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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 07/17/2012 10:47 AM, Gerald Kutney
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:009001cd642b$18bb93d0$4a32bb70$@ca"
type="cite">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">If
I understood the work of Thoresen properly, his use of biocoal
referred to a biocarbon product. It was ECN who proposed the
term for a torrefied material. Both products have
similarities to coal. Torrefied biomass has an energy value
close to lignite, while biocarbon (often used in biochar
applications) has energy, chemical and physical properties
like that of bituminous coal. Generally, “biocoal” today is
rightly or wrongly used for torrefied biomass. Torrefaction
was discovered in France in the 1830’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Gerald
Kutney, Ph.D.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Managing
Director<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Sixth
Element Sustainable Management<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Executive
Bioenergy Consultants<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.6esm.com">www.6esm.com</a></span></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
Considering that biocoal is made from wood and it costs energy to
torrefy it, and some of the mass is lost to out gassing, one can
rationally conclude that a larger mass of wood will be needed than
the mass of biocoal produced.<br>
<br>
Since biocoal is likely to have more energy per unit mass than the
original wood (but the wood to produce it will weigh more than the
biocoal), biocoal will likely have more than 16.2 to 18 MJ/KG (a
common number for wood,
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
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<a rel="nofollow" class="external text"
href="http://web.archive.org/web/20100110042311/http://www.woodgas.com/fuel_densities.htm"
style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);
background-image: none; background-attachment: initial;
background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;
background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px;
orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial
initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">"Biomass Energy
Foundation: Fuel Densities"</a>. Woodgas.com<span style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align:
-webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space:
normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust:
auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(247,
247, 247); display: inline !important; float: none; "><span
class="Apple-converted-space"></span></span>), but less than
32.5 MJ/KG (a common number for anthracite coal,
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
Fisher, Juliya (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text"
href="http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/JuliyaFisher.shtml"
style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);
background-image: none; background-attachment: initial;
background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;
background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px;
orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial
initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">"Energy Density of
Coal"</a>. The Physics Factbook.)<br>
<br>
Two or three billion people in the world are currently using wood as
fuel (woodgas.com), assuming there are more using other fuels plus
wood, 3 billion is a safe number for potential biocoal users. <br>
<br>
Do the math and you will see that biocoal is NOT the answer, it will
result in deforestation as it becomes the energy source of choice
for the world. Of course wood is not the best choice either, both
for pollution and deforestation reasons. What we need is a clean,
high energy, cheap, nonpolluting power source, fat chance of that
appearing soon. In the interim, more than one fuel will need to be
used.<br>
<br>
For certain uses biocoal is wonderful, but for general use it
appears to be a recipe for disaster. Great Britain had huge
hardwood forests around London before wood was in common use for
fuel. Now coal is more common and it is dirty! What hardwood
forests still exist in Great Britain?<br>
<br>
Dave 8{(<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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<br>
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