Every time I hear of wood alcohol It makes me think of a short story I read in school "Bargain by A B Guthrie.
http://205.186.130.127/images/uploads/Bargain%20-%20AB%20Guthrie.pdf
Enjoyed reading it again just now.
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Many times I have thought of this story Andy.
Been decades since last read it. Thanks for sharing
Jesse,
Read some more stuff : Methanol - Wikipedia
In short: Ethanol comes from sugars
Methanol from wood or coal
Both are useable, more then fossil dino fuel, but for us the methanol is more relevant as we are busy with gasification and possible byproducts…
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K oen my point exactly
Its just that Methanol is so much more deadly ln so many differant ways
Rather than making it I would go to the hardware store and spend 5bucks for all the trouble
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In my case… i have the equipment already… no need to go to the hardware store… 
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Somewhere lost to me now I recall seeing an experimental apparatus that used a solar collector the size of old timey satellite dish that concentrated the sun’s heat on a target reactor.
The system simply blew steam across a carbon media and cracked it to make pure CO and H2.
This was small scale of course, but if you could convert that to methanol in an efficient small scale process and then concentrate the methanol to a usable level it could be a very interesting piece of small scale technology.
I made reference to the Mobile process because I understand its more efficient than the FT process.
I believe that Anglo American Petroleum is using some sort of reformer process to make high purity gasoline product in one of the Scandinavian countries.
This should be something researched because I think they are usuing some sort of reformer to convert stranded natural gas into fuel.
Its very good fuel too!
Now I found this link and watched it.
They are not using stranded gas but the light ends that are blown off from the cracker and distillation towers
I guess my point is where there is CO, hydrogen methanol or methane there is the possibility of making clean quality fuel
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Here this belongs in this thread… basically it is a way to convert CO2 + H2O-> ethanol using a carbon nanotubes and copper and electricity. What I didn’t see is the electric efficiency on the process. The conversion rate was around 60%.
There are a lot of stories on the tech but here is a link to one.
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I used to work for a small company that was researching GTL using the Fischer Trops, converting landfill gas into Synthetic Diesel. We proved that it worked, and made good product with decent yields. I have also been involved in R&D for replacement gases for CFC gases. We used to condense the gases produced through the reaction, by using a large Pyrex condensing coil that had the bottom half of the coil sitting in a dry ice/92% isopropyl alcohol bath, this made for a really really cold slurry. Since the vapor pressures of the synthesis gas was similar to propane, we had a new propane tank also sitting in a dry ice/isopropyl bath, keeping the condensed liquid, liquid. I wonder if this would work on wood gas? Is there any info regarding the condensing Temps and vapor pressures? I also worked at an Anhydrous Ammonia plant, and we would pressurize the Syn gas to high pressures and rapidly drop the pressures to atmospheric, utilizing the Joules Thompson effect, it would auto refrigerate into pure liquid anhydrous ammonia. Could this also possibly work to condense wood gas? Just wondering.
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We used to make methanol as a secondary process in the anhydrous ammonia plant I used to work at. Since we were cracking and reforming methane CH4 for the hydrogen, incidentally we had the same chemical components necessary to make methanol. CH3OH. So a side stream was diverted from the primary, and sent to a methanol reactor, where the exothermic reaction took place to form methanol, it was then sent to a distillation tower for purifying, and the product draws would provide product.
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Methane is a better feedstock for FTS becouse of better C/H2 ratio of 1/2, oposite to woodgas with a ratio of usualy max 1/1. Not saying it cant be done, but lam still not convinced enough by the efficiancy to get back to it. This means you waste lots of the energy stored in C.
Woodgas has a wery low critical point so unless the liquid woodgas wuld be kept under -240C it wuld be in a gaseous form under great and dangerous pressure.
Personaly, for a home size liquid fuel produceing system, l wuld rather go in to plastic to liquid systems. Waste plastic is abundand and it can easyaly be made in to quality liquid fuel. I had great resaults with it on a small scale.
A sistem of combined wood gasifier, plastic to fuel crack reactir and a electric generator wuld be a very doable self suffisiant system fir small scale home needs.
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Thanks, that answers a couple questions. Will have to research more into the plastic to liquids. I’m just now coming on board with wood gas, I’ve known about it, just never put my mind into it. I have a pretty good knowledge of industrial processes, having been involved in several types of operations, and am hoping some of that knowledge will be useful with utilizing wood gas. They liquify methane, and use it safely as CNG, they also liquify hydrogen as well, I would think that Woodgas would be in the same category regarding vapor pressures and liquid state, as CNG and H2.
Hi Orly,
Liquified Methane is known as LNG ( liquified natural Gas)
CNG is only compressed, ( at 240 bar max in CNG vehicles max ) so, CNG is not liquid…
Any gas can be compressed, only at what costs ? Future will tell what process is most cost/environment effective…
Depending the gas content and feedstock origin from/for the syngas, many liquid fuels can be made with catalyst equipment.
Raising the Hydrogen component in mix with the CO level to 1 CO for 2,2 H2 , comes with a cost … but can be done…
welcome on board
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Thanks! I have been interested in this field for some time and have been in the industrialized setting for half of my career. Just now tinkering around with things at home. Using the knowledge I gained in various R&D projects over the years, I hope to make use of it on a small scale at home. Just came across Plastic to Liquids, and find that fascinating and relatively easy to accomplish. So I think I may try that first and see if I can produce diesel. Then I will try my hand at wood gas, it is pretty straight forward as well. Perhaps working my way to building a small scale Fischer Tropsch reactor, as I am very familiar with Gas reformation and GTL. It was so fun doing R&D and taking landfill gas and producing very low sulfur synthetic diesel. Wish the company would have kept up the research. Putting all this collective knowledge into practice, someone will hit the right combination.
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I have also been interested in Fischer Tropish liquids. The systems I have seen needed 24 hours or more to stabilize and start producing. Then it was 24/7 for as long as possible (months). That would make it hard to do backyard and if tar is problem on intake valves, think about expensive catalysts. I hope someone can solve the problems. It would be a great way to use woodgas for people who would have trouble managing a gasifer on the road. Fred
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I worked in a cracking plant and we had to cool our condensates and tar down to transfer them to tanks for shipping.
Scary as hell to be around it, what did not give you cancer was likely high volatile and explosive if it was mixed air.
Sometimes I would have to put these wooden clogs on strapped to my boots and with air line for breathing air I would run inside a cracking pot that had been drained and partly cooled to clean the tar and coke off the sensors and floats.
The hatch cover had highway to hell written on it in chalk and I did not like that job.
We had a lot of fires and accidents before the place went bust.
I am very nervous around the ideas of trying to contain, cool, compress and refine producer gas into anything based on my previous experience in a real mickey mouse waste oil refinery,
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GTL is a little different compared to a cracking plant. A refinery is inherently dangerous, as is any process involving hydrocarbons, or methane. In small scale operations, the same hazardous conditions exist, however the “boom” would be much less due to shear size. 
Be safe, be smart, always practice safe operating procedures. Document every aspect and parameter of the operation, and when making operational changes, make small ones. Any process is only as safe as the ones operating it. I have witnessed some real dumb ass mistakes. I have been involved in death, resulting from complacency. Respect the process, and equip yourself with as much knowledge as possible. Don’t be scared. Be safe.
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This must be the mechanism the scientists were studying.
Basically lanzatech is using clostridium autoethanogenum which is a bacteria that lives off of syngas excrete ethanol and acetone, and a few other things. in a process known as syngas fermentation.
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Haldor Topsoe identified Dimethy Ether (DME) as a very good engine fuel in the 1940s. It compresses to liquid around 75psig so propane handeling equipment can be used. It is not toxic. It is currently used as an aerosol propellant for many consumer products such as whipped cream, hair spray & etc… There is an International DME Association aboutdme.org/index.asp. Rebecca Boudreaux at Oberon Fuels http://oberonfuels.com/ seems to be the foremost promoter of DME in the world today. Oberon Fuels, sells (relatively) small scale production units. I actually don’t work for Oberon, IDA or anyone in that industry, so this is just talk between guys.
DME is produced from syngas.
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“And no one quite understands how the new process works — but it works.”
It seems that the best minds in the world don’t really understand gasification much better than te rest of us.
http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2018/03/12/what-happened-pyrolysis-breakthrough-could-cut-drop-in-biofuels-cost-to-2-58-per-gallon/
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research the yield rate…
it is soooooo low…
Better show them how a real gasifier works…