[en] The E85 is a fuel realized by a direct and a majority mixing of ethanol in non modified unleaded galena. Created in June 2006, this working group aims to analyze the success conditions of the E85 operating and manage the involved people around a common plan. This report presents the E85 characteristics, shows the economical and environmental interest of the project, provides recommendations and concludes with ten proposals. (A.L.B.)

[en] World methanol uses, production capacity for 1996 to 2000, and the overall fundamental facts about methanol consumption and supply are reviewed. Results suggest that the use of methanol as a fuel is growing rapidly and it is also tied directly with the MTBE fuel oxygenate. Methanol is competing directly with liquefied natural gas, particularly as the average cash cost of production is decreasing. Fundamentals of methanol economics are outlined, showing that with minor exceptions, methanol pricing reflects commodity products in general. There is no historical reason to expect that these fundamentals will change in the near future. In view of that, the best strategy to maintain market share is to be the lowest cost producer, keeping up efforts to enlarge markets, focusing on reliability of the product, and on economics of scale, technology and finance. Reducing capital and operating cost, and paying close attention to freight costs are equally important strategy components. Issues concerning traditional gas purchasing strategies for North American chemical companies, factors responsible for gas price volatility, and approaches to gas purchasing are also addressed. tabs., figs

[en] In this work, an active micro direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) system employing the catalytic combustor as the heating device is developed in order to maintain the optimum cell temperature and achieve the best cell performance. A passive feed method, combining both the saturator and the wick, is adopted to supply sufficient methanol into the micro combustor. The feasibility and the superiorities of the active μDMFC system are validated experimentally. The experimental results show that the combustor can start spontaneously and quickly at the ambient temperature of 298 K and the control unit can efficiently keep the cell temperature around the optimum value. The proposed active μDMFC system also performs much better than the conventional one at the ambient temperature of 298 K. Moreover, the performance and stability of the active μDMFC system at 298 K and the conventional one at 338 K are compared and analyzed respectively. The results verify that the active μDMFC system can real-time control the cell temperature and prevent overtemperature. Therefore, the active μDMFC system greatly increases the cell performance and stability. The active μDMFC system presented in this research also has great potential for portable applications. - Highlights: • A novel active μDMFC system is developed to solve the heat manage problem. • The micro catalytic combustor is employed as the heating device. • An electronic control unit is programmed to maintain the optimum cell temperature. • The presented active μDMFC system shows better performance and great stability.

[en] One of the important compounds that were used in the structural ceramic is aluminum. During the last years, a variety of synthesis methods have been developed to obtain raw materials with suitable characteristics in terms of the particle composition, size and shape. The controlled precipitation method (CPM) allows reaching these demands and with this method it is possible to control the synthesis one so as to guarantee characteristics of ceramic powder. One stage of the CPM is the formation of the intermediate complexes of cation whose oxide is necessary. In this work the effect of the concentration and the solvent of wash during this process are indicated. For this study we used potentiometric titration to follow the advancement of the process. We utilized XRD and tem to characterize the solid phase present in the system

[en] In this report, the mass and energy balance along with a land-to-wheel Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is described for a corn stover-to-ethanol industrial process assumed to consist of the main technologies being researched at ENEA TRISAIA: pretreatment by steam explosion and enzymatic hydrolysis. The modelled plant has a processing capacity of 60kt/y (dimensioned on realistic supplying basins of residues in Italy); biomass is pre-treated by acid catalyzed-steam explosion; cellulose and hemicelluloses are hydrolyzed and separately fermented; enzymes are on-site produced. The main target was to minimize the consumption of fresh water, enzymes and energy. The results indicate that the production of 1kg bio ethanol (95.4 wt%) requires 3.5 kg biomass dry matter and produces an energy surplus up to 740 Wh. The main purpose of the LCA analysis was to assess the environmental impact of the entire life cycle from the bio ethanol production up to its end-use as E10 blended gasoline. Boustead Model was used as tool to compile the life cycle inventory. The results obtained and discussed in this reports suffer of some limitations deriving from the following main points: some process yields have been extrapolated according to optimistic development scenarios; the energy and steam recovery could be lower than that projected because of lacks in the real systems; water recycle could be limited by the yeast tolerance toward the potential accumulation of toxic compounds. Nevertheless, the detailed process analysis here provided has its usefulness in: showing the challenging targets (even if they are ambitious) to bet on to make the integrated process feasible; driving the choice of the most suitable technologies to bypass some process bottlenecks

[en] This paper investigates a question sometimes overlooked by policymakers and regulators, namely the need of a robust value proposition for green technologies to successfully enter the market. In particular, results from consumer choice models are used to develop measures of consumer acceptance of ethanol blends and flex-fuel vehicles is studied, a fuel-vehicle system that has received attention in a variety of federal and state policies. The analysis suggests that, under projected fuel prices and given the characteristics of the competing vehicle-fuel systems, consumers are unlikely to substitute ethanol blends for gasoline. The analysis also highlights the need for further research in this area. (author)

[en] This report evaluates a simplified technique for estimating methanol emission rates in auto exhaust. The technique, referred to as the FID Bubbled Method or FBM, is based in principle on the fact that, while hydrocarbons are not readily absorbed in water, methanol is. Hence, by using a heated flame ionization detector to measure the organic mass in samples before and after bubbling them in water, the quantity of methanol originally present can be estimated by taking the difference between the measurements. Evaluation of the method was done by comparing methanol measurements using the FBM with measurements made using an established reference method. Results showed poor to fair agreement between the two methods. The FBM appeared better at estimating methanol emission rates from evaporative tests than from exhaust tests and also exhibited better accuracy for samples containing higher levels of methanol

No abstract available

[en] We successfully characterized the effect of methanol treatment on the nanoscopic structures of a nafion film, which is widely used in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to repetitively image a particular region of a nafion sample before and after methanol solutions were dropped onto the nafion film and dried in air. When the surface was treated with 20% methanol for 5 min, many nanopores appeared on the surface. The number of nanopores increased when the sample was treated twice or thrice. By repetitive AFM imaging of a particular region of the same sample, we found that the shapes of the nanopores were deformed by the repeated methanol treatment, although the size of the nanopores had not significantly changed. The creation of the nanopores was affected by the concentration of methanol. Our results directly visualized the effects of methanol treatment on the surface structures of a nafion film at nanoscale levels for the first time

[en] Ethanol synthesis by anoxic root segments from Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (A. Murray bis) Parl.); yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (D. Don) Spach); Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.); western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don), and incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens (Torr.) Florin ) was compared to determine whether the amounts that they produced during flooding could contribute the known greater vulnerability of Port Orford cedar to infection by Phytophthora lateralis Tucker & Milbrat. Roots were incubated in water at 5, 15, 25, and 35 °C for 14 days with periodic sampling. After 12 h of anoxic stress, Atlantic white cedar and yellow cedar roots produced equal quantities of ethanol that were about two times more than produced by the other three species, which did not differ from one another. The roots remained anoxic for 14 days, with ethanol concentrations increasing 6 to 11 times depending on the species. After 14 days, Atlantic white cedar remained the highest ethanol producer at two to three times more than the other species, whereas incense cedar yields were the lowest. Yellow cedar, western red cedar, and Port Orford cedar had intermediate levels of ethanol. The similarity in responses of Port Orford cedar to the other species is strong evidence that ethanol is not an important contributor to its known greater vulnerability to P. lateralis infection. In general, root incubation temperature affected ethanol synthesis similarly for all species. Increases in temperature from 5 to 15 °C or 15 to 25 °C doubled the ethanol yields at 12 h. Literature ratings of anaerobic tolerance for these cedars were compared with ratings based on their ethanol yields after 12 h or 14 days of anoxia. The latter rating appears to more closely correspond with the cedars associations to wet, mesic environments and their likelihood of experiencing anoxia via flooding. (author)