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Hi All,<br>
<br>
Sorry for the slightly tardy response as I have been indisposed.<br>
<br>
Doug has asked some specific questions of me which I will attempt to
respond as well as giving some additional information, I have cut
surplus text out simply to reduce clutter, so if the context is
unclear you will need to refer to the original message.<br>
<br>
Firstly however I would like to make very clear that we <u>are not</u>
looking for opportunities to promote our technology for commercial
purposes at this time. We are fully occupied and not taking on
additional projects till existing ones are completed. <br>
<br>
We are only too aware that people can be disappointed when we cannot
supply services on demand. This is why we do not have a website. <br>
<br>
Seeking wider credibility is not a priority of ours, we have
nationally and globally significant companies seeking us out of
their own accord and projects developing with some of these, often
preceded by 2 years of due diligence on their part. Commercial
success if and when these private companies decide to release their
findings is the ultimate arbiter. <br>
<br>
The company who performed the independent testing is Benzaco
Scientific Pty Ltd based in Wollongong NSW Australia, the chief
scientist is Chris Owen who has over 40 years of practical industry
experience as an industrial chemist. I don't post other peoples
email details on open forums but if anyone wants to contact him I am
happy to pass your details along.<br>
<br>
Yes we are familiar with both indirect and direct gasification. We
refer to our gas as syngas simply because in quality it is a closer
description of it even though it is from a naturally aspirated
gasifier. We use the 6.5Mj figure because this is a conservative
average of what has been measured from our system across a range of
feed stocks with reasonable moisture contents. For clean wood chips
at around 25% mc the figure is over 7Mj/m3. We have a lab
certificate showing this, which I have already passed on to Doug.<br>
<br>
The original aim when we built this system was to obtain consistent
output using ordinary, readily available, wood chips and indeed we
achieved this 4 years ago with similar results to Doug's "linear 1"
posted recently. The result was within the upper bounds of the
literature and we were quite satisfied. <br>
<br>
The subsequent gas quality improvement came as a result of a happy
accident following observations of anomalies in the form of
unexplained " hot spots" which we initially blamed on poor
craftsmanship and the use of second hand materials. if we had used
new professionally fabricated materials from the outset we might
never have noticed these or made the discoveries that followed, and
would have gone on accepting the literature as being the limit of
what could be achieved.<br>
<br>
Doug asks about specifications for producer gas to liquid fuel
conversion. The only practical requirements I have been informed of
is the need for starting with very low tar gas with a CO/H2 ratio as
close to 1:1 as possible. From such a starting point most things can
be adjusted with readily available ancillary equipment to suit the
application.<br>
<br>
I understand that 4 years ago Lanzatech was granted the whole NZ
biofuels research budget of $12 million, so a $300 bill might have
been overlooked. My main point is even with this sum of money they
still did not set up any successful commercial scale pilot plant
that I am aware of. Though one would assume they must have something
since they seem to have attracted tens of millions of $ more since.<br>
<br>
As someone who has been directly involved in steel industry research
I do not accept the argument that this industry was too difficult to
get the CO from, more so once a couple of million in research
dollars is on the table. <br>
<br>
As an example in order to offset a realistic portion of the the
fossil carbon used directly in smelting just for the Australian
steel industry (<1% of the global production) requires some 2
million tonnes of organic charcoal per year (@>85% fixed carbon
so low temp biochar makers need not apply) . The industry itself has
an urgent need to clean up its emissions and the idea of doing so
whilst generating an additional desirable product (liquid fuels)
without needing to alter other aspects of its "business as usual"
and resorting to felling a billion tonnes of forest is a powerful
driver. If a company cannot leverage multi million dollar grants
being given to it to set up a pilot plant with a willing customer
then there is something we are not being told.<br>
<br>
Doug, your observations of pictures from an old presentation that
the flare shown contains tars are quite correct, and I had a good
laugh at myself over this as I knew it was inevitable that some
knowledgeable person would pick it up, and I thank you for
recognising and giving the opportunity to put these in context. The
gas analysis referred to was not taken from the flare you have seen
in these photo's.<br>
<br>
We don't seek speaking opportunities, but have been asked on a
number of occasions to give public updates on our work by others who
are familiar with us, and consider what we are doing to be
important. The problem I found was that when you put in a photo of
a transparent flare in a presentation people don't accept it is
anything other than a mechanical image of the flare head, just part
of the equipment...coloured gas flares have more impact since they
clearly show combustible gas whilst giving a good indication of gas
volumes at the same time. Some of these images are from early
testing, some from quite problematic materials that in ordinary
gasifiers don't work at all. It is compounded by a simple "one size
fits all" flare head that is inefficient at fuel/air mixing so
sometimes gives off secondary colour as combustion products get
converted to other forms inside the flame zone and then combust at
its edges when they again meet free oxygen. Also until recently we
never had any form of filtering other than a crude drum cooler so
carbon black and entrained fine ash can add variety to the flame
depending on fan pressure, the new particulate cyclones we have now
fitted have largely addressed the latter.<br>
<br>
The gas quality referred to is from clean wood chips after the
system reached stable operating temperature, at a fixed gas flow
rate, generally reached within 30 minutes from a cold start, the
flare is usually transparent in daylight at this point, and is then
maintained as long as wood fuel is kept up to the system. Though gas
that can self sustain a flare is normally produced within a couple
of minutes. There were no easily detectable tars present during this
phase on this type of woody material and the energy content
reported <u>does not</u> include any condensable fractions.<br>
<br>
Our gasifier can produce condensates on start-up or with sub optimal
fuels such as high moisture >30%, (we have successfully gasified
up to 40%mc, albeit resulting in low btu gas and a condensate) or
whole tree chips including bark and leaves. Very fine particle sizes
or high moisture adversely affects flow and heat transfer inside the
hearth. Even so condensates are not usually particularly excessive,
1 to 2 litres per 100kg of wood chips in a repeated stop and start
mode when testing various chip types, even when it is raining.<br>
<br>
Take a look at:<br>
<a
href="http://www.iie.org/Programs/Alcoa-Foundation-Advancing-Sustainability-Research/Biochar-and-Energy-from-Trees"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.iie.org/Programs/Alcoa-Foundation-Advancing-Sustainability-Research/Biochar-and-Energy-from-Trees</a><br>
<br>
There is a video link on the page to the right of the first photo
(labelled Biochar video) which has a shot within it of one of our
development units being flared ten minutes after start up on whole
tree chips (including leaves). We did not produce this video and had
no editorial control over content, beyond a general approval to use
footage they took on our site during their visit. During this
testing 20 biomass samples were run over 3 days and 30 hours of
operation. Gas samples were taken at 30 minutes after each restart.
Not all had transparent flares, particularly those with a high
percentage of fines in the feed stocks as in this case, but for the
purpose of the video it is dramatic for the average viewer, and
leads to an immediate understanding that potential energy is
present.<br>
<br>
We are not hiding and have never done so, we don't have investors
and so have no need to issue press releases to satisfy them. The
research organisations over here are well aware of our presence and
capacity, and offers to collaborate were given them well before they
set any research priorities. We have now moved on.<br>
<br>
We have in the past received nasty phone calls from unidentified
people and been accused of threatening millions of dollars of
research funds and that we should "pull our heads in" as "we don't
know how the real world works". My personal favourite comment came
from a government bureaucrat "Your problem is you are 5 years ahead
of where policy and industry wants you to be..."!<br>
<br>
The issue I mentioned where a prominent research institution "...
weren't allowed to help us" is not fixable by naming the scientist
involved, and it is not about being game, it is about respect for
the situation of other people. The statement was given without
malice or arrogance, it is the system that is the problem and
damaging the careers of otherwise dedicated people is not going to
fix it.<br>
<br>
I do reserve the right to vent occasionally, even if ineffectual or
not agreed with. You might forgive my cynicism when I see millions
from the public purse and ill informed investors being wasted in the
process of "wealth redistribution", and at least here in OZ often
involving the same handful of people who keep re-badging themselves
after failures in order to get their snouts back in the trough.<br>
<br>
At the end of the day though we recognise that ultimately the
problems of small scale gasification are much less to do with
machinations of some professional researchers and corporate s and
more to do with the difficulties of building safe, easily replicated
and reliable systems matched to biomass resource and local skills.
Solving the real problem is our main focus.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Peter Davies<br>
RPS<br>
<br>
<br>
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