Quote:
Originally Posted by monkeylizard
So what is the source of energy gor these plasma torches? What percentage of energy equivalent ethanol would be needed to fuel these torches? Is there a net energy source output greater than input? My guess is coal is the input fuel. If so, are we really just converting coal energy combined with cellulose from feedstock for ethanol? I'm just curious about the energy breakdown here.
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There was an article about something that sounds similar in Popular Science last year. I found a copy of the article here:
http://www.michaelbehar.com/popsci/longo.html
[EDIT] That's MichaelBehar.com, Michael Behar wrote the article for Popular Science. The official article is here:
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/articl...rophet-garbage [/EDIT]
They claim the process is efficient enough that the fuel generated by it can be used to power the plasma torch with plenty left over.
I hope it's self-sustaining, because it wouldn't be nearly as useful if they need separate electrical power from coal to run the thing. There are already other processes to convert coal to crude oil, this plasma machine just adds an extra step.