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Dr. Karve and list members,<br>
</font><br>
On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 11:01 PM, Anand Karve <span><<a
href="mailto:adkarve@gmail.com">adkarve@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">We are already using, in India, wood gas
made from agricultural waste to run stationary internal combustion
engines. But, for using it as automobile fuel, it would have to be
filled into cylinders, for which the nitrogen in the wood gas
would have to be removed in order to reduce its bulk and to
increase its calorfiic value. Does anybody have a suggestion as to
how this can be achieved?<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
There are no doubt exceptions in some circumstances, but biogas is
generally rather more efficient at turning a hectare of plants into
energy than a number of other forms of biomass conversion, and
certainly less polluting. See, for example, <a
href="http://www.reap-canada.com/online_library/grass_pellets/40%20Developing%20Energy%20Crops%20for%20Thermal%20Ch16-Samson%20et%20al.%202009.pdf">this
study</a> by Roger Sampson and colleagues, or <a
href="http://news.mongabay.com/bioenergy/2006/10/hydrogen-out-compressed-biogas-in_01.html">this
report</a> about another study, done for the EU, which examined a
large number of biofuel and powertrain options. More information <a
href="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/03/why-is-biogas-renewable-energys-cinderella">here</a>.<br>
<br>
Even so, powering general-purpose ICE vehicles by the direct use of
highly incompressible biomethane will only make sense at industrial
scales (<a
href="http://www.ngvglobal.com/sewage-biogas-planned-for-delhi-buses-0517">for
example</a>), at least as I see it. An excellent lower-tech,
distributed alternative is biodiesel production to produce liquid
fuel, where the plant wastes, seed cake and the leftovers from
transesterification are made into biogas (or perhaps ethanol where
again, biogas is made from whatever digestible matter is not
consumed in the process).<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
d.<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<div style="" ;=""><span style="font-size: 110%;">David William
House<br>
</span>
<div style="padding-left: 3em; font-size: 80%;">"The Complete
Biogas Handbook" <code><a href="www.completebiogas.com">www.completebiogas.com</a></code><br>
<em>Vahid Biogas</em>, an alternative energy consultancy <code><a
href="www.vahidbiogas.com">www.vahidbiogas.com</a><br>
<br>
</code></div>
<div style="padding-left: 2em;">"Make no search for water.
But find thirst,<br>
And water from the very ground will burst."
<div style="padding-left: 2em; font-size: 80%;">(Rumi, a
Persian mystic poet, quoted in <em>Delight of Hearts</em>,
p. 77) <br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://bahai.us/">http://bahai.us/</a></div>
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