Re: flash carbonization

["Kevin Chisholm" <kchishol@fox.nstn.ca>]

Dear Michael

Would you be able to sum up the essence of your Patent application for the
benefit of Stove List Membres?

Is your patent at the "patent applciation" stage, or has a patent already
been issued?

Could you describe the properties of your "high pressure flash carbonized"
charcoal, as they would compare to charcoals made at atmospheric pressure?

Thanks very much

Kevin Chisholm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael J. Antal, Jr." <mantal@hawaii.edu>
To: "Stoves@Crest. Org" <stoves@crest.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 5:55 PM
Subject: flash carbonization


> I returned from the Thermonet meeting in Graz, Austria earlier this week.
> This meeting included a technical workshop on technologies for charcoal
> production.  To the best of my knowledge, this was the first such
technical
> workshop on charcoal production to occur in the past 30 years.  After 3
> decades of heavily funded international research aimed at the production
of
> ethanol, hydrogen, low and medium BTU gas, biocrude, and biodiesel from
> biomass, I'm excited to see charcoal finally getting some attention!
>
> I will try to summarize and answer the questions on flash carbonization
that
> appeared during my trip.
>
> 1. "Are the yields I mention on a dry or wet weight basis?"  I only
present
> yields on a dry basis.  Detailed definitions of the various yields that we
> measure are given in our technical publications (see the HNEI website).
> 2. "How will equipment, which operates at elevated pressures, be safely
and
> economically employed in Third World countries?"  I respond with the
> question: "How are oil wells safely and economically employed in Third
World
> countries?"  If the production of charcoal is profitable, it will not be
> hard to operate the equipment in Third World countries or otherwise remote
> locations.
> 3. "Is my work relevant to the design of cookstoves?"  I do not believe
> pressurized cookstoves that produce charcoal can be practical or cost
> effective.  I believe that in the future charcoal will be produced
> efficiently (without noxious effluents) and cheaply in centralized
> facilities, and this charcoal will be sold to consumers who will burn it
in
> simple (i.e. not pressurized!), inexpensive, efficient cookstoves.
> 4. "Can the "waste energy" of flash carbonization be used?"  Flash
> carbonization produces virtually no tars.  The gas effluent contains
mainly
> steam, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and traces of methane, oxygen, hydrogen,
> and some heavier hydrocarbons.  This gas should not be vented directly to
> the atmosphere!  Unfortunately, because of its low calorific value, it
does
> not burn easily.  In some ways the problem is similar to that of the
exhaust
> of a car engine.  We plan to explore the use of catalysts to oxidize the
> combustible species in the effluent.  Since the gas leaves the reactor at
> elevated pressure, it can be fed to a steam turbine (or perhaps a gas
> microturbine) to generate power.  Note that the capital costs associated
> with power production are high!  Alternatively, the sensible heat of the
gas
> may find uses in brick kilns, etc.
> 5. "Why does pressure favor the formation of charcoal (carbon)?"  Tom Reed
> and Peter Verhaart have given good partial answers to this question.  We
> have spoken to the question in numerous archival journal publications and
> theses over the past 20 years.  Dr. Morten Gronli with SINTEF in Norway
and
> I are preparing a major review of charcoal production and charcoal
> properties that will be submitted for publication in the next few months.
> This review will detail everything that is known about the subject.  I
mail
> reprints of my publications to anyone who sends me a request by mail (not
> e-mail) on a University or Company letterhead.  Unfortunately, because of
> copyright laws, these reprints are not available on the web.
> 6. "What are the chief advantages of flash carbonization?"  The chief
> advantages are i) high yields (approaching the theoretical limit); ii)
very
> short processing times (30 min or less); iii) homogeneous charcoal product
> (few or no brands); iv) accepts virtually any biomass feedstock (e.g. wood
> logs, sawdust, corn cobs, rice hulls, etc.) without preprocessing; v) very
> low capital costs in comparison with other "high-tech" biomass conversion
> processes (e.g. ethanol production from wood).  I remark that in our
earlier
> work we fully carbonized a moist Eucalyptus wood log as big as my thigh in
> less than one hour.  Afterwards, I was easily able to break the carbon
> (charcoal) log into two pieces with my bare hands.  I expect to repeat
this
> feat with a reaction time below 30 min in our new demonstration reactor.
> Perhaps this illustration best explains my enthusiasm for flash
> carbonization.
>
> Please accept my thanks for your interest.  As Tom Reed has pointed out in
> earlier messages, we are nearing the Hubbert peak.  Life will change
> considerably when we pass from a buyer's market for oil to a seller's
> market.  We need some cost-effective alternatives to fossil fuels.
> Increasingly I think that charcoal soon will be recognized as the
renewable
> fuel of choice.
>
> Best regards,
> Michael.
>
>
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