Hasn't wood alcohol been around for about ever?
I'm guessing this is something else, but there's not much detail.

I'm pretty sure th Germans were doing this in during WWII, often using a kit produced by Ford. In fact I believe that when Patton outpaced his supply lines he had many of his tanks converted to run on wood fuel.

This is gonna drive up the cost of sawdust.

Is there any way to buy stock in sawdust?

SWDT +.4% today.

You know what else is good for making biofuel?

Dead Iraqis. I'm saying we should literally turn Muslims into oil.

Discuss.

Hmmmm..... Pinnochio Porn...


/Fap

REDLIGHT


dumb

ZOMG this is revolutionary.

Or not: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol

logruszed: I'm pretty sure th Germans were doing this in during WWII, often using a kit produced by Ford. In fact I believe that when Patton outpaced his supply lines he had many of his tanks converted to run on wood fuel.

Well, they did make the trains run on thyme.

/yes, I'm referencing this webcomic (new window)
//just skipped a few steps

Virgin wood?

So basically they've figured out how to make cellulosic ethanol commercially viable?

Brazil has been tapping into biofuel from trees literally for years.

Environmentalists claiming this will devastate the forests in 1...2...3......

Great, changing from oil to trees
Who's the genius behind all this?

wmoonfox: Virgin wood?

Well when I was 14 it was pretty much a constant.

me texan

ZOMG this is revolutionary.

Or not: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol

I'm surprised there are any Texans that don't know how to make moonshine (unless you're from Austin in which case you probably only drink iced chai and Shiner Bock), because if you did you would know that this is different.

To make wood alcohol, sawdust is fermented (bacteria eat it and excrete alcohol as a by-product) and then distilled. What these guys claim--and I'm skeptical--is that they have a chemical that gets rid of the need for fermentation, and produces alcohol directly from the fibrous carbohydrates of wood.

If they can do it, and if it's feasible to do it on an massive scale, it could be a big deal.

tfm_copycat: Great, changing from oil to trees
Who's the genius behind all this?

Oil - one time only

Trees - Renewable resource

Is better than using corn.

This was my Science Project in High School. Well, sort of. I used NaOH to open the fibers up and then nuked it in a microwave to explode the fibers. Then I hit it with aspergillis to produce the ethanol. Microwaves were too much power, but the principle was sound. I guess they found a way that didn't require as much energy investment. The lignins weren't the problem; the ability to reduce the structure to sugars was.

While my plan ultimately was unusable, I am curious how they got past these barriers.

PC LOAD LETTER: aspergillis

or some mold, I forget which.

I'm buying all the porn sawdust futures I can afford....

Sawdust as biofuel - yeah! Your farking burn it.

What next - Wood logs - the next biofuel? Are you all idiots?

Cat poop thread!

I install, sand & refinish hardwood floors for a living. Not wanting to get my hopes up too high on this going anywhere just yet but I've always felt the business could pull a respectable bit of extra revenue if there was simply a market for all the sawdust I'm capable of generating every month.

Granted, the dust collected from the 1st time sanding over an older floor wouldn't do much good for these people due to the chemicals from whatever finish, shellac or wax was on it prior. The dust produced from the follow up sandings should be good for this sort of thing. I can hope can't I? XD

I see a world without trees in our future... kind of like Nebraska (shudders). But seriously, even if they do have the efficiency needed to make it work, let's hope we don't have another incident like the Korean stem cell researchers on our hands here.

mouell: Sawdust as biofuel - yeah! Your farking burn it.

What next - Wood logs - the next biofuel? Are you all idiots?

BRAVO sir, BRAVO

JayDeeKay: I install, sand & refinish hardwood floors for a living. Not wanting to get my hopes up too high on this going anywhere just yet but I've always felt the business could pull a respectable bit of extra revenue if there was simply a market for all the sawdust I'm capable of generating every month.

Granted, the dust collected from the 1st time sanding over an older floor wouldn't do much good for these people due to the chemicals from whatever finish, shellac or wax was on it prior. The dust produced from the follow up sandings should be good for this sort of thing. I can hope can't I? XD

Floorman here too. We have so much dust to get rid of each month. This would be nice if someone would come take this stuff. We hate the fire hazard also.

stirfrybry: JayDeeKay: I install, sand & refinish hardwood floors for a living. Not wanting to get my hopes up too high on this going anywhere just yet but I've always felt the business could pull a respectable bit of extra revenue if there was simply a market for all the sawdust I'm capable of generating every month.

Granted, the dust collected from the 1st time sanding over an older floor wouldn't do much good for these people due to the chemicals from whatever finish, shellac or wax was on it prior. The dust produced from the follow up sandings should be good for this sort of thing. I can hope can't I? XD

Floorman here too. We have so much dust to get rid of each month. This would be nice if someone would come take this stuff. We hate the fire hazard also.

I'd imagine there has to be a way to press it into pellets for heating applications.

Elbow_Of_Justice: I see a world without trees in our future... kind of like Nebraska (shudders). But seriously, even if they do have the efficiency needed to make it work, let's hope we don't have another incident like the Korean stem cell researchers on our hands here.

Pinocchio has one N and two Cs.

PC LOAD LETTER: PC LOAD LETTER: aspergillis

or some mold, I forget which.

saccharomyces?

Murray has some he's trying to sell

logruszed: stirfrybry: JayDeeKay: I install, sand & refinish hardwood floors for a living. Not wanting to get my hopes up too high on this going anywhere just yet but I've always felt the business could pull a respectable bit of extra revenue if there was simply a market for all the sawdust I'm capable of generating every month.

Granted, the dust collected from the 1st time sanding over an older floor wouldn't do much good for these people due to the chemicals from whatever finish, shellac or wax was on it prior. The dust produced from the follow up sandings should be good for this sort of thing. I can hope can't I? XD

Floorman here too. We have so much dust to get rid of each month. This would be nice if someone would come take this stuff. We hate the fire hazard also.

I'd imagine there has to be a way to press it into pellets for heating applications.

Not on a small scale, I'd imagine. A large facility might have a chance, but transportation costs eat away at that possibility plus only some huge corrupt entity could have the capital to make that happen. Big Saw-Dust!!

The deciding step in process is a lignin breakdown reaction. Lignin contains carbon-oxygen-carbon bonds that link together smaller hydrocarbon chains

Ehh, I've heard chemist complain that you can make anything from lignin except a profit. If there's a good lignin process here they have a winner for the paper industry because lignin is something they normally burn off.

FTA: So relieving the pressure on corn an sugar cane production, putted in direct competition with food prices.



Approves

Truth-In-Advertising: PC LOAD LETTER: PC LOAD LETTER: aspergillis

or some mold, I forget which.

saccharomyces?

YES! Thank you.

According to a report in New Scientist, Yuan Kou at Peking University in Beijing, China, and his team have efficiently transformed sawdust into alkanes and alcohols needed for biofuels.

It's not just methanol, it's actual gasoline. I'm supposed to be started a PhD project on this very topic this semester, turning lignins and cellulose into alkanes. I really hope I haven't been scooped...again.