<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Consolas;
panose-1:2 11 6 9 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
pre
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"HTML Preformatted Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
color:black;}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:black;}
span.HTMLPreformattedChar
{mso-style-name:"HTML Preformatted Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"HTML Preformatted";
font-family:Consolas;
color:black;}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:black;}
span.EmailStyle22
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Lloyd,<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'>I don’t know ICM’s current activity. Sales of biomass burners and boilers in North America is still difficult. <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'>Sierra has clearly been successful in getting backing by the California Energy Commission and the US Department of Defense but these are still development steps. It costs millions of dollars and several years just to start the engines on oxygen blown systems, or any industrial gasifier for that matter. <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'>Tom <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a name="_MailEndCompose"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></a></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'> Lloyd Helferty [mailto:lhelferty@sympatico.ca] <br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, August 24, 2013 5:20 PM<br><b>To:</b> Tom Miles<br><b>Cc:</b> 'Metta Spencer'; 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Gasification] Waste Gasification and Pyrolysis<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks, Tom.<br><br> Good to know about the ICM gasifiers (Wichita, Kansas?)<br> It is a company I had not paid very much attention to... even though Jon Orr had connected with the CBI back in mid-2011.<br> Are they the ones involved with the GEVO tech? (for making JET FUEL... and Butanol from, for instance, Corn Ethanol Co-Products)<br><br> Do you happen to know anything about <i>Sierra Energy</i>'s Gasification (the tech described in the original <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/business/trash-into-gas-efficiently-an-army-test-may-tell.html">NY Times article</a> that Metta sent)? I had not heard about this company before, yet here we have it being tested by the <i>US Army</i>...<br><br>Regards,<br><br><br><o:p></o:p></p><pre> Lloyd Helferty, Engineering Technologist<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> Principal, Biochar Consulting (Canada)<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://www.biochar-consulting.ca">www.biochar-consulting.ca</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> 48 Suncrest Blvd, Thornhill, ON, Canada<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> 905-707-8754<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> CELL: 647-886-8754<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> Skype: lloyd.helferty<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> Steering Committee coordinator<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> Canadian Biochar Initiative (CBI)<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> President, Co-founder & CBI Liaison, Biochar-Ontario<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> National Office, Canadian Carbon Farming Initiative (CCFI)<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> Come learn about biochar in October:<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://www.carbon-negative.us/symposium">www.carbon-negative.us/symposium</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> Member of the Don Watershed Regeneration Council (DWRC)<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> Manager, Biochar Offsets Group:<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2446475">http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2446475</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> Advisory Committee Member, IBI<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1404717">http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1404717</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42237506675">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42237506675</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/biochar-ontario">http://groups.google.com/group/biochar-ontario</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://www.meetup.com/biocharontario/">http://www.meetup.com/biocharontario/</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://www.biocharontario.ca">http://www.biocharontario.ca</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <a href="http://www.biochar.ca">www.biochar.ca</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>"Technology is only a tool. Sustainability is determined not by the the individual technologies, but rather how -- and even whether -- we decide to use them."<o:p></o:p></pre><pre> - Lloyd Helferty<o:p></o:p></pre><p class=MsoNormal>On 2013-08-24 1:50 PM, Tom Miles wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Metta,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>When we pyrolyze plastics or trash we usually wind up with char that is a hazardous waste. It must be disposed of at a high cost, typically $600/ton, in a hazardous landfill, or further processed for disposal in a lower cost - $80/ton – landfill. It is not suitable for use as biochar. Recent studies in Japan of the pyrogenetic characteristics of molten slag from waste pyrolysis have sought to refine ash quality but it does not contain carbon. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Gasification is the conversion of a solid primarily to gas. The char-ash residue is not the principal product. As Lloyd says there have been many waste gasification systems. You will find example of waste gasification projects funded by the US government from about the 1970s readily on the internet. Oxygen blown past furnaces were among the early technologies applied to waste. The Purox (Union Carbide) process, still in use in Japan, comes to mind. A few years ago the Purox process was considered for the city of Indianapolis for waste. More recently Westinghouse plasma gasifiers are gasifying waste in India and Turkey. Oxygen is burned in the plasma guns that heat a bed of coke. The waste gasifies as it is partly heated by the plasma. Ash melts and drip through the coke. One major ethanol project considered using the Westinghouse plasma gasifier to produce syngas for conversion to ethanol. All of the carbon is consumed in the process. The ash in the blast furnace environment was sometimes converted to glass, as in the Andco-Torrax 100 tpd pilot gasifier operated for several years at the Disney World. In that process pyrolysis gas was oxidized to melt the ash to glass. I remember that refractory wear was a problem in that plant. Refractory wear is a challenge in waste and coal gasification and has been studied extensively in the US. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Purox - <a href="http://www.biomass2methanol.org/pureox01.htm">http://www.biomass2methanol.org/pureox01.htm</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Westinghouse Plasma <a href="http://www.westinghouse-plasma.com/">http://www.westinghouse-plasma.com/</a> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Gasification and pyrolysis processes for waste should not be discounted for producing biochar. When used with cleaner biomass they make very good char. The gasifier that is built by ICM was originally designed by a Boeing engineer who developed the gasifier for waste gasification. (Boeing did more than build planes. We worked on a Boeing designed refuse derived fuel plant in the 1980s. ) ICM bought or leased the patent from the inventor. ICM has demonstrated that when used with crop residues and urban wood wastes it produces a very good char. They can make either ash or biochar. They applied field tests for Iowa State University. It is a technology that is waiting for suitable markets for heat, power and biochar for 200-400 tpd fuel input. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.icminc.com/products/advanced-gasification.html">http://www.icminc.com/products/advanced-gasification.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Tom</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'> Gasification [<a href="mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Lloyd Helferty<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, August 24, 2013 6:34 AM<br><b>To:</b> Metta Spencer<br><b>Cc:</b> 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Gasification] Please read this</span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Metta,<br><br> Trash --> Char does NOT equal "Biochar". [!] I would NEVER recommend using the stuff in soils...<br><br><i>Sierra Energy</i>'s Gasification. Also (probably) <u>not</u> that NEW. There are many, many, many Gasification systems out there that make 'syngas' (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) ~ and can do things <i>similar</i> to this, although this does seem a bit "unique"... because of this so called "<i>FastOx</i> chemical reaction". [?]<br><br>Best thing to do is probably to ask the folks on the "Gasification List"... (CC'd)<o:p></o:p></p></div></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal><Snip><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>