- Research PSU scientist turning wood to liquid energy liff Johnson e are all running an energy race against time It a a race which some scientists. including PSU's new Dean of the College of Science, Dr. W~il~am Paudier, lnslst that we will lose by the year 2030 unless something is An"- - 30n. Pauc find a v dunng Chemls Univer: threshc Iier, who began research lo vay to help cure the problem the eight years he headedthe ;try Department at the iiiy of Alabama, is on the #Idof perfectinga "stop-gap" lrlyl source, wh~chhe calls a "liquifted wood." The breakthrough promlses a slgntflcantly hlgher energy yield than that of other fossil fuels, and is derlved from a renewable resource as weil. Further. its use would not generate some of the harmful contaminantswhich occur when other more common fossli fueis such as coal and oil are employed. The process Paudler is exploring "basically is converting wood to coal in a one-step chemical reaction, rather than waiting for nature to convert the wood Into coal, wh~ch takes thousands of years." he explains. Using thls renewable enerav resource. Paudler's orocess yleidlng "liqulfied wood which ca6' be transported through pipel~neslike 011,at much less wst than shipping Y solid fuels overland. Describing his wood conversion process IS relatlveiyslmple. Nothing exotic IS reauired.Basicalh, wood IS heated In a'closed chamber In the reactlon by chemi~ally"strfpp~nagll the oxygen away from the wood It is well known that the more oxygen is present In a molecule of wood, the less energy-richthe wood is Consequently, the more the oxygen content can be reduced, the more the energy content of the remaining chem~catsin the wood will be increased Paudler and his assistants already can take wood, grlnd 11into ch~ps, William Paudler put it into a reactor, add a catalyst plus hydrogengas, then heat the mixture to 350 or 400 dearees Fahrenhe~ta. nd come uow~lha product "whlch has the properties, essent~ally,of clean ltqulfted coal." Paudler says. Next on hts agenda at PSU is to figure a way to make the new process happen most efficiently,and on a much larger scale, so that it can be employed commercially "We have not yet deltneated the optlmum conditions for these conversions. Also, we have looked at cellulose and bark, but we have not yet looked at convening raw wood, bark and all. SOthere's still a lot of work to do." ""- One major way Paudler thinks the "liqulfled wood could be used commerciallvwould be as a generated from the decompositionof oil. whlch currently are used In large quantittes to make textlles and synthetics. He IS convincedthat timber industrtes have an important stake in perfecting this process, because it holds the promlseof reducing pollution levels caused by the ord~naryburn~ngof wood waste, which will be to thetr benefit In the long run. By using the wood by-productsand subjecttng them to Paudleis converston process. the hlghly toxic sulphur and nltrogen compounds proauced when coal is burned are avoided. Paudler questions the current Drocess involv~nathe enzvmatic degradation of wood into alochol - commonly called "gasohol" -since the resulting energy yield is comparatively low, when one compares it to the potential power whtch a total wwd converslon process promises. The thought of canying out his research on this "llqulhed w o w energy source in a state heavily tied to the llmber economv was a maior conslderatlon for ~audler.when he 1 rst rorsdered acccptmg thc top posltl3n in PSUs Co pge of Scence how that he nas srrtlen nto n s new olf ce rnough nc faces a tro-olng setoacd how to rase more Iunos lo cont n,e nls researcn There seems to be a vet) s gn,l cant lntcrest In Eurupe for th s 6nd of 'esearcn. ' mJsrd Pa~o8er. 0-1 n th8s co~ntryI. naven 1 d scovered 11yet ' Recent anlcles p~b.tshed In w o respected,ournals c9nccmtna Pa-dler s nev. cncral cycllng process have promptedu' "many, many phone calls" and numerous requests for reprints, he adds, but so far no new Industry support for his research has surtaced. Paudler views the mtential Commercial exploitatibn of his new process as one more contribution toward making the United States less deoendent on foreinn enernv sobrces But he 1s StlllieiZh~nfo~r the suo~orot f an Interestedwood products Industry to help enable Amer~cato take the next step toward that goal.
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