New promising biofuel from trees

 
A team of University of Georgia researchers has developed a new biofuel derived from wood, the new and still unnamed fuel can be blended with biodiesel and petroleum diesel to power conventional engines. "The exciting thing about our method is that it is very easy to do," said Tom Adams, director of the UGA Faculty for engineering outreach service. "we expect to reduce the price of producing fuels from biomass dramatically with this technique".  Adams, whose findings are detailed in the early online edition of the American Chemical Society journal Energy and Fuels, explained that scientists have long been able to derive oils from wood, but they had been unable to process it effectively or inexpensively so that it can be used in conventional engines.The researchers have developed a new chemical process, which they are working to patent, that inexpensively  treats the oils so that it can be used in unmodified diesel engines or blended with biodiesel and petroleum diesel. Here's how the process works:Wood chips and pellets, roughly a quarter inch in diameter and six tenths of an inch long, are heated in the absence of oxygen at a high temperature , a process known as pyrolysis. Up to a third of the dry weight of the wood becomes a gas. Most of this gas is condensed into a liquid bio-oil and chemically treated. When the process is complete, about 34 percent of the bio-oil(or 15 to 17 percent dry weight of the wood) can be used to power engines. The researchers are currently working to improve the process to derive even more oil form the wood.


(The New Indian Express, 21st May,2007)