12 services found
Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc. Services
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Biodiesel
Biodiesel is an alternative fuel made from a number of different feedstocks – vegetable oils (such as soybean and canola oil), animal fats (such as beef tallow and chicken fat), waste cooking oils, and a host of others. Two chemical processes – esterification and transesterification – combine these fats/oils with methanol, and a caustic catalyst like sodium hydroxide, to create methyl esters. Methyl ester is the chemical name for ...
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Ethanol
Ethanol is a renewable, domestically produced transportation fuel. It is a clear, colorless liquid, also known as known as ethyl alcohol. For use as a renewable fuel, ethanol is made from corn and other plant materials. It has the same chemical structure regardless of whether produced from starch- and sugar-based feedstocks, such as corn grain (as it primarily is in the United States), sugar cane (as it primarily is in Brazil), or from cellulosic ...
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Cellulosic Ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol is an alcohol made from biomass such as wood and agricultural residues (instead of the starches which are used to produce corn/grain ethanol). The difference between starch and cellulosic ethanol start with the plants. In the United States, starch ethanol is made from corn kernels. Cellulosic ethanol, however, starts with cellulose, the most abundant carbon-containing material on the planet and something found in virtually every ...
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Solar Thermal Technology
The generation of electric power and process hot water by capturing the sun’s radiation has advanced form an oddity to main stream technology. The ultimate user may be a remote instrument or home that is not connected to the electric grid, a commercial or public facility wishing to reduce its electric costs, or a local utility that has been mandated by law to buy solar power or one that seeks to diversify its generation sources. Solar Photovoltaic ...
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Wind
Wind Power is the fastest growing source of electrical energy in the world today. Wind power involves the conversion of wind into a useful form of energy by using turbines to produce electricity. Wind farms may consist of many individual turbines connected to an electric power transmission network, and large wind farms dominate this trend. Offshore wind is steadier and stronger than wind on land, but their construction and maintenance are considerably ...
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Waste to Energy
Waste-to-Energy Waste-to-Energy encompasses a wide range of technologies and processes. Examples of wastes used to produce energy include biomass, municipal solid waste (MSW), food wastes, tires, and chemical wastes. Processes include waste segregation, anaerobic digestion, incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification. Waste-to energy projects have two process goals – diverting waste from landfills and converting the waste into a profitable energy ...
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Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis refers to the decomposition or transformation of a compound caused by heat. Pyrolysis and gasification are two related process, differing mostly by temperature and process reactants. As discussed in other sections, low temperature pyrolysis can be used to produce various products including torrefied wood, biochar and biocarbon. High temperature pyrolysis is used for converting waste materials, e.g., municipal solid wastes, tires, biomass, etc., ...
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Gasification
Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Pyrolysis and gasification are related processes differing mostly in temperature and process reactants with gasification conducted at significantly higher temperatures than pyrolysis (1000⁰C to 1200⁰C and higher). Gasification thermally decomposes the organic feedstock into the three elements. Steam is added ...
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Biobutanol
Butanol is a four carbon straight chain primary alcohol which has gained enormous attention as a potential gasoline substitute in recent years. This is due to its high energy density, low vapor pressure, low heat of vaporization and high hydrophobicity. These promising physical and chemical properties of butanol make it suitable for blending with or direct substitution of gasoline. Biobutanol can be produced through a fermentation process, using ...
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Biochar
Biochar is a name for charcoal when it is used for particular purposes. Like all charcoals, biochar is created by pyrolysis of biomass. Specifically, biochar is produced from wood, using a higher temperature pyrolysis process as compared to the temperatures used for torrefaction and biocarbon production – 400⁰C to 500⁰C. Biochar is used in agricultural applications as a soil additive. When applied to soil, biochar acts as an agricultural ...
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Carbonisation
Carbonization refers to the conversion of an organic substance into either carbon or a carbon-containing residue through pyrolysis or distillation. Above 300οC, carbonization of biomass commences and the thermochemical reactions become exothermic (i.e., heat generating) which drives the higher-temperature pyrolysis with no (or little) external energy being applied. Biomass undergoes major chemical modifications at these higher temperatures. ...
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Torrefaction
Torrefaction of biomass is best described as a low temperature pyrolysis where the organic material, typically wood, is heated in the absence of oxygen, producing a dry product with no biological activity like rotting. Torrified biomass is combined with coal to reduce emissions and increase the renewable fuel fraction of the power ...