Political Crossfire Forums

[poweRob]

Less energy to produce. Less time to produce it.

Quote: Tiny Reactor Boosts Biodiesel Production

PORTLAND, Ore. - A tiny chemical reactor that can convert vegetable oil directly into biodiesel could help farmers turn some of their crops into homegrown fuel to operate agricultural equipment instead of relying on costly imported oil.

"This is all about producing energy in such a way that it liberates people," said Goran Jovanovic, a chemical engineering professor at Oregon State University who developed the microreactor.

The device — about the size of a credit card — pumps vegetable oil and alcohol through tiny parallel channels, each smaller than a human hair, to convert the oil into biodiesel almost instantly.

*snip*

Biodiesel production on the farm also could reduce distribution costs by eliminating the need for tanker truck fuel delivery, part of the growing effort to meet fuel demand locally — instead of relying on distant refineries and tanker transport.

"Distributed energy production means you can use local resources — farmers can produce all the energy they need from what they grow on their own farms," Jovanovic said.

[mathurin]

the page is loading, but lets examine what it does


know what alcohol does, grabs water and some other impurities and evaporates with them, now that isnt a scientific description but bear with me, that is more or less what happens (and is why we put alcohol in fuel tanks to keep lines from freezing in the winter, and why we wiped my car down with alcohol before painting)

while it is technically a "chemical reaction" so i drying paint, and calling it a "reactor" is just over complicating the device

if this is a good process, great, and i am all for it, but spare us the technobabble, it makes you sound like an idiot (not you rob, the guy)

[poweRob]

mathurin wrote: the page is loading, but lets examine what it does


know what alcohol does, grabs water and some other impurities and evaporates with them, now that isnt a scientific description but bear with me, that is more or less what happens (and is why we put alcohol in fuel tanks to keep lines from freezing in the winter, and why we wiped my car down with alcohol before painting)

while it is technically a "chemical reaction" so i drying paint, and calling it a "reactor" is just over complicating the device

if this is a good process, great, and i am all for it, but spare us the technobabble, it makes you sound like an idiot (not you rob, the guy)

He's not an idiot, he's a self proclaimed uber-mechanichemical engineer. :lol:

[thorn]

well, technically everything that facilitates a chemical reaction in a closed environment whose parameters can be adapted from the outside can be called a reactor, so he's right on the money. :razz: