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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Crop residues, like corn stalks and cobs, are also used to prevent wind erosion: <a href="http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/crops/00518.html">http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/crops/00518.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>In many of the US corn growing regions, removing more of the cover requires that you re-invest in some other type of soil stabilization. That's another cost for the farmer/ land holder to consider when making the decision to harvest residues vs. leave them on the field.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>kind regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Erin Rasmussen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>erin@trmiles.com<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></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"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Tom Miles<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 23, 2015 8:41 AM<br><b>To:</b> mark@ludlow.com; 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Gasification] Corn Cob Gasifiers<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Mark,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>There is a lot of equipment out there for collecting or separating cobs that is used commercially. Wagons that you pull behind the combine, , screens, etc. Poet and others have literally spent millions over several seasons testing different methods of bringing in cobs for conversion. I know some of the commercial contractors who have done the work. There are people who have been harvesting residues for many years. they all come back shaking their heads saying that cob yields per acre are too low to make large scale collection feasible. At a smaller farm level it is practical but there you are never including the true cost of collection. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>From “Cob Products: Physical Properties, Chemical Properties and Uses of Anderson’s Corncob Products” second edition. 1978. The Anderson’s Cob Products Division, Maumee, Ohio. <a href="http://www.andersonscob.com/">http://www.andersonscob.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>“CAVITY FILLER FOR CADAVERS: Grit-O’Cobs granules have been employed as a cavity filler for cadavers. The purpose of the cavity filler is to replace the space occupied by organs that may have been removed or flattened by a medical examination or autopsy so that the body is presentable for viewing in a casket. Grit-O’Cobs grades 1420 and 1014 are used for this purpose.” (p.288)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.andersonscob.com/product-list/">http://www.andersonscob.com/product-list/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>In 1979 we designed a cob and stover burner to generate heat for drying grain. We designed it in 1979 for Wes Buchele and Paul Claar in the Ag Engineering department at Iowa State University. There were so many theses written using it on campus that we called it a thesis generator instead of a gas generator. After we showed them how to build and operate one ISU modified the design, adding a heat exchanger. One masters student made a commercial version at his family ag equipment company. They built about 20 of them until propane prices receded. It was a combined pile and suspension burner that we called the “concentric vortex.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>There was a lot of work on cob and crop residue gasification at that time. Much of the literature is in books and papers that are accessible, usually at a cost, online. Most of the principal investigators and inventors have retired, died, or have gone into other fields. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Crop residues, including cobs, tend to get used when energy or fiber prices are high and are abandoned when prices drop. In those days we projected that cobs and stover would be used when propane got to $3/MMBtu or about $0.22/gal. We figured we could bring in cobs and own and operate the burner at a total cost of about $48/ odt. Cob collection with stover was about $25/ton at the time. Today with propane at $0.90/gal ($12.50/MMBtu) the equivalent cost of energy from cobs is about $155/ odt. Collection costs are about $60/odt. But propane is pretty convenient. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Cobs should burn well in a TLUD. Has anyone built a large one to burn cobs? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Tom<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a name="_MailEndCompose"></a><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></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"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Gasification [<a href="mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Mark Elliott Ludlow<br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, February 22, 2015 10:54 PM<br><b>To:</b> 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Gasification] Corn Cob Gasifiers<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Tom,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Why isn’t “source sorting” feasible, given that a shortage of cadavers may justify modifications to corn pickers? Was the spreading of cobs a benign impulse or done for lack of anything better or more creative to do?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Mark<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> Gasification [<a href="mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Tom Miles<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, February 21, 2015 9:18 PM<br><b>To:</b> 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'<br><b>Subject:</b> [Gasification] Corn Cob Gasifiers<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Clarence Richey, Purdue and Robert Stwalley , Stwalley & Stwalley, developed the downdraft channel gasifier for corncobs in the 1980s through the mid 1990s. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Robert Stwalley is a professor at Purdue.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://engineering.purdue.edu/ABE/People/ptProfile?resource_id=7402">https://engineering.purdue.edu/ABE/People/ptProfile?resource_id=7402</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://patents.justia.com/patent/4452611">http://patents.justia.com/patent/4452611</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.nrbp.org/papers/052.pdf">http://www.nrbp.org/papers/052.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/108067206/GASIFIER-PISTON-ENGINE-DECOUPLING">http://www.docstoc.com/docs/108067206/GASIFIER-PISTON-ENGINE-DECOUPLING</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Pictures of the gasifier in:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.midwestchptap.org/Archive/pdfs/061211JasperIN/Stwalley.pdf">http://www.midwestchptap.org/Archive/pdfs/061211JasperIN/Stwalley.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>At that time cobs were used for many purposes. We still have the Anderson Cob Products manual on the uses for cobs from about 1980 (400 pp).My favorite use for cobs was for stuffing cadavers. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Now cobs are scattered on the field. There is no specialized equipment for collecting and separating the cobs for use in conversion to liquid fuels. After considerable field testing those projects (Poet, Abengoa) have shifted to the stover or straw as a principle feedstock. The cob yield per acre is very low which makes it expensive to collect or separate. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Tom Miles<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>