[Dioxin-l] Fwd: PAPER MILL SLUDGE = ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY FUEL ??

[Delores Broten]

This "green chemistry" process creates levulinic acid from sludge:

   Building upon the levulinic acid production process
developed by Biofine Corp., Pacific
                    Northwest provides a patented catalysis process that
upgrades the levulinic acid to produce
                    methyltetrahydrofuran, or MTHF, for use in clean,
alternative fuels and chemicals.

My question is what happens when you burn MTHF in gasoline which is refined 
using chlorine in the process, as some of ours in Canada is....

Delores



>http://www.pnl.gov/breakthroughs/fall99/trash.html
>
>Future Fill-ups May Use Paper Mill                    Waste
>
>One man's trash is another man's treasure, or so goes
>
>                    the popular saying. At the U. S. Department of
>                    Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
>                    waste materials such as byproducts from paper mills
>                    are becoming treasure thanks to a process that
>enables
>                    the cost-effective production of environmentally
>                    friendly fuels and other promising chemicals from
>                    low-value or waste biomass.
>
>                    Paper mill sludge, an organic waste product that can be
>                    damaging to the environment, is cumbersome for mill
>                    operators to manage since it accumulates rapidly
>during operation. Current management options include drying
>and spreading the sludge on land,
>                    composting or transporting the material for deposit
>at landfills.
>
>                    Research and technology demonstrations show that an
>important, multipurpose chemical called
>                    levulinic acid, which normally is produced from
>refined petroleum, can be produced from
>                    biomass such as paper mill sludge at a whopping
>one-tenth the cost of current manufacturing
>                    processes.
>
>                    Building upon the levulinic acid production process
>developed by Biofine Corp., Pacific
>                    Northwest provides a patented catalysis process that
>upgrades the levulinic acid to produce
>                    methyltetrahydrofuran, or MTHF, for use in clean,
>alternative fuels and chemicals. This process
>                    doesn't create harmful pollutants or emit greenhouse
>gases and requires less energy for
>                    production.
>
>                    The environmental benefits of combining these two
>processes are so promising and crosscutting
>                    to the chemical industry that it received one of five
>1999 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge
>                    Awards. "Green Chemistry" is the use of chemistry for
>pollution prevention and the design of
>                    chemical products and processes that reduce negative
>i....etc etc.

Delores Broten, Executive Director,
Reach for Unbleached,
Box 39, Whaletown
British Columbia Canada V0P 1Z0

Ph/fax: 250-935-6992
E-mail: dbroten@rfu.org

http://www.rfu.org