Butanol vs Ethanol

And now a word about Butanol. I didn’t know about this alternative to Ethanol until I picked up the November, 2006 edition of the Sucessful Farming magazine when I got bored waiting in an office. In June, DuPont and BP announced plans to make it from sugar beets in Britain and to sell it next year. In July, 2005, inventor and founder of Environmental Energy, Inc., David Ramey, drove across the U.S. on it.

“There’s no conversion of anything in the car. You can burn 100%. It gets better torque, better mileage,” he says.

Just what is butanol? It’s an alcohol. Here’s the chemistry: A molecule of methanol, or wood alcohol, has one carbon atom. Ethanol has two. Butanol has four. Extra carbon packs more Btu’s into butanol. A gallon has about 110,000 Btu’s, nearly the same as gasoline. Ethanol has 84,000 Btu’s.

Ramey says ethanol plants could be retrofitted to make butanol. The front end and back would be the same. The middle -fermentation- differs. Instead of turning sugar into ethanol with yeast, a bacteria converts starch to butanol, a clear liquid that, unlike ethanol, is toxic.

How soon to market?

Butanol isn’t new. Bacterial production of it dates to 1916. It ran Japanese planess in World War II. Today it’s derived from petroleum for use as a paint thinner and industrial solvent. Until now bacterial production of butanol wasn’t efficient, Ramey says. A bushel of corn makes 1.3 gallons of butanol, plus acetone, and a little ethanol. A bushel of corn yields 2.5 gallons of ethanol or more.

With federal grants, Ramey has patented a process that uses two bacteria to make only butanol from plant materials, putting it on par with ethanol. It has advantages. It easily blends with either gas or ethanol, (which DuPont and BP plan to do). It can be shipped in pipelines.

Still, Ramey says it’s at least two to three years from commercial use. DuPont spokesperson Michelle Reardon says DuPont and BP, “will likely use exisiting technology to get it into the market quickly.” Ultimately ” we’re talking about making it with a new type of organism.” BP is hoping for that before 2010. To see more on this go to BUTANOL

Council update

I’m having a little trouble with today’s City council update. The second paragraph goes as follows-
The Editorial Board seemed interested and supportive of efforts to revitalize the riverfront, downtown and neighborhoods. Editorial Board members also seemed to agree that the fundamental principals of city revitalization include demonstrated public commitment to improving the public realm, building strong intergovernmental and private/public partnerships while at the same time moving forward on multiple fronts with neighborhood focused improvements and public safety enhancements. The false choice of being for service improvements or for tax base supports service delivery and that expanding the tax base requires investment and sustained commitment.

Say what? The last sentence still has me scratching my head. I think Malin has way too much time on his hands. On a lighter note, congratulations to QCI for getting mentioned on the second page. Look over the update and let me know what you think.

Gobble open thread

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Since it is a holiday, I’m going to do an open thread so if anyone can stay awake after dinner, they can post their thoughts.

It looks like the hotel for the Rythm City Casino is still a go. From what I hear there should be news later this month or early December. IOC representatives are committed to (at least) the level of investment in Davenport as established in last year’s development agreement.They are reviewing options to optimize and / or increase that investment in response to recent changes in the market and in response to last year’s significant reduction (in space and time) of their “footprint” on our riverfront.

Here is an excerpt from the petition filed by the city against Sugar’s and the owner of the building at 1037 West 3rd. Street-
Planitiff is informed and believes and, based upon such information and belief, alleges that defendant Dorothy Sampson is the lessee of the aforementioned premises, which she has been using, occupying and maintaining for lewdness, assignation and prostitution, thereby maintaining a nuisance subject to abatement under Iowa Code 99.1A and 364.12, and Davenport Municipal Code Chapter 8.12 and Article V of the Special Charter of the City of Davenport.

Iowa is talking of raising the tax on gasoline because as good citizens we have been using less. Since we’re using less gas, they get less tax to repair the roads. So instead of getting by with a little less, being the government, their answer is raise the tax.

The RME is still surrounded by rumors. Let’s hope it makes it. The Figge is another sore subject for many. I heard they charge too high a price for the artwork displayed. I also heard they need to expand the art display to the top floor. I think they need a director.

The DOC is still looking for a place to spend their $10.5 million State check. If they can’t; will the State let them keep it?

The skatepark came up while bench racing with buddies today, but nobody had heard anything bad about it. So if anyone is getting robbed or hurt, it’s not making the news. There’s a few suggestions, but as an open thread feel free to bring up anything as long as it’s not immoral, illegal, or fattening.

Trying to close Sugar’s

The City filed a nuisance abatement against the building Sugar’s is in. If successful it will put Sugar’s out of business and the building’s owner without a renter for one year. For more go to the QC Times.

This would ensure that the owner of the building couldn’t rent it to anyone for one year, and be a first step in putting Sugar’s out of business. If this goes through, Sugar’s couldn’t get a business license in this city. The petition looks to be solid and cites times and dates of undercover stings, search warrants, and the refusal of the owner of Sugar’s and the owner of the building to obey other court orders. Remember people, a local judge let these people stay open.

Over at davenport snarkiness she has a similar post. You should check it out.

Addendum-

I do have a copy of the petition on a pdf file. I could email it as an attachment is anyone is interested. It is big, over 3 megabytes, you can email me at- cruisaholic@hotmail.com
Or, if enough interest is shown, I could put it up as a post.

Fuel cell safety

On Sunday, in Homestead, Fla., Juan Montoya had a fiery crash when his fuel cell failed when he hit the wall with 15 laps to go. What a way to end his first Nextel race. Greg Biffle winning the Ford 400 was overshadowed by Jimmie Johnson winning the championship.

The results of the race are as follows-

Pos. Driver Make

1. Greg Biffle Ford
2. Martin Truex Jr. Chevy
3. Denny Hamlin Chevy
4. Kasey Kahne Dodge
5. Kevin Harvick Chevy
6. Matt Kenseth Ford
7. Scott Riggs Dodge
8. Carl Edwards Ford
9. Jimmie Johnson Chevy
10. Clint Bowyer Chevy

I thought one of the main reasons for a fuel cell was to prevent fires like this. It’s a good thing he could get out the car so fast. If he had been knocked out, it might not have been so pretty.

Another open thread

I’m still working on the remodel that should have been done yesterday. So I thought I’d post some thoughts and have another open thread.

Seems to me like the Michael Richards blow up was on the news way too long. He’s human, he messed up, move on.

No American made cars on the 10 safest list. There were however, at least 2 on the 10 worst list.

The RME question still hasn’t really been answered. How can they keep going with only 5 volunteers?

The halfway house deal has been quiet since they decided against the old Sears building. I wish them luck in their hunt for new space.

I’ll get a little raunchy before I go with someone’s take on the meaning of life-

Life is all about ass!!

You are either:

covering it,
laughing it off,
kicking it,
kissing it,
busting it,
trying to get a piece of it,
behaving like one,
or living with one.

Nobody knows what you’re thinking, so post and let us know.

Of ex-cons and Parole officers

It would seem by the QC Times Editorial page that they are in favor of keeping the halfway house here. The 7th. Judicial District encompasses 5 counties; did Davenport get this because of it’s crime rate? They’ll put it here because they already got a $10 million legislative appropriation to double it’s size. My question to the people who want to put it in is this; if 76% of the ex-cons who go through the program get rehabilitated, what about the other 24% who don’t? Out of 84 ex-cons there now that would mean around 20 have no intention of going straight. Why not put it in another county and let us get our crime under control rather than add 20 more criminals to the already high rate. And if they double their size; does that mean 40 ex-cons who won’t be rehabilitated, and 12 sex offenders?

Directly under that editorial is this one titled- “Parole officers shouldn’t be central city landlords”. While they have only found one parolee so far, if they have such a success rate; why does this rental property have so many police calls? It’s just not working guys. And while it’s true they have to live somewhere; why put an ex-con in a high crime area? For that story go to the QC Times.

I have a small remodel tomorrow so I thought I’d post this now. I’ll check back when I get done.

Johnson wins!

Jimmie Johnson won the 2006 Nextel Cup Championship. In a race that had some pretty bad crashes Johnson had to end 13th. or better to win the Championship. Now we get a little break before it all starts over again in Daytona.

Addendum-
He also picked up a check for a cool $6.2 million.

Downtown problems

It seems like there’s a misconception about crime in our downtown. Don’t get me wrong, there are some rough areas that need work, but for the most part I feel it is west of Ripley St. at least. This is causing the RME to lose money, and even though I was against it, now that it’s up I don’t want it to be a money pit. I feel alot of the blame lays in alot of different places. City Adminstrator, City Council, Police Department, and even us citizens.

Why is it our JOD gets the highest rent in the state? Our rates were higher than Des Moines, but if they come down with new team ownership; will the rent still be high? And I, personally, think the city put too much reliance on the parking ramps. We’ve had them before and they weren’t used, but the powers that be thought the new ones would be different. Not so. The over the top enforcement of metered parking to force visitors into the ramps hasn’t worked either. It seems JLCS isn’t doing their job because the parking ramps seem to be the newest homeless shelter.

And the Figge, our multi-million dollar flop, is another planning disaster. Pretty to look at but nobody thought to plan for parking for visitors. It’s really sad that people won’t, or can’t walk a block for something like that.

What about the skybridge? Even with the televised parade when the skybridge was seen, it was far from overflowing. The Charlie Brigade stikes again.

Cars and 5th ward meeting

Just a few odds and ends I’ve been holding on to for a while. The car in the picture is the Holden Effigy concept car.

Bonneville world finals were cancelled this year, the weather just wouldn’t cooperate. For more go to the story.

Liz Miles isn’t a household name yet, but I have a feeling if she keeps up her current pace she will be. This 21 year old woman built her Camaro for racing. When I say built; I mean engine, chassis fabrication, welding, bodywork,and paint. Go to
Miles Racing to see why she’s been in Hot Rod, Good Guys Gazette, and other publications.

Lastly, Monday, November 20th., at 6 p.m., Bill Lynn will have another 5th ward meeting. It will be held at the Rogalski Center, St. Ambrose College, on Lombard Street between Ripley and Scott Streets. I’m going to try to make this one. Anything else going on, or bugging anyone?

Addendum-
Alderman Lynn’s website, if you want more infor is at ProfBillLynn.com