[Rhodes22-list] The Hydrogen Economy

[brad haslett]

Roger,

Unfortunately for you, most big businesses operate
under the principle of "it's easier to ask forgiveness
than permission" and that includes universities.  The
Wright brothers didn't patent the airplane, they
patented the three axis of flight and then spent the
remainder of their lives unsuccessfully defending the
patent.  I think the bio-mass fuel market will follow
a natural oligopoly pattern just as petroleum refining
has.  ADM and Volkswagon are already doing joint
research.  The big grain processers will also be the
big bio-fuel producers for obvious reasons.  For the
time being there are a few mom-and-pop operators but
they won't last.  The problem with biodiesel as jet
fuel is the low temperature jelling issue.  If that is
solved, there is no reason biodiesel won't work in
jets.  Gas turbine engines aren't too fussy about fuel
until the ambient temperature gets below freezing. 
Dr. Diesel designed the engine to run on peanut oil
but crude based diesel came along and that was the end
of it, or not!

Brad Haslett
"CorsShen"


--- Roger Pihlaja <cen09402 at centurytel.net> wrote:

> Brad,
> 
> The whole issue of how Dr. Schilling and I are
> coinventors on a patent that
> is mostly "owned" by Saginaw Valley State University
> (SVSU) and partly by
> The Michigan Corn Growers Association has been
> covered before on the list.
> SVSU's intellectual property policy only grants a
> small royalty stream to
> the inventors.  Dr. Schilling isn't interested in
> anything but the royalty
> stream.  But, I've been trying to negotiate an
> exclusive license to practice
> my own invention from SVSU since last April.  SVSU
> is pursuing bigger fish,
> like the Archer Daniels Midland Corp. in an attempt
> to maximise the royalty
> revenue stream to the university in as short a time
> frame as possible.
> Without the exclusive license to practice, it's
> nearly impossible to attract
> the required start-up capital.  In addition the
> risks involved starting up
> my Bio-Energy Corp. are much greater if SVSU is free
> to license the
> technology to anyone that waves a large pile of cash
> in front of their nose.
> Basically, it feels as if everyone owns a piece of
> my patent except me & I'm
> pretty raw about it.
> 
> Since I can't get the university to negotiate in
> good faith, I figured the
> next best thing was to leverage the research into a
> job with one of the
> major players in the industry.  Last fall, I sent
> information packets
> marketing my idea and myself to the top 10 companies
> in this industry.  So
> far, the only response has been from Broin &
> Associates, Inc. in Sioux
> Falls, SD.  They're the #2 player in this industry. 
>  I hope to know by the
> end of next week if I got voted off the island
> before the next round of
> interviews with Broin.  Stay tuned!
> 
> Why won't biodiesel made from soybeans or rape seeds
> work with aircraft
> turbine engines?  The viscosity & vapor pressure of
> biodiesel are about
> right & I don't think there's alot of organic sulfur
> compounds or anything
> like that which might harm the turbine blades. 
> What's the problem?
> 
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "brad haslett" <flybrad at yahoo.com>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list"
> <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 8:10 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] The Hydrogen Economy
> 
> 
> > Roger,
> >
> > Hopefully you've patented your process, you're on
> to
> > something.  The demise of easy oil has been
> predicted
> > since Col. Drake's first well and Rockefeller's
> > monopoly but this time it looks for real.  Hubbert
> was
> > dead on the money about when US oil production
> would
> > peak and it looks like his turn-of-the-century
> > prediction for world peak production is true as
> well.
> > I download the Association for the Study of Peak
> Oil
> > and Gas newsletter each month and the outlook
> isn't
> > pretty.  If crude had stayed at $55/barrel we
> would
> > have seen more biodiesel plants coming on line and
> > more people trading their Surburbans for diesel
> VW's.
> > When oil gets to $100/barrel, and it will, the
> market
> > will move in that direction without anyone from
> the
> > government telling consumers to do so.  The
> Europeans
> > currently drive about 40% diesels, many of which
> are
> > fueled by rapeseed based diesel.  The one area we
> > can't replace with biofuels is Jet Fuel.  With our
> > current technology we need crude.  I burn over
> 10,000
> > gallons of the stuff every day at work and that's
> a
> > lot of trips to the grocery in the SUV.  We've got
> > lots of coal.  If we can figure out how to burn it
> > clean or convert it at a lesser energy and
> > enviromental cost, we're in business.  I stick
> with my
> > original prediction, NUKES is the way to go.  The
> > French produce 70% of their electricity this way
> and
> > we'll have to join with them sooner or later.
> >
> > Brad Haslett
> > "CoraShen"
> >
> > --- Roger Pihlaja <cen09402 at centurytel.net> wrote:
> >
> > > Brad,
> > >
> > > For ethanol, the efficiency depends upon which
> crop
> > > feedstock and which
> > > process you use.  For corn feedstock, using
> "smart"
> > > water & ag-chem farming
> > > strategies, the dry milling process, molecular
> > > sieves for the final water
> > > removal, and waste heat recovery, a current
> > > state-of-the-art ethanol process
> > > is about 1.7 to 1 efficient.  That means you get
> > > about 1.7 btu of energy out
> > > in the form of fuel ethanol for every btu put
> into
> > > running the farm,
> > > transporting the harvested corn, and operating
> the
> > > ethanol plant.  Add my
> > > process for energy recovery from the byproduct
> > > distiller's dry grain (DDG)
> > > and the efficiency number jumps to around 3.2 to
> 1.
> > > Plus, my process gets
> > > rid of the byproduct DDG in an environmentally
> > > acceptable way.  Remember,
> > > the corn-to-ethanol process generates about 1 lb
> of
> > > byproduct DDG for every
> > > lb of ethanol produced.  DDG is currently sold
> as
> > > animal feed; but, it's
> > > high in protein and fat content.  You can only
> feed
> > > about 20%wt DDG in the
> > > diet of a plant eating animal like a cow or a
> sheep
> > > before they start to get
> > > sick from it.  So, as we ramp up ethanol
> capacity,
> > > there aren't enough
> > > critters on the planet to feed the byproduct DDG
> to.
> > >  So, you've got to do
> > > something with the byproduct DDG or we'll be
> buried
> > > in it!  By the way, DDG
> > > doesn't store very well & the smell when it
> starts
> > > to rot is almost
> > > indescribable.
> > >
> > > Anyone for a nice Soilent Corn milkshake? :)
> > >
> > > Rummy, for you we can leave the 6%wt ethanol in
> the
> > > sludge as it comes from
> > > the fermenter.  Soilent beer!
> > >
> > > Long term, it would be better to use cellulosic
> > > crops like switchgrass and
> > > fast growing woody plants as an ethanol
> feedstock
> > > because they require less
> > > energy input at the farm in the forms of water,
> > > ag-chemicals, and are easier
> > > to harvest than row crops like corn.
> > >
> > > Hey, it all depends upon whether you believe the
> > > energy crisis is "real"
> > > this time around.  Personally, this time, I
> think it
> > > is "real" because it's
> > > not being driven by the US economy.  This time,
> the
> > > demand for oil is being
> > > driven by 3rd world economies, primarily China
> and
> > > India.  With their GDP
> > > growth rates, we'll have to push real hard using
> the
> 
=== message truncated ===



		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! 
http://my.yahoo.com