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Pastimes : Triffin's Market Diary -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Triffin who wrote (384)	12/8/2010 1:42:36 PM
From: Triffin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 868

BC: PEAK OIL MITIGATION SCHEME .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . . . .. . . .. A technique called “biomass fast pyrolysis” rapidly heats organic material to about 950C. This process produces a synthetic fuel precursor feedstock called Syngas (from synthetic gas) in about one second or less. This transformation of biomass to fuel is four to five orders of magnitude faster than through the biological routes, permitting reactor systems that are several thousand times smaller. The higher the temperature of the pyrolysis reaction, the smaller the reactor required to support the reaction. A smaller reactor means lower construction and operational costs. Molten Salt Oxidation Process (MSOP) is an ecologically safe and sustainable method to convert organic matter including, wood, paper and paper processing sludge, crop waste, hard human waste, sewage, animal manure, packing and processing waste, animal fats and just about any other kinds of organic wastes you can think of into high quality fuel. The MSOP process takes place in an all-closed reactor within a molten salt bath, in which all materials separate into synthetic gas, H2, and H20. End product of the reactor is either bio-gas or synthetic gas which can further be used to produce electricity, gasoline through gas-synthesis, bio diesel, bio gasoline A-95, LPG, and other energy products. MSOP is most sustainable when the molten salt is heated using a high temperature (950C) nuclear reactor. A nuclear reactor is only 30% efficient when producing electricity but it is 100% efficient when it produces industrial process heat. A small high temperature nuclear reactor can produce prodigious amounts of process heat. The MOSP is a universal method allowing utilization of all types of organic waste featuring a single simple common interface. This process is extremely simple and is comprised of a minimal number of stages for preparation of syngas to the fuel formulation process. The molten salt supports raw materials with high moisture content. This is an important feature when the feedstock is primarily sewage. If all the animal and human wastes that are currently produced in America were converted to liquid fuels, this synthetic fuel source would provide four times more liquid fuel than is currently consumed in the USA and without any impact on the world’s food supply. As far as logistics go, in the US, animal waste production is most away centralized within gigantic livestock operations. Waste derived from such operations can be inexpensively transported to centralized fuel processing conversion plants using pipe lines carrying wastes in a water suspension. In the MOSP process, the optimal operating temperatures ranges of the molten salt are 900-950C. The molten salt heat transfer medium effectively, evenly and rapidly transfers heat onto organic compounds with virtually no heat loss. Since the process heat for this process ideally comes from nuclear power, it eliminates one of the big downsides of biofuel production; it does not deplete the soil of vital nutrients. The residual char and ash from the process is captured as a soil additive to replenish the soil producing the organic material. This also removes and sequesters additional CO2 from the air thereby mitigating global warming and at the same time makes the land more productive. Under a cap and trade CO2 payment system, this carbon sequestration capability will afford an additional revenue stream. The MOSP process is one important payoff in the development a small high temperature nuclear reactor with a process heat output of 950C, such a reactor will be available from India sometime after 2014. This reactor is called the Compact High Temperature Reactor (CHTR) and is being designed and built in India. By the way, amazingly the CHTR uses only 2 kilograms of U233 (a uranium isotope) derived from thorium to power its operation. India clearly sees the utility and potential in high temperature process heat production. The US, on the other hand, is destroying its stockpile of U233 at a cost of $ .6 billion (and counting). In the US, the MSOP process can be a leading application of this type of U233 reactor.