[ROCKMAN]

Sounds like with exception to circumstances as in Uzbekistan we won't see many new gasification projects as long as we have low NG prices. But that will last only so long, of course.

[Subjectivist]

Scientists discover a novel way to make ethanol without corn or other plants
PhysOrg Apr 09, 2014

Stanford University scientists have found a new, highly efficient way to produce liquid ethanol from carbon monoxide gas. This promising discovery could provide an eco-friendly alternative to conventional ethanol production from corn and other crops, say the scientists. Their results are published in the April 9 advanced online edition of the journal Nature.
...
"The oxide-derived copper produced ethanol and acetate with 57 percent faradaic efficiency," Kanan said. "That means 57 percent of the electric current went into producing these two compounds from carbon monoxide.
...
For the process to be carbon neutral, scientists will have to find a new way to make carbon monoxide from renewable energy instead of fossil fuel, the primary source today.

Interesting, I know China has invested in making Methanol in large volumes from coal and I knew you can convert Methanol to Ethanol but this is the first I have heard of a direct conversion. China is now making a lot of methanol based on
http://www.icis.com/Articles/2013/04/04 ... -take.html

[steam_cannon]

"The oxide-derived copper produced ethanol and acetate with 57 percent faradaic efficiency," Kanan said. "That means 57 percent of the electric current went into producing these two compounds from carbon monoxide.

I've heard of copper being used as a catalyst (sometimes accidentally) increasing the conversion of gas to alcohols, so I'm not sure how novel that really is but it might be patentable so I can see why they would be pursuing it.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8184

These cost levels are when averaged equal to or below the present day price of natural gas in the US, EU and Asian markets, as shown in figure 4 below. The lower cost range is on par with today’s coal price on a GJ energy basis.

The following link gives the April 2014 cost of Natural Gas in dollars per GJ.
http://www.directenergyregulatedservice ... rates.aspx

Great info! That really gets into answering the question about the cost benefit of coal gasification and "Carbon Monoxide as Fuel".

I am in no way a chemist, but this just feels craxy. CO2 is reduced. Entropy. What burns in a gasifier is the H2 and the char, ie the carbon, the C. CO2 is a waste product. How can a waste product be a fuel source?Sounds like perpetual energy to me.

Wood gas isn't perpetual motion, is a fun and fascinating DIY scale technology! :D

Simplest Wood gasifier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgu9BdHeUYg
This can be made in a few hours if you have any mechanical skills at all. Just a closed can full of wood with a burner at one end producing flammable gas and unburnt charcoal. Many simple home charcoal production systems work like this, but vent the flammable gas under the can so it produces charcoal faster.

Wood gasifers for engines have multiple stages for controlling air moving into the pyrolysis chamber, cooling the gas and filtering tar. There are government manuals on how to convert tractors to wood gas in case of war.
http://www.woodgas.net/files/FEMA_emerg ... ssifer.pdf

Wood gas vehicles
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/01/ ... -cars.html

Ekomobiili wood gas-generator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUXoQozV3vk

Wood gas car in Helsinki 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esqma3ZI4CE

There is a long history of wood gas cars, such as in ww2 Germany.
http://woodgas.wikispaces.com/WWII+Pictures

That "hood" you see on the front of old Volkswagen bugs originally contained a wood gas producer to fuel the engine in the back.
http://ww2.whidbey.net/jameslux/bugwood.gif
http://ww2.whidbey.net/jameslux/woodgas.htm

Hobbyists build wood gas systems for home fuel and producing synthetic fuels.

Homemade gasifier uses wood pellets to run generator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6e3CprVTi8

Teslonian Man Show! Wood stove runs a generator, produces gasoline, runs a fridge and heats hot water at the same time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arbXj9R6ZXw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP5qbKS_8VY

Also there are "wood gas" type camp stoves people make which are relatively simple as well. People also make very large wood gas stoves for cooking as they burn very cleanly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxODae_BS74

Town Gas / Coal Gas / Syn Gas
There's also a long history of gas being used for lighting and heating towns in the 1800's. These gases have a long history of use in chemical production and used to be used for producing gas for towns when many people had gas powered lamps on their walls.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of ... ctured_gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngas

Happy googling!

[Graeme]

SC, Thanks for your post. Great to see any input you have here. Saw this:

Electrochemical Ethanol: No Plants Were Harmed In The Making Of This Fuel

Rather than going the microbial route, the Stanford team came up with an electrochemical pathway to covert carbon monoxide to liquid ethanol.

As described by study co-author Matthew Kanan, the process is based on a new copper catalyst.

The difference between the new catalyst and a conventional copper catalyst is structural. In a conventional copper electrode, nanoparticles “just sit on top of each other.” The new electrode is made from copper oxide, which forms a continuous network of nanocrystals as it is processed into metallic copper.

The gas-to-ethanol conversion takes place in an electrochemical cell, which typically would be used to reduce water to hydrogen. The challenge for the team was to find a cathode that would skip that step in favor of reducing CO to ethanol.

That’s where the new copper catalyst came in. Copper is one of the the few materials known to reduce CO, but conventional copper catalysts are too inefficient.

When the team tried the new copper catalyst, the difference was significant. Kanan runs it down for you (break added):

The oxide-derived copper produced ethanol and acetate with 57 percent faradaic efficiency. That means 57 percent of the electric current went into producing these two compounds from carbon monoxide.

We’re excited because this represents a more than 10-fold increase in efficiency over conventional copper catalysts.

cleantechnica

[steam_cannon]

Saw this:

Electrochemical Ethanol: No Plants Were Harmed In The Making Of This Fuel
cleantechnica

That's some impressive tech!

Some more articles on that new CO to Alcohol catalyst:

New means of production could give moral boost to ethanol (Apr 20 2014)

Their technique involves taking water saturated with carbon monoxide gas, and placing it in an electrochemical cell at room temperature.

Like other fuel cells, theirs has two electrodes (an anode and a cathode) that an electrical current flows between. In the case of a hydrogen fuel cell, the application of that current would convert ordinary water contained within the cell into oxygen gas and hydrogen gas. By using a cathode made of oxide-derived copper, however, Kanan and Li were able to reduce the carbon monoxide in their water into ethanol and acetate.

While a cathode made from conventional copper could do the same thing to a limited extent, it would only have been about one tenth as efficient.
That structure allows it to use up to 57% of the electrical current for producing the ethanol and acetate, which according to Stanford, is quite impressive.

How to make ethanol without corn or other plants (April 10, 2014)
"Conventional copper electrodes consist of individual nanoparticles that just sit on top of each other," Kanan said. "Oxide-derived copper, on the other hand, is made of copper nanocrystals that are all linked together in a continuous network with well-defined grain boundaries. The process of transforming copper oxide into metallic copper creates the network of nanocrystals."