Hydrothermal Biomass-Fueled Engines

[MJones]

Hi, Frederick--

Small world.  In another life I was a bit player in a study headed by Larry 
Baxter of Sandia and Tom Miles (Sr. and JR.biomass gurus both), on Alkalai 
Deposits found in Biomass Power Plants.  When my colleagues and I heard 
about the process you decribe being used to fire combustion turbines, we 
all had the same thought:  A new and interesting way to ruin a perfectly 
good gas turbine!  (No disrespect intended:  We built and operated a 
biomass-burning circulating fluidized bed boiler and the daily trials of 
controlling a plant burning a fuel which varies as widely as biomass does 
would have been funny were it not happening to us.)


Your project sounds interesting, if daunting.  You obviously have to 
separate out the particulate matter first.  (I could tell you stories about 
the wonderful properties of biomass particulate.) And then seperate out the 
rest of the particulate that you thought you removed but actually didn't. 
 And then, depending on the final pressure of your 'fuel' either regulate 
it down (recirculate maybe) or compress first and then regulate.  (although 
you're starting with 3200 psig, so maybe you could skip further 
compression).  Inject using a modified natural gas system, perhaps.  You 
would need a start-up fuel...

I'd like to hear more about what you've got so far.  Sounds interesting.

Mike J.

>>Frederick J Sparber wrote:

Hi All,

I'm new on this list,so I hope it works.

Retired from Sandia Labs, Several patents and
many years of working with Thermochemical and
Hydrothermal Biomass Conversion to support
agriculture (especially fixed power units used for irrigation and power
generation, and dairy-
feedlot manure disposal.

About any form of biomass material,leaves, grass clippings,straw, corn
stover, dairy and
feedlot manures,can be mixed with water and heated to 550-705 F (1500 to
3200 psi) in a 5/16" diameter tube used as a heat exchanger in the exhaust
of an I.C. engine or gas turbine.

The water breaks the organic material down to
a combustible mix of H2,CH4,C2H4,CO,CO2 and oxgenated liquids and
particulate solids.

EFI looks like the best approach for getting
this steam-fuel mix into the combustion chambers of the engines.

Any thoughts on a EFI layout?

Regards,     Frederick>>