"...use anything that biodegrades...if you put it outside and it rots, we can use it. So we can use trees, grass, manure, sewage sludge or garbage."According to the Bryan-College Station Eagle:
[t]he almost insatiable need for fuel could be supplied by biofuel made from garbage, sewer sludge and plants, such as sweet sorghum, energy cane and even water hyacinth, a plant that grows so rapidly and widespread that Florida pays to have it removed from waterways, he said. The MixAlco process takes a biomass - energy cane, for example - and ferments it, which creates carboxylate salts. Water is removed from the salts, which then go through a thermal conversion to create another substance known as mixed ketones. The process adds hydrogen to the ketones to make mixed alcohol fuels.Unfortunately, in order to proceed further, Holtzapple feels that government subsidies are needed as
A bonus? The process also doesn't add any net carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, he said.
Holtzapple's concept StarRotor engine, which is designed to more efficiently power vehicles, could run on any type of fuel - not only biofuel. The engine uses a star design to compress and expand air. New test results show that the compressor ran at 83 percent efficiency when its RPMs were running at about 3,600. A typical compressor currently on the market runs between 70 and 80 percent efficiency, he said.
"biodiesel and ethanol get tax credits, but mixed alcohols, or biofuel, doesn't."
For more technical information, visit Green Car Congress.
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gas, oil, gas prices, price gouging, energy, science, fuel, Texas, A&M, MixAlco, StarRotor, biofuel, ethanol, gasoline, alternative fuel, Mark Holtzapple
