textfiles/drugs/MARYJANE/h_fuel.txt

HEMP FOR  FUEL  Compiled by the Business Alliance for Commerce
in Hemp  (BACH).
 
     Biomass  conversion   to  fuel  has  proven  economically
feasible,  first   in  laboratory   tests  and  by  continuous
operation of  pilot plants in field tests since 1973. When the
energy crop  is growing  it takes in CO2 from the air, so when
it is burned the CO2 is released, creating a balanced system.
 
     Biomass is  the term  used to  describe all  biologically
produced matter.  World production  of biomass is estimated at
146 billion metric tons a year, mostly wild plant growth. Some
farm crops and trees can produce up to 20 metric tons per acre
of biomass  a year.  Types of algae and grasses may produce 50
metric tons per year.
 
     This biomass  has a  heating value  of 5000-8000  BTU/lb,
with virtually  no ash  or sulfur  produced during combustion.
About 6%  of contiguous  United  States  land  area  put  into
cultivation for  biomass could  supply all current demands for
oil and gas.
 
     The foundation  upon which  this will  be achieved is the
emerging concept of "energy farming," wherein farmers grow and
harvest crops for biomass conversion to fuels.
 
     Pyrolysis is  the technique  of  applying  high  heat  to
organic matter  (lignocellulosic materials)  in the absence of
air or  in reduced  air. The  process  can  produce  charcoal,
condensable  organic   liquids  (pyrolitic   fuel  oil),  non-
condensable gasses,  acetic acid,  acetone, and  methanol. The
process can be adjusted to favor charcoal, pyrolytic oil, gas,
or methanol production with a 95.5% fuel-to-feed efficiency.
 
     Pyrolysis has  been used  since the dawn of civilization.
Ancient Egyptians  practiced wood  distillation by  collecting
the tars  and pyroligneous  acid for  use in  their  embalming
industry.
 
     Methanol-powered automobiles  and reduced  emissions from
coal-fired  power   plants  can  be  accomplished  by  biomass
conversion to  fuel utilizing pyrolysis technology and at the
same time  save the  American family  farm while  turning  the
American heartland  into a  prosperous source  of clean energy
production.
 
     Pyrolysis has  the advantage of using the same technology
now used  to process  crude fossil fuel oil and coal. Coal and
oil conversion  is more  efficient in  terms  of  fuel-to-feed
ratio,  but   biomass  conversion   by  pyrolysis   has   many
environmental and economic advantages over coal and oil.
 
     Pyrolysis facilities  will run  three shifts  a day. Some
68% of  the energy of the raw biomass will be contained in the
charcoal and fuel oils made at the facility. This charcoal has
nearly the  same heating  value in BTU as coal, with virtually
no sulfur.
 
     Pyrolytic fuel  oil has  similar properties  to no. 2 and
no. 6  fuel oil.  The charcoal can be transported economically
by rail to all urban area power plants generating electricity.
The fuel  oil can  be  transported  economically  by  trucking
creating more  jobs  for  Americans.  When  these  plants  use
charcoal instead of coal, the problems of acid rain will begin
to disappear.
 
     When this  energy system  is on  line producing  a steady
supply of  fuel for  electrical power  plants, it will be more
feasible to  build the  complex gasifying  systems to  produce
methanol from  the cubed  biomass, or  make synthetic gasoline
from the  methanol by  the addition  of the  Mobil Co. process
equipment to the gasifier.
 
 
     Farmers must be allowed to grow an energy crop capable of
producing 10  tons per  acre in 90-120 days. This crop must be
woody in nature and high in lignocellulose. It must be able to
grow in all climactic zones in America.
 
     And it  should not  compete with  food crops for the most
productive land,  but be  grown in rotation with food crops or
on marginal land where food crop production isn't profitable.
 
     When farmers  can make  a profit  growing energy, it will
not take long to get 6% of continental American land mass into
cultivation of  biomass fuel  -enough to replace our economy's
dependence on  fossil fuels.  We will  no longer be increasing
the CO2  burden  in  the  atmosphere.  The  threat  of  global
greenhouse warming and adverse climactic change will diminish.
 
     To keep costs down, pyrolysis reactors need to be located
within a  50 mile  radius of  the energy farms. This necessity
will bring  life back  to our  small towns  by providing  jobs
locally.
 
     Hemp is  the number one biomass producer on planet earth:
10 tons  per acre  in approximately four months. It is a woody
plant containing 77% cellulose. Wood produces 60% cellulose.
 
     This energy  crop can be harvested with equipment readily
available.  It   can  be   "cubed"  by  modifying  hay  cubing
equipment. This  method condenses  the bulk, reducing trucking
costs from the field to the pyrolysis reactor. And the biomass
cubes are ready for conversion with no further treatment.
 
     Hemp is drought resistant, making it an ideal crop in the
dry western  regions of  the country. Hemp is the only biomass
resource capable of making America energy independent. And our
government outlawed it in 1938.
 
     Remember, in  10 years,  by the  year 2000,  America will
have exhausted  80% of her petroleum reserves. Will we then go
to war  with the  Arabs for the privilege of driving our cars;
will we  stripmine our land for coal, and poison our air so we
can drive  our autos  an extra  100 years;  will we  raze  our
forests for our energy needs?
 
     During World  War II,  our supply  of hemp was cut off by
the  Japanese.   The  federal   government  responded  to  the
emergency  by   suspending  marijuana  prohibition.  Patriotic
American farmers  were encouraged  to apply  for a  license to
cultivate hemp and  responded  enthusiastically.  Hundreds  of
thousands of acres of hemp were grown.
 
     The argument  against hemp production does not hold up to
scrutiny:  hemp  grown  for  biomass  makes  very  poor  grade
marijuana. The  20 to 40 million Americans who smoke marijuana
would loath  to smoke  hemp grown  for biomass,  so a farmer's
hemp biomass crop is worthless as marijuana.
 
     It is  time the  government once  again  respond  to  our
economic emergency  as they  did in WWII to permit our farmers
to grow  American hemp  so this  mighty nation  can once again
become energy independent and smog free.
 
     For more  information on  the many  uses of hemp, contact
the Business  Alliance for Commerce in Hemp, Box 71093, LA, CA
90071-0093