[Michaelangelica]

One day I will sit down with Adriana or Stephen Joseph from BEST Energies and really sort out what pyrolysis means.

Google Image Result for http://www.bestenergies.com/imx/diagram/BESTpyrolysis_2tondiagram_s.gif

In the meantime I will post what I see on the web

My initial impression is that this is the way to go

• Low CO2 etc.,
• Low emission of pollutants;
• Heaps of carbon (char) + sometimes with added fertiliser;
• Flexibility in treating biomass(s);
• Free energy!
• Waste reduction and use of (sometime very 'wet') "wastes"
• What else do you want?

One of the main energy policy targets of the EU is to accelerate the use of biofuels - any fuel that is derived from biomass (plant or animal waste) in order to transit towards a low-carbon economy.

Bioenergy pact between Europe and Africa

Biomass

In addition biomass is a CO2 emissions neutral source of energy. This is due to the fact that CO2 is taken from the atmosphere and used by plants to grow. Planting trees and crops does soak up an amount of carbon dioxide but it’s limited, if these are then harvested for biomass fuels fossil fuel use is offset thus further reducing the emission of CO2. Although some CO2 is emitted when manufacturing and burning biomass fuels, it is ultimately equal to the carbon dioxide absorbed by the plants used to produce this fuel (if the crops and trees are sustainably managed).

CCSG Project: The Influence of Nano-Confinement and Hydrogen Bonding on the Transition State of Model Lignin Compounds
(See pic)

[Michaelangelica]

The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy | Converting sugar cane trash into domestic fuel

Google Image Result for http://www.ashdenawards.org/images/winners_02_01a.jpg

A mobile unit?
Google Image Result for http://www.ashdenawards.org/images/winners_02_01a.jpg
refox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26sa%3DN
A book?
Google Image Result for http://www.biomatnet.org/secure/images/fphbvol2.jpg

http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energ...s/ccmaking.jpg

Google

Image Result for http://www.charcoalremedies.com/newsite/images/charcoal.jpg

CharcoalRemedies.com - Facts

to adsorb cholesterol has been reviewed.


Fundamentally charcoal is just carbon. In fact most chemical engineers and manufacturers simply refer to charcoal as “carbon”. But, what makes

charcoal different from other carbons, like the soft graphites used in pencils or those found in hard diamonds? It has long been known that the carbon rings in graphites lie in planes and are easily shed one from another, while the structures in charcoal are more like a spherical latticework.


Also, unlike the impregnable structure of diamonds, charcoal offers access to its interior.

In 1985 researchers H. W. Kroto and R. E. Smalley were curious about the atmosphere of giant red stars. It was known that carbon forms cluster molecules under such conditions. Among other carbon species, they detected the carbon molecule C60 for the first time. It possessed unique physicochemical properties, extra stability, as well as some previously unexplained phenomena.
To account for these features, they proposed a geodesic-like structure, one that essentially looks like the pattern on a soccer ball. Consequently the molecule was named after Buckminster Fuller, the inventor of geodesic domes (made famous at the 1967 World's Fair). Buckminsterfullerene (fondly referred to as “Buckyballs” amongst some researchers) is the chosen name for C60, whereas the name

fullerene is conveniently used for this whole family of closed carbon cages. They may not be as big as giant red stars, but these microscopic cells are just begging to be filled.



In 1999 Eiji Osawa, and colleagues at the Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan , demonstrated that C60 can also be extracted from wood charcoal. As a result, many researchers now visualize

charcoal as a structure made up of fragments of these “Buckyballs”. Along with the discovery of nanotubes or “Bucky onions” there is the suggestion of new magnetic and electrical properties. It all sounds a little bit like science fiction. No doubt in time these latest models for charcoal will again be


modified. In the meantime charcoal still mystifies even the informed. Scientists marvel as they continue to ask, “How is charcoal able to…?”

Henry Schaefer is the resident Quantum Chemist at the University of Georgia and five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize. He is the third most quoted chemist in the world. He writes of his different discoveries: “The significance and joy in my science comes in those occasional moments of discovering something new and saying, “So that's how God did it!”” You may ask, “How is charcoal able to…?” God knows

.
CharcoalRemedies.com - Facts

Google Image Result for http://www.sintef.no/upload/Energiforskning/Bilder/Biomass-and-waste.jpg

If you check out the pyrolysis images on google you will find a great deal of information
m

[Michaelangelica]

sponsored by:
Weightron
Benefits for energy from waste under new ROCs banding - COMMENT UPDATE 23/05/2007
By Claire Churchard

Technologies such as energy from waste, anaerobic digestion, gasification and pyrolysis may benefit from a new banding system for Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs).

Materials Recycling Week news and information

I thought a rock was something you threw into a pond or to another kid, or maybe listened too.
Does someone want to enlighten me?

[TonyH]

I suspect they are something like RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates, not sunken ships!) here in Australia. Where a government sets a mandatory target for renewable energy as a percentage of total electricity, it is managed by requiring all particpants in the pool to accumulate enough certificates to meet the target. In NSW this target is applied to the retailers I think, if they sell 100 MW hrs of electricity in a year and have a mandatory 2% renewable energy target, they will need certificates for 2 MW hrs of renewable energy purchased from accredited generators. By including pyrolysis on the list of technologies that can create RECs (or ROCs!) it creates another revenue stream for operators of pyrolysis -> energy plants. Many places (including NSW) are ramping up their mandatory renewable energy targets, 20% by 2020 is a common figure. These targets are intended to support the development of renewable technologies like solar PV, solar thermal, wind etc but it should help pyrolysis too. Solahart, the company that makes rooftop solar domestic hot water systems, is a large generator of RECs for example.

Cheers

Tony

[Michaelangelica]

Thanks Tony
BEST's plant at Somesby is not connected to the grid as it is only operated intermittently.
They did find however that the costs & money asked to connect to the grid was prohibitive.
Four + tonne of biomass an hour produces a lot of electricity!

BEST Energies wins UN World Environment Day Award
Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA
Adriana Downie, who accepted the award for BEST Energies, said the commercial uptake of the BEST pyrolysis technology will result in significant carbon ...
See all stories on this topic

Farming For Energy
Times of India - New Delhi,India
Pyrolysis oil is produced by rapid combustion of biomass, which is rapidly condensed so that the ensuing vapours or smoke yield oil that is nearly ...
See all stories on this topic


Companies plan to make cellulosic ethanol by pyrolysis
By Jeff Goettemoeller(Jeff Goettemoeller)
(PINKSHEETS: SSTP) to capitalize on their unique Rivera Process of Hydrolysis/Pyrolysis which delivers Cellulosic Ethanol. The first negotiated facilities to deliver this revolutionary solution are in Mason City, Iowa with a projected ...
Energy Answers - Energy Answers

IMG_3406
By nobody@flickr.com (Pyrolysis)
Pyrolysis posted a photo:. IMG_3406.
Photos from Pyrolysis - Flickr: Photos from Pyrolysis

Soil, a potential large scale carbon store
By Philip Roberts
It is a black carbon byproduct of a process called pyrolysis, which involves heating green waste or other biomass without oxygen to generate renewable energy. As shown below, compared to afforestation (left), when biochar (right) is ...
CABI Blogs: hand picked... and... - CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Impact of Drugs on Society
By davidhughes
Over the past decades attempts at the pyrolysis of scrap tyres for recycling have not been successful because the principal by-product, a carbon rich pyro-char, could not be economically upgraded for commercialisation. ...
Society - Society

[TonyH]

Hi Michael

The mechanics of connecting to the grid can be complicated, and I'm not surprised that a pilot plant like the BEST installation at Somersby doesn't find it viable. However, for a full size plant operated continuously, grid connection would certainly be viable in many locations. The introduction of a feed-in tariff (which I believe is being considered in South Australia and Victoria) would make it even more attractive. However, the size of most pyrolysis plants means that in many cases they will be better served by acting as a captive power supply for a nearby industrial plant (which may also be the source of the pyrolysis feedstock). The energy can be provided either directly as gas (eg if they have a boiler for producing process steam or hot water) or as electricity.

The trick is to see these things as obstacles to overcome (challenges!) rather than as reasons to not proceed (excuses!).

Regards

Tony

[Michaelangelica]

Tim Flannery is calling for on-farm pyrolysis machine subsidies.
I think we need to get Councils hooked in with their urban green-waste first.
How we can save ourselves - Opinion - theage.com.au

I doubt if the Family farm could efficiently keep a plant going with bio-fuel.
Perhaps feedlots or big agri-business.
I think payment for carbon sequestered would be better.
What do you think?

Some other recent articles on pyrolosis


Dynamotive to build biofuel to electricity plants in Argentina
Cleantech - San Jose,CA,USA
"Dynamotive's proprietary fast-pyrolysis technology is a proven and cost-effective method of turning agricultural and forest residues into renewable fuel ...




Thermogravimetric analysis and kinetic study on pyrolysis of ...
To obtain detailed information on the pyrolysis characteristics, a thermogravimetric study on the pyrolysis of 14 typical medical waste compositions was carried out in thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) equipment using dynamic techniques ...
ScienceDirect Publication: Waste... - ScienceDirect - Home

System and method for thermally reducing solid and liquid waste ...
By eqn(eqn)
A system and method are set for pyrolysis of waste feed material including a first retort segment disposed through a combustion chamber and a second retort segment disposed outside of the combustion chamber. ...
782574 - 782574

Advanced Biorefinery Inc.
By Kate Chazan(Kate Chazan)
This system is a modular and quick-to-assemble pyrolysis plant that can follow logging companies into forests and convert their trimmings into clean-burning renewable fuel on the spot. With this technology, companies can take the ...
MGCR 331 - MGCR 331

Process for the pyrolysis of medical waste and other waste materials
By aet(aet)
A process for the pyrolysis of waste materials, particularly medical waste, is provided. In the pyrolysis process, waste material is placed in a sealed container. The sealed container is placed in a load chamber and the waste material ...
484306 - 484306

How we can save ourselves
The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
Pyrolysis machines need to be subsidised and installed on all Australian farms, and the electricity and biofuel they generate become integrated into our ...


Method and apparatus for recovering constituents from discarded tires
By nauspyxi(nauspyxi)
Discarded rubber tires for reclamation and recovery of the constituents therein and/or environmentally safe disposal are transferred from a pan feeder system into a hopper and transferred by an auger into a pyrolysis chamber. ...
Ebony Amateur - Ebony Amateur

[Michaelangelica]

Google News Alert for: pyrolysis

Octagon wins RM400m contract in Colombo
Malaysia Star - Malaysia
... governments and companies from Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe on the export of its waste-to-energy and waste tyre pyrolysis technology. ...
See all stories on this topic

Diesel Made From Waste Products: Technological Innovation ...
Earthtimes - London,UK
At a temperature of 400 degrees Celsius - which is far lower than the temperature used in conventional cracking processes such as pyrolysis - long ...
See all stories on this topic

Algae-in-a-vat may power the future
ABC Science Online - Australia
Finally, he says, the plan is to burn the algal waste using a process called pyrolysis, which sterilises the algae and produces a form of stored carbon ...
See all stories on this topic

Google Blogs Alert for: pyrolysis

Synthesis of multiwall carbon nanotubes by simple pyrolysis
P., Mahanandia , PN, Vishwakarma , KK, Nanda , V., Prasad , K., Barai , ...
ScienceDirect Publication: Solid... - ScienceDirect - Home

[Michaelangelica]

Dynamotive demonstrates fast-pyrolysis plant in the presence of biofuel experts
Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation, a leader in bio-oil production technology, today announced it hosted a tour of its fast-pyrolysis plant in Guelph, Ontario, with over seventy-five global biofuel experts attending. Amongst them were scientists from the International Energy Agency's Bioenergy Task 40, to which we refer often as they are leading research into global bioenergy trade and logistics.

Dynamotive's plant is the first commercial-scale facility to produce bio-oil from biomass.

Bioenergy pact between Europe and Africa

Hasn't mercedes taken over Mitsubishi?

Dynamotive and Mitsubishi Corporation sign cooperation agreement
Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation, dedicated to producing second-generation biofuels from cellulosic biomass via fast pyrolysis, and Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan's largest general trading and investment company, signed a letter of agreement whereby development and strategic opportunities for cooperation are identified and protocols are established to jointly advance them.

Bioenergy pact between Europe and Africa

[Alec Bauserman]

Thanks for posting all this great information! All of us lurkers really appreciate it! Keep up the good work