diesel and Aus politics dont mix... apparently

[posscakes]

algae?????

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algaculture#Oil_Extraction

check this link out. heres a raw source of oil no ones mentioned in this thread yet.

but yeah i dunno really if its possible to just to replace dino fuel with bio especially if the demand for it just keeps increasing. maybe part of a solution is better fuel efficient technology...

[peter_j_g]

Brackie - Interesting to hear your numbers re various crops/animals. What throws the balance here is the winter, the ground is snow covered for 5-6 months of the year so any livestock has to be housed indoors and hand fed. Hence there are very few livestock farms around due to the winter costs. The most common (=profitable) crops here are wheat, barley, canola, sugarbeet, sunflower and linen.

That an oil company is investing so heavily could be an indication of the future...

Rgds, Peter

[smithy010]

Algae

If you have a bit of a read in Joshua Tickell's book "From the fryer to fuel tank", he actually says that the highest yielding crop per ha is algae (a very similar strain to the horrible blue/green algae).
The only problem here, is water. This is ok, because some algae grows well in even brackish/salty water.

It's certainly interesting.

[brackie]

Algae

Yeah... During the Mesozoic much of the contribution to oil formation was from unicellular plants and animals. It took time, heat and accumulation in traps to concentrate it though. Dunno how you'd go farming algae. Certainly feasible but whether it could be done on a large enough scale is another thing.

[smithy010]

Need a good source of CO2 for the algae to really go off. Too bad all those stinky CO2 filled road tunnels are in places where there is no space to farm algae.

[posscakes]

jatropha

heres another high yeilding oil crop. follow the link

http://www.jatrophabiodiesel.org/jatrophaPlantation.php?_divid=menu2

cheers.

[gldgti]

i think a good source of co2 is a coal fired power station........ dont you?

[gldgti]

or any fuel burning power station for that matter

[brackie]

Good for WA

heres another high yeilding oil crop. follow the link
http://www.jatrophabiodiesel.org/jat...p?_divid=menu2
cheers.

Climatic and soil required look ideal for south and central west coastal WA. Farmers are doing it tough over there and should be loooking at it seriously. However, getting the processing plant together may be a big obstacle.

[Moonan]

Problems with Jatropha

There is one significant problem with the prospect of growing this wonder-plant in oz - it's a declared noxious weed ("belly-ache bush"). There are many varieties, and not all are actually declared, but importing seeds may not be permitted. According to this thread http://www.biofuelsforum.com/brisban...ew_crop-3.html in the biofuels website, macadamia would actually do better! Check it out (also interesting on biodiesel in general!

[posscakes]

hmm it'd be nice if farmers had some incentives aka tax breaks if a percentage of there crops went towards bio fuel. but might be a bit far fetched for some folk in canberra... ripped the following from last link.

Adapted from Joshua Tickell, From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank: The Complete Guide to Using Vegetable Oil as an Alternative Fuel. 3rd Ed. 2000.
Plant Latin Name Gal Oil/ Acre
Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis 610
Macauba Palm Acrocomia aculeata 461
Pequi Caryocar brasiliense 383
Buriti Palm Mauritia flexuosa 335
Oiticia Licania rigida 307
Coconut Cocos nucifera 276
Avocado Persea americana 270
Brazil Nut Bertholletia excelsa 245
Macadamia Nut Macadamia terniflora 230
Jatropa Jatropha curcas 194
Babassu Palm Orbignya martiana 188
Jojoba Simmondsia chinensis 186
Pecan Carya illinoensis 183
Bacuri Platonia insignis 146
Castor Bean Ricinus communis 145
Gopher Plant Euphorbia lathyris 137
Piassava talea funifera 136
Olive Tree Olea europaea 124
Rapeseed Brassica napus 122
Opium Poppy Papaver somniferum 119
Peanut Ariachis hypogaea 109
Cocoa Theobroma cacao 105
Sunflower Helianthus annuus 98
Tung Oil Tree Aleurites fordii 96
Rice Oriza sativaL. 85
Buffalo Gourd Cucurbita foetidissima 81
Safflower Carthamus tinctorius 80
Crambe Crambe abyssinica 72
Sesame samum indicum 71
Camelina Camelina sativa 60
Mustard Brassica alba 59
Coriander Coriandrum sativum 55
Pumpkin Seed Cucurbita pepo 55
Euphorbia Euphorbia lagascae 54
Hazelnut Corylus avellana 49
Linseed Linum usitatissimum 49
Coffee Coffea arabica 47
Soybean Glycine max 46
Hemp Cannabis sativa 37
Cotton Gossypium hirsutum 33
Calendula Calendula officinalis 31
Kenaf Hibiscus cannabinus L. 28
Rubber Seed Hevea brasiliensis 26
Lupine Lupinus albus 24
Palm Erythea salvadorensis 23
Oat Avena sativa 22
Cashew Nut Anacardium occidentale 18
Corn Zea mays 18

[mollins]

revive this golden thread

I very much enjoyed this thread when it was active, so i thought i would revive it... and i know this isnt strictly diesel focused but on the topic of alternative fuels...

One of the research teams at work are working on a new fuel called "solar gas", which is energy enriched natural gas. They use a high concentration solar reactor to convert methane into a mixture of CO and H which has 26% more energy than than natural gas. This has many benefits as the gas can be used in a wide range of applications, including transport, as it can run an LPG fitted car.

This provides easily storable and transportable form of solar energy. Which are the major draw backs of solar energy.

more info here:

http://www.det.csiro.au/science/r_h/nsec.htm

http://www.det.csiro.au/science/r_h/images/NSEC_SolarGas%20Benefits.pdf

We should definitely be taking a page out of the european's book in their attitude towards diesel and other alternative fuels. Biodiesel is a great fuel, due to its low emmisions and short carbon cycle. It requires heavy investment to ever make it on a commercial scale, which includes research into cheaper and less land-hungry production.

In regards to solving the energy problems in Australia, i am convinced that there is no single solution. There needs to be a fast transition into a wide range of renewables (wind, solar, biomass), with more localised and integrated production to reduce transmission losses. Natural gas is much more efficient than coal, and should be used as a transitional fuel.

The major setback at the moment is the fact that the fossil fuel companies influence the governments energy policies (the 2006 energy white paper was mostly written by fossil fuel companies). The sooner we get rid of the howard government's coal addiction, the better.
The first step to change is a change in gorvernment.
thats what i think anyway

hehehe

cheers
mike

(as always this is my opinion and in no way am i imposing it on anyone else, or intending to cause offence)

[brackie]

Addicted to cars

I very much enjoyed this thread when it was active, so i thought i would revive it... and i know this isnt strictly diesel focused but on the topic of alternative fuels...

One of the research teams at work are working on a new fuel called "solar gas", which is energy enriched natural gas. They use a high concentration solar reactor to convert methane into a mixture of CO and H which has 26% more energy than than natural gas. This has many benefits as the gas can be used in a wide range of applications, including transport, as it can run an LPG fitted car.

This provides easily storable and transportable form of solar energy. Which are the major draw backs of solar energy.

more info here:
http://www.det.csiro.au/science/r_h/nsec.htm

http://www.det.csiro.au/science/r_h/...20Benefits.pdf

Exciting stuff! Not really a "use" of solar energy for transport, but a way of enhancing the use of an existing fuel. Biofuels are definitely worth further development even though we know that the Earth doesn't have the capacity to produce enough of them to satisfy demand for transport fuels. Methane can be produced from green waste and fossil natural gasses are plentiful. Any process that would extend the life of their reserves by using "free" solar power would be most welcome.

We should definitely be taking a page out of the european's book in their attitude towards diesel and other alternative fuels. Biodiesel is a great fuel, due to its low emmisions and short carbon cycle. It requires heavy investment to ever make it on a commercial scale, which includes research into cheaper and less land-hungry production.

I've run my Golfs on canola and biodiesel. It's great but not without problems and I think that most of them have been discussed here so I won't go into them again. I'm not happy that I can't use biodiesel in my TDI.

In regards to solving the energy problems in Australia, i am convinced that there is no single solution. There needs to be a fast transition into a wide range of renewables (wind, solar, biomass), with more localised and integrated production to reduce transmission losses. Natural gas is much more efficient than coal, and should be used as a transitional fuel.

The problem with CNG is that it must be compressed and the cylinders that store it must therefore be strong and heavy. Researchers must work on a way to solve this.

The major setback at the moment is the fact that the fossil fuel companies influence the governments energy policies (the 2006 energy white paper was mostly written by fossil fuel companies). The sooner we get rid of the howard government's coal addiction, the better.
The first step to change is a change in gorvernment.
thats what i think anyway

I don't think it really matters which of our two alternative governments is in. I reckon that even if the Greens won government the country's reliance on coal exports and excise from fuel would remain and nothing would change. At least the Feds recognise that "clean coal" technology is worth pursuing although if they think that geosequestration will work they are dreaming (sorry, my geology background coming out again ). What this is all about really is money and who pays?

hehehe

cheers
mike

(as always this is my opinion and in no way am i imposing it on anyone else, or intending to cause offence)

Just my opinion too.

[Seano]

If anyone would like to comment on the National Standards for diesel & biodiesel blends then I suggest you visit http://www.deh.gov.au/atmosphere/fue...ion-paper.html

It was released in November last year and is 130 pages long (but a very small download) and public submissions are due tomorrow 5th Jan 2007

[gldgti]

[QUOTE=brackie] Biofuels are definitely worth further development even though we know that the Earth doesn't have the capacity to produce enough of them to satisfy demand for transport fuels.


dont be so sure.... Sir Richard Branson has recently released a statement confirming that all of the profits for the next 10 years from Virgins transport related companies will be used in research into biofuels, with particular emphasis on air travel....


just something I thought was interesting