The term “biomass fuel” is a broad term that encompasses all leaves, roots, seeds, and stalks of all plants as well as animal waste. Anything that can burn and decompose can be a biomass fuel, or also called biofuel. Although crude oil is not considered biomass, but it once was millions of years ago.

The wood used to build a campfire is biomass fuel. The idea of using biomass as fuel to create energy to run our homes and cars isn’t new. It’s been around for a long time, but until gasoline went to four bucks a gallon and utility bills went through the roof, nobody seemed too interested in developing the technology into a practical and financially feasible substitute for fossil fuel. But biomass fuel is an idea whose time has come.

You hear now about a grass that grows in Africa being used to create energy or about corn grown in America being used to create energy. You hear about methane gas that’s a natural byproduct of landfills being captured and turned into usable energy. And you haven’t heard the end of these ideas and others like them, either.

Burning fossil fuel (oil, gas, coal) is easy, but it’s quickly becoming far too expensive, and the problem is that there’s a limited supply of all fossil fuels. The earth gives these fuels up after men drill or mine into the earth, but there’s no more being made. When what’s here is gone, it will be millions and millions of years before there is more. So you see the problem.

But biomass is a renewable resource, unlike fossil fuel. If we use grass or corn today, next year there will be more grass or corn because we can produce them easily. Another good thing about using these biofuels is that they be grown at the backyard like what our ancestors have done before. Landfills keep getting bigger and bigger, and the gas that could be harnessed and used has been ignored – until now. Yes, biomass fuel is an idea whose time has come!

It is reported that three Chinese factories making olefins from coal are slated to start up this year, part of a serious look that Beijing is taking at using its large coal reserves to reduce its heavy dependence on imported polyolefins. But before the government lifts some restrictions it imposed in May 2009 and allows more projects making polyethylene and polypropylene from coal, analysts say that government officials will want to see more details on the economic and environmental performance of the factories.

Mr Sun Weishan vice general secretary of the Beijing-based China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association Speaking at a recent industry conference in Beijing, several Chinese petrochemical industry officials urged the government to give coal-to-olefins work high priority, considering that the country imports about half of its PE and one-third of its PP. The three projects starting this year will provide a boost to China’s polyolefin supplies. The factories, in the coal belt of northern and western China, will have He said that capacity for 1.56 million tonnes of polyolefins, or about 6.9% of the country’s current PO capacity.

I’m preparing a list of universities, institution, research centers etc that provides catalyst characterization equipments. The list, as can seen below, will be updated from time to time and I hope this can be a good reference for our research. If you know any place or any institution or any organization that provides related characterization  equipment, please let me know in the comment area or contact me at zaki.yz[alias]gmail.com. I welcome any input and feedback from everyone, not only CREG members, researchers in Malaysia, but from all over the world.

A) X-Ray diffraction (XRD)
1. Faculty of Mechanical, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; En. Zainal (0197512727)
2. Ibnu Sina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
3. Faculty of Science – Chemistry Department, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

B) Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
1. Faculty of Mechanical, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (SEM-EDX & FESEM)
2. Ibnu Sina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (FESEM-EDX)
3. Faculty of Science – Chemistry Department, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

C) Nitrogen Adsorption (NA)
1. Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2. Ibnu Sina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

D) Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR)
1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering (N29), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2. Ibnu Sina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
3. Faculty of Science – Chemistry Department, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
4. AMTEC, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

E) Atomic Adsorption Spectroscopy (AAS)
1. Faculty of Science – Chemistry Department, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

F) Temperature Program Desorption Ammonia (TPD-NH3)
1. Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2. Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Tel:  +604-599 6411, Fax: +604-594 1013; DR AHMAD ZUHAIRI ABDULLAH, Email: chzuhairi@eng.usm.my

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

G) Temperature Program Desorption Reduction Oxidation (TPDRO)

1. Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2. Ibnu Sina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

H) Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA)

1. AMTEC, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2. Ibnu Sina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I) Thermal Gravimetric Analysis – Differential Thermal Analysis (TGA-DTA)

1. Ibnu Sina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2. Faculty of Science – Chemistry Department, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (DTA only)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

J) X-Ray Florescent (XRF)

1. Faculty of Mechanical, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

If you have or know other institution that provide any characterization equipment, please contact me at zaki.yz[alias]gmail.com. I’ll update the list for the benefit of all of us….

Thanks.

Frankly, as a chemical engineer, I have never really studied or know much about laser. Laser, an acronym for light amplification by stipulated emission of radiation, is a really interesting area to study and apply. My nearest experience with laser is merely using a laser pointer during presentations and also a so called laser printer. When I was a kid, I learned about laser while watching Star Wars and Battle Star Galactica.

Recently, while surfing the net, I came across Arcor Laser, a company providing various services related to the laser business. I never expected or rather known such a laser oriented business like Arcor Laser existed. All this while, as mentioned earlier, I have just wondered and saw laser in movies, but in reality, laser is a very useful technology. The application of laser evolved around the automotive, aerospace, medical, electronics, oil patch, heavy equipment, military, power generation, research and development as well as fire arms industry.

Among the signature services provided by Arcor Laser are the laser welding and fuel cell welding. Again, I have never thought of a laser welding, but from what I read, this technology provides an excellent tool for welding many types of material. The focused beam delivers a concentration of heat with spectacular accuracy. This process results in a very narrow weld bead with weld penetration control as close as plus or minus .001”. The heat affected zone, unlike normal welding, is minimized assuring minimal dimensional distortion. These weld characteristics provide more reliable welds, more repeatedly on smaller, thinner parts, unmatched by traditional welding.

Despite of the advantages and benefits of using laser welding, several factors are required to ensure the success of the process. Before laser welding takes place, we need to select the correct type of laser for the material and thickness. Besides that the reflectivity and conductivity should be considered as well as it will affect the weld quality. Likewise the conventional welding, the spot to be welded must be ensured clean to avoid contamination which will result to poor quality. Integration of the entire above mentioned factor will ensure an optimum laser welds.

Arcor laser not only dwell on laser welding and fuel cell welding. They are also very capable in laser materials processing services, system integration, development of intellectual property opportunities, laser cutting, cladding, drilling, welding, and surface modification. In short, whenever there are problems using the conventional method, you can discuss and consult Arcor for innovative solutions using laser.

For me as a researcher, I may consider adopting laser as one of the techniques to gain energy and other products in the field of reaction and catalysis engineering. Who knows I may come out with a revolutionary discovery of the century?

Photo credited to http://opticsclub.engineering.ucdavis.edu/

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/11/06/ohgizmo-review-dragon-lasers-250mw-hulk/

Wood Waste, Sawdust and Empty Palm Fruit Bunch (EPFB)

This idea of generating enough sawdust to produce a useful amount of energy might sound weird. All the trash from industrial wood processing is generally redundant and thrown away. Some of it is reprocessed into particle board or into wood pellets for stoves, but there’s still a lot of unused waste wood out there. EPFB in the other hand is left just like that while small fraction of it is utilized for running boilers in mills. When left for a long time, the wood and EPFB will rotten, and this waste can be a potential hazard to the environment as methane is formed. Methane, as we know, is a harmful greenhouse gas.

With proper waste management, the sawdust and EPFB can be systematically collected and burned at a power plant designed for this purpose. The heat is used to generate electricity which can be used to run cars. The idea is more than feasible, it’s already in practice — a 14-megawatt wood waste power plant is being built in Nigeria.

Dirty Diapers

Dirty diapers sound disgusting. But used diapers are an excellent fuel source. The garbage can be transformed into fuel gas and fuel oil by using a process called pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is the chemical decomposition of condensed substances by heating that occurs spontaneously at high enough temperatures with catalyst and without oxygen.

The world has a lot of disposable diapers and babies constantly generate more. And it would be relatively easy to use special recycling bins to separate them from other garbage. Pyrolysis is best when it has been fine-tuned to the material being heated. Mixed garbage is full of all kinds of random materials, and you never know what sort of mix you’re going to get each day. We know what kind of the plastics and fabrics are used in their manufacture, and what is the waste material.

Conclusion

As conclusion, proper waste management is imperative and it can be integrated with process such as pyrolysis. From pyrolysis, fuel and energy can be obtained and this is indeed an alternative to the present fossil fuel which will last soon.

Is that right?

After I completed my masters degree, I work with an oil and gas servicing company. I’m not the only engineer there. Two petroleum engineers were employed after me. It is interesting to have intellectual friends like them to discuss about the  energy dilemma of petroleum.

One of them ask, “Do you think petroleum will last around 2015?”

“I’m not sure…”, I answered briefly and slowly. “Hopefully not”, I added a two seconds after that.

Being a petroleum engineering student, my colleague began his story…

“Petroleum is abundantly available down there inside the earth. The supply can last up to 100 years. The problem now is our current technology is not capable to retrieve the black gold. Hence, we need to keep on researching and developing new techniques and technology to retrieve the crude oil.”

What my petroleum engineer friend said make me realized that petroleum is still safely locked and stored down there. The problem hindering us from getting it is the technology. I’m glad I knew that and until now I still subscribe petroleum, hydrocarbon and offshore related magazines to keep myself updated with current technologies concerning petroleum upstream.

Yesterday, I came across this website – Bedrock Energy Development. It is pretty interesting because it introduces a new way of extracting petroleum…

The tag line say it all… “Laser Oil Well Drilling: a look into the future of the search for petroleum”

Laser will be employed to explore oils. Honestly, I never imagine laser application for the oil and gas industry specifically in exploration. However, this new tech has given the world some gleam  of hope and that’s very pretty impressive. Despite the desperate commercialization of green biomass and biodiesel fuel, the demand required by the world could not be met by these renewable technology yet. More and more research are yet to be done to ensure commercial viability of the green technology. Without doubt, the world still need fossil petroleum for energy at least for the next 50 years.

It was stated that lasers have the ability to melt rock in a way that will create a casing in a wellbore, eliminating the expense of setting steel well casing. A laser system could also posess a variety of sensors and imaging systems that could communicate with the surface via fiber optic cable. A new study will obtain precise measurements of the energy required to transmit light from surface lasers with enough power to bore through rocks as deep as 20,000 feet or more beneath the surface. This has certainly ease the traditional and complicated process of drilling to position the wellbore that will be then connected to platform for further processing.

Besides that, another aspect of the new study will be to determine if lasers can be used in the presence of drilling fluids. In most wells drilling “mud” is injected into the borehole to wash out rock cuttings and keep water and other fluids from seeping into the wellbore. The technical challenge will be to determine whether too much laser energy is expended to clear away the fluid where the drilling is occurring.

Well, despite of all this, the laser approach may be the answer to our mysterious technology to dig out the petroleum from stubborn earth crust. Let’s hope for the laser technology application success so we can still enjoy petrol and its’ derivative products at an affordable price.

Basic rule of thumb: less petroleum, house hold price including petrol will rise, and people will suffer…

Think about it.

Premier Energy corp. conceives to make sure it has captured all the emerging and rapidly changing energy and fuel markets. The operations of Premier energy have been crucial in depicting the fact that with proper goal oriented measures it is easy to become a global player in the energy realm just as it has done. This has been depicted by its initial focus in the priceless natural gas and crude oil production sector within Russia as well as distributing the products to consumers from different regions across the world.

The success of the Premier oil company represents the kind of opportunities that have been enabled by an extensive experience bourn in the energy sector for more than 75 years, courtesy of a superb management team and founders. With tremendous acquisition behind it, Premier energy has been involved in serious growth plans. It has an ambitious aim that it has been in constant acts of perfecting, so that it can soar as an integrated gas and oil company that has global operations in development, exploration, transportation, storage and marketing.

Premier energy also seeks to be a chief distributor of natural gas, crude oil, refined energy products and other fuels. The broad experience of the company and its well-established networks in the line of international trading in renewable and other convention fuels has made Premier oil energy Corp. to rise at a very admirable pace.

About Us: Are you looking around to find the best information about Premier Energy Corp or Premier Oil? Explore http://premieroilco.com and get all details first hand.

1. Whiteboard Capture – This application allows you to capture the contents of a whiteboard screen easily and in high resolution, so it’s actually readable later. You’ll get a clean digital image every time. It’s a great way to capture classroom notes or assignment requirements.

2. Ishare – Allows you to share documents with other via a Virtual Private Network. Using a Pin, you can access and share documents. It’s useful for business people who travel and for groups working together on documents or research.

3. Dragon Dictation – Talk right to your phone to capture thoughts, ideas and other important information you might use in your work. Once you’ve finished dictating, you can save your dictation, email it or send it as a text message too. Want punctuation? Simply say “period” or other punctuation commands and they will be inserted. Whether you send the information to a colleague or just insert it into a paper you’re working on, having the ability to convert speech to text so easily and with such grammatical accuracy can save lots of time.

4. Aji Annotate PDF – This app allows you to mark up and annotate PDF documents. You can create bookmarks or even draw freeform with your fingers. This is a great way to edit documents or make notes as you read something while waiting in line or on a plane.

5. Googalyer – This web research tool an open-source, tabbed web browser with built-in note-taking, web-clipping, outlining and bibliographic tools. The idea is to consolidate these different aspects of web research into one application. This way you can have multiple research projects with all the relevant information kept in one place, without getting information from different projects mixed up. If you do a lot of research online, and want to be able to do it remotely, this is a good app.

New apps for the Iphone are constantly being developed, both by Apple and by other developers. As time goes on, there will be more and more open source, free applications you can download to your Iphone. Keep on the lookout for more good research and business tools. Using your Iphone to help keep track of your thoughts, ideas and research while you’re out and about is a great way to keep working on that most important project – even when you’re not supposed to be working.

This article was guess blog by my friend Phyllis Zerkle who blogs about how to choose among the best masters degree programs.

Download the slide of the Reactive Distillation Lecture slides, click here.