MOSCOW, Idaho (Aug. 4) - A University of Idaho graduate student believes the answer to the world's crude oil crisis grows on trees. Juan Andres Soria says he has developed a process that turns wood into bio-oil, a substance similar to crude oil.
The process - in which sawdust and methanol are heated to 900 degrees Fahrenheit to create the bio-oil - is already drawing some interest from energy and wood product companies, Soria said.
''But because it's quite novel, there's a bit of reserve,'' he said.
Soria is testing his theory with the help of Armando McDonald, associate professor of wood chemistry and composites in the University of Idaho's College of Natural Resources.
Though the idea may sound far-fetched, Soria and McDonald say the theory has precedent in nature - coal is the result of trees being subjected to high amounts of heat and pressure.
''We're trying to speed up the process,'' McDonald said. ''Rather than doing it in millions of years, can we do it in minutes?''
So far, Soria's research has focused on sawdust from Ponderosa pine trees, although he said any variety of tree could be used, including fast-growing varieties like those being cultivated for wood pulp. Only about 2 percent of the mass is lost in the heating process, he said. After the bio-oil is produced, he separates it by boiling points, or grades. So far, he said, he's identified oil grades that could someday replace gasoline, tar, glues and resins that make things like lawn furniture.
Ponderosa pine sawdust is only the beginning, Soria and McDonald claim. Next, they will begin testing to see if they can get bio-oil from pine needles and bark.
The two are doing the research without grant money. Soria plans to use the research in his dissertation for his doctorate. If the private sector likes the idea enough to back it financially, Soria said he could put together an industrial-size bio refinery in five years.
Still, he said, the bio-oil isn't likely to be an immediate competitor to crude oil. Crude oil currently costs about $60 a barrel, and bio-oil will only be competitive when the cost of crude oil reaches $80 a barrel, Soria said.
for some odd reason, while the word "Ganya" was still just a thought-dropping in my head, I thought it'd only be four letters. But apparently it's five. yep.
for some odd reason, while the word "Ganya" was still just a thought-dropping in my head, I thought it'd only be four letters. But apparently it's five. yep.
There have been enough patented ideas to replace fossil fuels already....but the oil companies keep buying them up and squelching them.
Better ideas, in fact, than chopping down all the forests....
That is kinda funny though... What's the solution to our dependence on grasshouse gas-causing fossil fuels, and the dwindling supply of such fuels around the world? Let's take the only widely-available naturally occurring processor that takes some of those gases and converts it back into breathable oxygen, and use them to make a new kind of that awesome greenhouse gas-causing fossil fuel. We'll call it bio-oil, and it'll be our saviour.
Then, we'll breathe shallower so that our loss of trees won't affect us very much...
It is an interesting process, but it would be best-used in applications where the bio-oil byproduct isn't burned. It would be really foolish of us to MAKE oil just to burn more of it and create even more unbreathable, environmentally damaging emissions...
I know of a pneumatic engine. I think it's a new design, but the application could be great. Also, maybe if we were to re-visit steam power, with the other technological advancements we've made over the decades since steam power's demise, we might actually be able to develop a steam engine that is very efficient and practical, for application in todays vehicles. Even back then, the torque out of a twin piston steam engine was rather exceptional, because steam power output pushes the pistons at both ends, whereas combustion only takes it at one end, from what I understand...
This has to be the stupidest idea anyone could have ever come up with.
What in the world are people thinking???......"Ah what would be the sure fire fastest way to completely do irreparable harm to the ecosystem called Earth?
Oh, I know...let's consume the forests until there is no O2 left...the entire atmosphere of planet earth will be breathing O3 ozone in no time."
I think I just might give a call to University of Idaho's College of Natural Resources and speak to these idiots.
I'm way overdue for giving someone a good tongue lashing.
DOH!!!
Dekka,
I think you may have discovered my next pretend....
well it ain't exactly the same thing as clearing the thousand-year-old rain forests for some piss-poor farmland.
ever heard of tree farms?
but yeah... it pollutes
honestly thought, I don't care. I mean maybe I should, but deep down, pollution does strike a chord with me. The fact that we rely so heavily on something that is going to run out in the next 100 years does scare me though.
With this, at least, we'd have an indefinite supply.
for some odd reason, while the word "Ganya" was still just a thought-dropping in my head, I thought it'd only be four letters. But apparently it's five. yep.
08-04-2005 04:52 PM
