[Gasification] gasification word use statistics- books and online (was: Syngas on Wiki_)
jim mason
jim at allpowerlabs.org
Wed Dec 29 04:50:36 CST 2010
here's some more statistics for the nerdy.
below are some interesting tools to look at word use and search
frequency both in books and online. of course frequency does not =
meaning, but seeing the use history and current trends of these terms
is interesting and at times quite revealing where things have been and
are going.
the first one is the new google book term frequency tool which has
humanities professors yelling apostasy in news articles daily. as
these are ultimately my people, i feel their pain. but still, the
tool and resulting charts are much better than the previous nothing we
had (or at least helpful in confirming ones biases).
i generated the chart with the following terms: wood gas,producer
gas,syngas,suction gas,water gas,gasifier,gasification,biochar. this
is 1870 to 2008. there is near nothing pre 1870, which makes sense.
http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=wood+gas%2Cproducer+gas%2Csyngas%2Csuction+gas%2Cwater+gas%2Cgasifier%2Cgasification%2C+biochar&year_start=1880&year_end=2010&corpus=0&smoothing=3
note the early 1900s spike in "water gas" and "producer gas", then a
precipitious decline. then the big spike in "gasifier" and
"gasification" around 1980. (tom reed, did you really publish that
much back then?). syngas is non existent until 1975 (casting some
doubt on its claimed long standing meaning and use) and shows a steady
rise since. wood gas and producer gas aren't moving much either way.
biochar is making fast progress. gasification continues to top the
charts and sully the others.
here you can see more detail in the 1970 to 2010 range.
http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=wood+gas%2Cproducer+gas%2Csyngas%2Csuction+gas%2Cwater+gas%2Cgasifier%2Cgasification%2Cbiochar&year_start=1970&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3
it is easy to redraw the chart to explore the periods and terms you want.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
now for online content.
here's the google return for the average online search term frequency
per month. sadly, my favorite term of all of them, "biomass thermal
conversion" is off the bottom of the chart. if there is any
term/phrase that deserves our proactive attention, it is this one, as
it is the most descriptive and generally accurate umbrella term for
our broad endeavor.
otherwise, the online frequency numbers are in the same general order
as what we see in books in contemporary times, though wood gas gets a
bit of a boost online, and producer gas gets a bit of a demotion.
compare and interpret the other words and numbers yourself below.
gasification 90,500
gasifier 40,500
wood gas 40,500
biochar 27,100
syngas 22,200
producer gas 6,600
synthesis gas 4,400
suction gas 720
biomass thermal conversion 210
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
now if you want to see how these search terms have change overtime
online (at least from 2004 to now), you can look at the google search
term frequency tool. you can only do 5 terms at a time here, but you
get a chart similar to what you get with the book tool. this
particular search link compares: woodgas, syngas, producer gas,
gasifier and gasification
http://www.google.com/trends?q=wood+gas%2C+syngas%2C+producer+gas%2C+gasifier%2C+gasification&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
again, this says NOTHING about meaning. meaning is famously
interpretative. nonetheless it is interesting to see the trends of
what is getting used and not used.
and finally, we all might try to remember what confucius said several
millenia ago: "man who try hold back tides of language get very wet".
or something like that. (ok, yes, i made that up . . . ;-) )
j
On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 9:07 PM, jim mason <jim at allpowerlabs.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 9:04 PM, jim mason <jim at allpowerlabs.org> wrote:
>> On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 2:49 PM, Toby Seiler <seilertechco at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Calling the product made from your $5,500 machine "syngas" is, at best, misrepresenting.
>>>
>>> GF stated my concern; "Your explanation for the word "Syngas" being the product of a GEK is of great commercial value." Your diatribe post Jim did not convince me that your gas maker makes synthesis gas and that you are entitled to make the "syngas" claim for machinery sales and to reap the commercial value associated with the claim.
>>>
>>> My lexical fundamentalism says that you stop advertising, saying that you have a product that will make a gas that it clearly will not make. You were long ago educated on the difference right here on this list and are a key source of confusion, even amongst professionals, with your anti-laxical- fundamentalism claim to the term "syngas" .
>>>
>>
>
>
> i guess i should have started the last note with what i actually
> finished it with. and that is to note that i don't like any of the
> terms for the "gas which will for now go unnamed" and try to organize
> sentences so that i don't have to use any of them. i try to org
> sentences so that i only use the terms "gasifier" and "gasification",
> which i think are the best ones.
>
> from the vigor with which toby is pursuing this, one would think there
> is a giant flashing red sign on the top of each page of our site
> proclaiming "SYNGAS MADE HERE". nothing could be further from the
> truth, as you will see in the inventory below. after around 230 units
> sold to date, no one has ever complained of any misrepresentation
> here, or even raised it as a topic. it is a non-issue. gas energy
> density is not a major issue in getting this tech to actual relevance
> for small scale use. tar prevention, fuel flexibility, and mechanical
> fuel handling are vastly more important problems to solve. toby, i
> gently suggest that you are assembling a bit of a straw man here --and
> one that relates to your own plans and interests-- rather than
> anything i have in fact done.
>
> as logical argument wasn't previously convincing, let's now try the
> raw data. below is an inventory of actual usage of the terms in
> question on the gek site. i've done this for the 8 most visited pages
> on the site, in order. i've then pulled out a much lower visited
> page, but the one where i thought my "sins" would be the most
> pronounced. this is the one where the details of gasification are
> explained. it is the 14th most visited page.
>
> as you will see, there is no sentence of the type "the GEK makes
> syngas". in actuality, the "syngas" term is barely even used. in the
> top 8 pages, only 3 occurrances, 1 to note that "syngas" is one of
> many terms used for the gas, and 2 in passing while talking about
> mixing systems. in contrast, there are 82 occurrances of the term
> "gasifier", 28 occurrances of the term "gasification", 9 for "wood
> gas", 0 for "producer gas", 0 for "suction gas", 0 for "synthesis
> gas". i'll even eliminate the two passing uses of the term while
> discussing mixing if that helps quell this nonsensical lexical
> tempest.
>
> more to your point, the selling pages have exactly 0 declarations that
> "syngas" is the gas being made by the GEK. that's right- zero. the
> term is in not used anywhere to make a claim about the type of gas the
> gek makes, nor to promote its sale. not sure if this changes
> anything, but that's the data. as a man of science, i trust you will
> recalibrate your conclusions in relation to the real data.
>
>
> here's the detail inventory. it is done over the permanent content on
> each page. not rss feeds in the left column from elsewhere, which
> change constantly and not in my control (though i could find zero
> occurances of the "syngas" term there either).
>
> 1. GEK gasifier home page: http://www.gekgasifier.com
> gasifier (9), gasification (4), syngas (1), wood gas (0), producer gas
> (0), synthesis gas (0)
> the "offending" syngas sentence at the bottom of the page:
> "The system automatically adjusts syngas/air mixture via a wide band
> Bosch oxygen sensor, shakes the grate when needed, and removes ash via
> a mechanical auger.")
>
> 2. How to make the GEK page: http://www.gekgasifier.com/wood-gasifier-plans/
> gasifier (8), gasification (3), syngas (0), wood gas (1), producer gas
> (0), synthesis gas (0)
>
> 3. Power Pallet info and buy page:
> http://www.gekgasifier.com/gasification-store/gasifier-genset-skids/
> gasifier (19), gasification (3), syngas (2), wood gas (2), producer
> gas (0), synthesis gas (0)
> the two 2 syngas references are again in the context of
> talking about fuel/air mixing
>
> 4. Store front: http://www.gekgasifier.com/gasification-store/
> gasifier (8), gasification (3), syngas (0), wood gas (1), producer gas
> (0), synthesis gas (0)
>
> 5. Wiki page with detail plans and CAD drawings on making and using
> the GEK: http://wiki.gekgasifier.com/w/page/6123754/How-to-Build-and-Run-the-GEK-Gasifier
> gasifier (8), gasification (3), syngas (0), wood gas (2), producer gas
> (0), synthesis gas (0)
>
> 6. BEK biochar info page:
> http://www.gekgasifier.com/reactor-options/pyrolysis-biochar/
> gasifier (5), gasification (2), syngas (0), wood gas (2), producer gas
> (0), synthesis gas (0)
>
> 7. Gasification Basics, intro to the tech:
> http://www.gekgasifier.com/gasification-basics/
> gasifier (8), gasification (6), syngas (0), wood gas (0), producer gas
> (0), synthesis gas (0)
> the closest i get to sin here is:
> "Gasification is the use of heat to tranform solid biomass, or other
> carbonaceous solids, into a synthetic “natural gas like” flammable
> fuel.")
>
> 8. Gasifier kits info and buy page:
> http://www.gekgasifier.com/gasification-store/gasifier-systems-and-kits/
> gasifier (17), gasification (4), syngas (0), wood gas (1), producer
> gas (0), synthesis gas (0)
>
>
> Here's where i thought my biggest "sins" would be. This is the page
> with the detailed explanation of how gasification works:
> http://www.gekgasifier.com/gasification-basics/how-it-works/
> gasifier (8), gasification (18), syngas (2), wood gas (2), producer
> gas (1), synthesis gas (0), suction gas (1)
> there are 2 sentences with syngas. the "offending sentences:
> "The gas produced by this method goes by a variety of names: “wood
> gas”, “syngas”, “producer gas”, “suction gas”, etc."
> "This is why an engine run on syngas can have such clean emissions."
>
>
> those appear to be the facts from my neck of the woods. others are
> invited to review the above pages and point out where they think
> things are otherwise or should be changed. i'll happily change them,
> as i don't really have a horse in this race.
>
> percentage nitrogen density isn't really the relevant racetrack to
> work out the real issues with this tech.
>
>
> jim
>
>
>
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jim Mason
> Website: http://www.whatiamupto.com
> Current Projects:
> - Gasifier Experimenters Kit (the GEK): http://www.gekgasifier.com
> - Escape from Berkeley alt fuels vehicle race: www.escapefromberkeley.com
> - ALL Power Labs on Twitter: http://twitter.com/allpowerlabs
> - Shipyard Announce list:
> http://lists.spaceship.com/listinfo.cgi/icp-spaceship.com
>
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Mason
Website: http://www.whatiamupto.com
Current Projects:
- Gasifier Experimenters Kit (the GEK): http://www.gekgasifier.com
- Escape from Berkeley alt fuels vehicle race: www.escapefromberkeley.com
- ALL Power Labs on Twitter: http://twitter.com/allpowerlabs
- Shipyard Announce list:
http://lists.spaceship.com/listinfo.cgi/icp-spaceship.com
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