currently using traditional 'dirty' technology. Oxyfuel and coal gasification technology can only be considered if building a new plant is an option.
Wilson says the Boundary Dam project captures about four tonnes of carbon dioxide each day--admittedly only a tiny percentage of the 6,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emitted daily by the power plant. However, he adds that the initiative has shown good results in reducing the cost of"
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