The DOE, Conoco-Phillips and LSU work to increase ethanol's efficiency, want to make it from coal
The headlines for this story indicate that a team from LSU, Oak Ridge National Lab, Clemson, Conoco-Phillips and the Department of Energy are trying to make ethanol a more efficient fuel. I don't know that this is the case, as it seems that what they are trying to do is manufacture ethanol from the U.S. supplies of coal. They appear to be doing this by generating syngas from the coal and then converting the gas to ethanol. The same syngas could potentially be a source for hydrogen as well, but as the story points out, liquid fuels are easier to transport and can fuel vehicles that are already on the roads.
There are many different processes being studied to turn coal into syngas and then into some sort of fuel. This one has plenty of funding, so perhaps people in the know see potential in it. The idea of using the huge amounts of coal here in the U.S. in a way which is cleaner than what we are doing now (and what isn't) has plenty of merit. Using it to move our current fleet of E85 capable vehicles is not a bad start, but hopefully researchers find a good way to use it to generate electricity for our electric cars too.
[Source: LSU]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mike 5:21PM (8/14/2007)
Does it add more CO2 to the atmosphere?
Yes, than it's INSANE.
The Coal industry needs to be put out of business. I support tax and incentive plans to get coal companies to convert to a Clean power source: Nuclear, Solar Furnaces - Stirling Engine, or Wind.
We really need to shut down coal.
Reply
mike 5:21PM (8/14/2007)
Does it add more CO2 to the atmosphere?
Yes, than it's INSANE.
The Coal industry needs to be put out of business. I support tax and incentive plans to get coal companies to convert to a Clean power source: Nuclear, Solar Furnaces - Stirling Engine, or Wind.
We really need to shut down coal.
Reply
rgseidl 6:46PM (8/14/2007)
Jeremy -
I sincerely hope your piece was meant to be richly ironic. Creating ethanol from coal is arguably even worse than creating hydrogen from nuclear power. In a word, idiotic.
If you're going to produce liquid fuels from coal - bad for the environment but good for energy security - just use F-T to produce hydrocarbon blends with high energy density that can be transported in pipelines.
But before you go down the dirty CTL rathole, I suggest you focus on sharply reducing fuel demand. It's a lot cheaper and definitely better for the environment.
Reply
bioburner 8:05PM (8/14/2007)
I agree with mike. The coal industry, burning or mining coal is one of the dirtyest industries around. Even if you come up with clean burning coal you still get lots of envirnamental damage from the mining end. Try living in say Pittsgurgh and you'll find the tap water smells like rotten eggs and has so much iron in it that it desolves the enamel off your teeth. Solar and biofuels are a way cleaner way to go. And yes each of these energy sources has their problems too.
Reply