As we mentioned yesterday, GM has bought a piece of Coskata, a bacteria-loving ethanol high tech start-up. Speaking to DailyTech, GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz described the process. "All the other companies use enzymes, which are incredibly expensive." Instead, Coskata grinds organic wastes into a powder which is "then exposed to plasma, which causes the organic powder to ferment, releasing carbon-chain gas." [NB: plasma is a superheated ionized gas which would incinerate the material] This gas "rises into the air where natural anaerobic bacteria eats [sic] the gas molecules and excretes [sic] ethanol and water vapor." [NB 2: anaerobic bacteria can't survive "in the air"] Maximum Bob promises a pilot plant will produce ethanol this year. By 2011, they'll be cranking out 50 to 100m gallons of ethanol per year. And get this: "The price per gallon to produce the fuel is approximately $1 per gallon." MB admits that overhead, profits, shipping, etc. will raise that price to around $2 per gallon. And they'll have to fight big oil to get their cheap fuel to the masses as "less than 1% of the pumps in the U.S. are ethanol-equipped." Here's a thought: why not give GM dealers ethanol pumps? That would more than quadruple America's E85 outlets at a stroke. Sorry, Bob; make that "with one move."
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Wow, Bob Lutz has your typical managerial grasp of a manufacturing process…no clue whatsoever. is nothing surprising about his obvious lack of understanding of basic chemical processes and terms or that the reporter evidently couldn’t tell that he was talking out of his (ahem) hat. My experience since college is that reporters rarely get a quote right least of all understand what they are being told and anybody outside the field of chemistry pretty much views it the same way alchemy was viewed in the middle ages only people today throw around modern words that they don’t understand.
Wish I had some magic beans to sell.
John
The most ingenuitive part of the overall process is the use of fairy dust to power the grinding of the organic wastes and superheating of the plasma.
I thought plasma was very expensive due to the electricity required to make it and the EM field to contain it. Sounds like regular ethalon production, waste a bunch of energy to make a little energy.
This relates to the Volt news article with him. If he doesn’t have a grasp of the chemistry for this how can we be sure he knows what he’s talking about dispelling rumers about the batteries.
Selling the stuff is actually not the issue: the renewable fuel standard proscribed by the government ensures that Big Oil will have to play nice with biofuel.
So, whoever can produce biofuel cheaper than the rest gets to make a lot of money.
As a bonus: international opportunities, such as in Brazil, where biofuel is very popular.
Here’s an article that I ran across yesterday about this. It explains the manufacturing process, but I’m not smart enough about all this stuff so some of it went over my head. IMHO, though, I think cellulosic ethanol is the right way to go in order to make driving cheaper and to wean ourselves from foreign oil.
I keep meaning to do more research on it, but that’s kinda like work. I’ll probably be pretty bored when I get around to that.
BTW, I enjoyed the jab at GM’s bloated dealer franchise. Nice!
I love the plasma gun in Halo. Maybe MB was thinking the boys over at Bungie/Microsoft could make him a real one. Sweeet!
From the February issue of Playboy in the Forum section:
London – A study conducted by researchers from the U.K., Switzerland, and the U.S. shows biofuels can produce more greenhouse gases than those fossil fuels such as gasoline. The team tested fuels derived from corn (the primary crop used for ethanol in America) and rapeseed (Europe’s main biofuel crop) and found biodiesels from these sources yielded 50 percent and 70 percent more greenhouse gases, respectively, than fossil fuels. Nitrous oxide in particular was detected at significantly higher levels than expected. These amounts are thought to be the result from nitrogen-based fertilizers being incorporated into the fuels. One of the researchers, Keith Smith of the University of Edinburgh, said, “The significance is that the supposed benefits of biofuels are even more disputable than had been thought hitherto.”
SexCpotatoes: From the February issue of Playboy in the Forum section:
That is way different from the Penthouse Forum section.
Here is a release on the process. Argonne Labs probably knows what they are doing. If they truly use waste, it could be a lot better than using food crops. HMM Playboy forum or Argonne Labs? I just don’t know. http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewpressreldetail.do?domain=827&docid=42311
So now we get our scientific news from Playboy? I would not put a lot of stock in the complete truth of the report. That said, I do not trust that there is any such thing as a “green” vehicle when you take into account the entire process or production, operation and disposal. We will just move teh problme from the one area to another. We just use too much energy
Queensnet:
… We will just move teh problme from the one area to another. We just use too much energy
As we become a richer society, we can afford to use more energy (and do).
Unless marginal energy use is taxed, conservation & CAFE standards only work to a certain price point. People will adjust, drive more or use more electric.
I wonder how long until the average middle class home has an entire wall or two covered with flat panel TV? It’ll always be on – with a nice landscape or favorite family pic…
After carefully examining the Playboy forum….
:-)
And they’ll have to fight big oil to get their cheap fuel to the masses as “less than 1% of the pumps in the U.S. are ethanol-equipped.”
I think I see a flaw in Bob’s logic. If they can get the price to the consumer to $2/gallon, they will have absolutely no problems whatsoever convincing fueling stations to put in the 110 octane fuel pumps.
I have no doubt that ethanol can transform the vehicle fuel marketplace. It has already demonstrated the power to make men notice that Playboy also contains words, not just pictures.