[Stoves] Leftover alcohol.......was Re: Char from coir Re: Biochar Inquiry

[Paul Anderson]

Lloyd and Crispin,

Thank you both for your comments.   My one question is:

Are there "waste alcohols" (or very low value) that can be used for 
burning purposes (excluding ethanol and drinking-alcohol)?

Probably "only your distiller or refiner knows for sure" or knows what 
is even available.   Small amounts and questionable emissions/toxins are 
not of much interest for cookstove purposes.

Paul

Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu
Skype: paultlud      Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website:  www.drtlud.com

On 4/17/2014 3:00 AM, Philip Lloyd wrote:
>
> Yes, there are a zillion alcohols -- don't forget glycerol, which has 
> 3 --OH's in one molecule!  And yes, some are formed during 
> fermentation, but there tends to be less of each, the longer the 
> carbon chain.  You will get a bit of propanol ("rubbing alcohol") less 
> butanol ("butyl alcohol"), less still pentanol ("amyl alcohol") and so 
> on.  These make up a large fraction of "fusel oil" left over after you 
> have redistilled the crude ethanol you first get from the fermentate 
> -- and the fact that it is referred to as an oil warns you that it is 
> not too good a fuel. It is quite difficult to get it to combust 
> cleanly, and if you don't, you land up with a lot of aldehydes and 
> other nasties in the air which smell terrible (fusel oil itself is 
> pretty grungy smelling). Many of these higher alcohols metabolise with 
> difficulty, meaning they are a bit poisonous, as the body can't get 
> rid of them easily -- which is why alcohol for drinking is usually 
> distilled at least twice (to minimize the residual fusel oil in the 
> product) if you go for batch distillation.
>
> Hope that helps
>
> Prof Philip Lloyd
>
> Energy Institute
>
> Cape Peninsula University of Technology
>
> PO Box 652, Cape Town 8000
>
> Tel:021 460 4216
>
> Fax:021 460 3828
>
> Cell: 083 441 5247
>
> lloydp at cput.ac.za <mailto:lloydp at cput.ac.za>
>
> *From:*Stoves [mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] *On 
> Behalf Of *Crispin Pembert-Pigott
> *Sent:* 16 April 2014 07:15
> *To:* 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'
> *Subject:* Re: [Stoves] Leftover alcohol.......was Re: Char from coir 
> Re: Biochar Inquiry
>
> Dear Paul
>
> I was contacted by Simunye looking for a way to turn these alcohols 
> into some form of a useful product. As I recall there were 112 types 
> of '-ol'. I did not realise there were so many different ways to 
> connect an OH to a carbon construct.
>
> So methanol and ethanol are two of them, and there are a huge number 
> of others that are formed during fermentation. I think perhaps Prof 
> Lloyd is the right person to make a comment on what they are and 
> (perhaps) how dangerous they are as domestic fuels.
>
> All it means from a practical point of view is they have difference 
> boiling points so they are separated from the main products.
>
> Regards
> Crispin
>
> Crispin,
>
> Please provide more info (or links) about the LEFTOVER alcohols from 
> ethanol refining.
>
> Paul
>
>
>
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