The St. Croix River rises in the northwestern corner of Wisconsin, out of Upper St. Croix Lake in Douglas County, near Solon Springs, approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of Lake Superior. It flows south to Gordon, then southwest. It is joined by the Namekagon River in northern Burnett County, where it becomes significantly wider. A few miles downstream the St. Croix meets the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin, which it demarcates for another 130 miles (210 km) until its confluence with the Mississippi River.

The 1837 Treaty of St. Peters with the Ojibwe was signed at St. Peters (now Mendota) which ceded to the United States government a vast tract of land in what today is north central Wisconsin and east central Minnesota, roughly bounded by the Prairie du Chien Line in the south, Mississippi River in the west, St. Croix and Chippewa River watersheds in the north, and a 25-mile parallel east of the Wisconsin River in the east. This opened the region to logging. The river was important to the transportation of lumber downstream, from the areas where it was being cut to the sawmills that processed it. During the 1840s, important sawmills were located at St. Croix Falls and Marine on St. Croix, but as the 1850s progressed Stillwater became the primary lumber destination. During this time the population of Stillwater boomed, several additional sawmills were opened, and the town saw an influx of capital, primarily from lumber companies based downriver in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1856 construction began on a boom site two miles north of Stillwater, which was used to store and sort the lumber floating downstream and remained in operation for over fifty years.[1]:102 The St. Croix Boom Site is now a wayside rest and National Historic Landmark along Minnesota State Highway 95.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Croix_River_%28Wisconsin%E2%80%93Minnesota%29

Buying the Mansion, A “Monster House”

The St. Croix River flows to the east of Stillwater, Minnesota and to the west of the State of Wisconsin. In 1990 the man of this story, and the woman whom he then called Wife_v1.18 bought their Stillwater Victorian Mansion located up on the South Hill bluff that overlooked the St. Croix River. The Mansion was on the hill south of the Myrtle Street West road which lays in the valley climbing out of Stillwater and heading west towards Mahatomedi and White Bear Lake. They bought their Mansion (the “Monster House”) in 1990 when he was forty years old and his wife was two years younger than her husband. Their son was age 11 and their daughter was age 5. The purchase resulted in the children being moved from the Mahtomedi school district to the Stillwater school district.

Prior to buying the Victorian Manson, the man and wife spent many a Saturday and Sunday driving throughout Washington County in search of a new home. When they pulled their car up to a particularly large house, the husband would remark “That’s a Monster House”. Having finally settled upon moving to Stillwater, it took some time before they finally found several houses that might be acceptable but were not exactly what they had in mind. The realtor suggested the couple look at the Victorian Mansion although the man and wife were fairly certain that they were not going to purchase a Victorian home as they had not been drawn to any they had looked at to this point. The children were along for this visit to the Victorian. When the family drove up to the house, the man uttered the words “It’s a Monster House”, whereupon the daughter, sitting in the back seat of the car with her brother, burst into tears and wailed: “I don’t want to live in a Monster’s house!” It was explained to the little girl that her father meant that the house was very huge, not that it belonged to monsters.

Not too long after the purchase of the house, the son declared that there was a secret passage in the house. “It’s in the basement.” he declared. The man and wife asked him to point out where the passage was located. They went to the basement and the boy pointed to a metal plate that had been affixed to the chimney to cover an opening made for a stove pipe in the past. “Take that cover off and you can climb in there and get into the passage.” the boy insisted. The man and wife took their son a short distance into the adjacent room housing the boiler that heated water to make steam for the radiators still used for heating the house. There, they pointed out the other side of the chimney opposite the metal plate, showing their son that there was no passage that connected to the other side of the chimney.

Legend of the Upper Cave Entrance

There is a Stillwater legend persisting to this very day of one particular house built upon the bluff west of Stillwater upon an open cave entrance that the wealthy owner had incorporated behind a cleverly disguised secret panel in the basement. Perhaps that legend is the source of the son’s believing that upper entrance did indeed lead from the Mansion down through the mushroom and beer caves of a newly founded and thriving Stillwater. Such are the imaginings of an eleven year old boy.

1848 Stillwater Founded

Stillwater was platted in 1848, a town of about 600 people, nearly all lumbermen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stillwater,_Minnesota

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=1848+Stillwater+Founded&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=1848+Stillwater+Founded&psj=1&fp=8b4d4706f280eb45

http://projects.wchsmn.org/communities/stillwater/

By way of comparison, Saint Paul was platted in 1847; two years later it was named the capital of the Minnesota Territory and incorporated as a town. Saint Paul received its city charter in 1854 and when Minnesota became a state in 1858, the city retained its status as state capital. By the start of the Civil War, 10,000 people lived in Saint Paul. Saint Paul has the reputation of it being “born of whiskey”.

[01.001.03 St. Paul, Born of Whiskey]
Google Books Page

Asa Batchelder Story

Was it actually Asa Batchelder who commissioned the house to be built in 1861 prior to returning home to fight in the Civil War? Or was it the husband of Anne Batchelder who was the bride of a steamboat Pilot? Who actually built the Mansion is still a mystery. One likely suspect that fits most of the evidence is Asa Batchelder.

310 BATCHELDER GENEALOGY.

1950. ASA BATCHELDER (Stephen, Stephen, James, John, Stephen, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Stephen), b. Wellington, Me., July 17, 1S35; m. at West Levant, Me., April 2, 1865, Sara A. Bartlett, b. March 20, 1845. He was educated in common school, Levant, Me. ; at seventeen began work as ship carpenter, Brewer, Me. ; in spring of ’55 went to Pennsylvania, engaged in lumber business for one year; in spring of ’56 went to Minnesota and was engaged in steamboating for two years; then returned to Maine and resumed ship carpentry as an occupation until he enlisted in the First Maine Heavy Artillery in July 30, 1862; served three years as private; never lost day’s duty, was never on sick list; was in Salisbury prison for six months; was married at close of war; moved to Lancaster, N. H. ; manufactured oars until 1881, when he moved with his family to So. Stillwater, Minn. ; have made business sojourns through most of the western states. Res. So. Stillwater, Minn.

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/frederick-clifton-pierce/batchelder-batcheller-genealogy-descendants-of-rev-stephen-bachiler-of-engla-rei/page-49-batchelder-batcheller-genealogy-descendants-of-rev-stephen-bachiler-of-engla-rei.shtml

1861 Building a Stillwater Mansion

One theory is that the house records of construction and that the confusion of memories has set the year as 1861 when it was, in fact, the year was 1881.

1863 Expanding a Stillwater Mansion

18?? Second Owners of Mansion

One of the brothers was a doctor or veterinarian and the other had a reputation as a drinker. He used to toss his empty whiskey bottles into the cistern to hide his drinking. They might have lived in bachelor pads divided out of the Batchelder Mansion™ up on Chestnut Hill. It was prudent to live up on the hill because of the flooding down below in the valley carved by the St. Croix river valley during the times of the melting of the glaciers. It was during the times of the onrush of the hardwood forests of the St. Croix river valley that the story really begins.

1957 or ’58 Third Owners of Mansion

L bought the house from the Batchelder boys who were old men by this time.

1983 or ’84 Fourth Owners of Mansion

The son R who owns an old home restoration business bought the house from his father L.

1990 Fifth Owners of Mansion

The Mansion™ was bought from a man R who had, a few years previously, bought the Mansion from his father L. Now it had come to pass many years before that L had bought the home from the Batchelder boys, who were the sons of the a riverboat Captain, like his father and grandfather before him. By fanciful daydreaming, probably descended from several generations of riverboat Captains spread back up the Ohio river valley going back to the times of the Revolutionary War and before that the original Batchelder Patriarch who came over on the Mayflower.

1991 Sunroom Begun

The surface of the Earth is covered with gravity wells that collect rainwater runoff. One such rain catchment area up Brown’s Creek way provides drinking water for the downtown residents of Stillwater. Brown’s Creek flows into the St. Croix River. In this manner did the man drink routinely of the waters of the St. Croix River. When a man drinks the waters of a place for long enough it may be truly said that man has that watershed in his blood. The man became a man of the St. Croix River valley.

1992 Sunroom Underway

It became the Spring of 1992.

1993 Batchelder Boys Visit

Lyle working in yard, sunroom had been added (1991)
summer of 1993
Batchelder boys stopped by. Their mother painted the woodwork in the living room because she thought it was too dark. Stained to match the Cherry fireplace mantle.
2nd Owner — relative of Batchelder. Two brothers (grandpa and great uncle of boys who visited.

2000 Man Runs Against Michelle Bachman/h3>

The man ran against Michelle Bachman for the seat of Minnesota State Senator. He lost that election. Perhaps there exist Washington County residents who would now change their vote if History had Rewind and Replay buttons.

2004 Man and Wife_v1.32 List Mansion For Sale

2005 Man And Wife_v1.33 Sell Mansion

2011 Man And Wife_v1. Board Shakespeare™

The Shakespeare™ lay floating cross-wise to the current with her fore ramp lay upon the dock. [...to be continued]
–
Sunday, February 6, 2011 01.001.03 Stillwater, Minnesota, Saint Croix River

THE END — Stillwater, Minnesota, St. Croix River

RESOURCES FOR FUTURE EXPLORATION

http://www.mnhs.org/people/photographers/galleries.htm

This URL provides a comprehensive list of known photographers in Minnesota.

Black & Batchelder
Locations:
     Address:
Halmrast Brothers
Principal: Halmrast, Gustav
Principal: Halmrast, Andrew
Locations:
     Address: 531 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota
       Dates of operation: 1894
     Address: 114 South Second, Stillwater, Minnesota
       Dates of operation: 1894-1897, 1900-1901
Decades Worked in Minnesota: 1890s; 1900s
Halmrast Photo Studio
Principal: Halmrast, Gustav
Locations:
     Address: 114 South Second, Stillwater, Minnesota
       Dates of operation: 1914-1915
Decades Worked in Minnesota: 1910s

Halmrast Studio
Principal: Halmrast, Andrew E.
Principal: Halmrast, Eilif
Principal: Halmrast, Ragnhild
Locations:
     Address: 1429 East Franklin, Minneapolis, Minnesota
     Address: 2843 Bloomington Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota
       Dates of operation: 1943-1957
Decades Worked in Minnesota: 1890s; 1900s; 1910s; 1920s; 1930s; 1940s; 1950s
Notes: Established by Andrew E. Halmrast in 1890s, continued by Eilif Halmrast in 1930s and 1940s, and continued by Ragnhild Halmrast in 1940s and 1950s.

Halmrast Studio of Photography
Locations:
     Address: 1619 East Lake, Minneapolis, Minnesota
       Dates of operation: 1974
Decades Worked in Minnesota: 1910s

As we construct the overflow canal waterway system of the Great Plains we will open up vast summer and winter recreational potential for the area. Let it be that humans shall again see the gently guided but mostly unhindered migration patterns of the bison herds as the fences are removed and humans and bison interact with one another again as they did a mere seven score years ago.

Let our world leaders create a vast fence free International Park Preserve carved out of the middle of the the States of South Dakota, North Dakota, and Canadian Provinces to the north. Teddy Roosevelt would order this done by Executive Order if he were here. Is our now sitting President a man of Vision or not? In the matter of creating the fence free bison migration corridor perhaps named North American Grasslands International Park (NAGIP) or some such useful name…this place will be at this intersection of the human species and the Bison (and maybe even the Mammoths arising from their very DNA) herds seeded and left to recover their natural habitat and migration patterns.

AND, when the herds need culling let every part of the animal be handled each in its proper respectful manner…let these words be written into the Act of Congress: “the animal shall be humanely killed and the meat shall be preserved and given freely as high protein food for the poor. Failing all else, the carcass and entrails shall be given to the regional zoo. The skin shall be used in the binding of books and the making of articles of public safety apparel, belts, harnesses, and so forth…it shall be sold in public commerce and all excess profits shall flow automatically and unencumbered into the Housing For Haiti Fund.

AND: let there be computer pollution detection, automated water flow control gates, earthen ditches, concrete where needed, full GPS coordination by an associated wireless network.

COMMENT: Suppose that the Great Plains fences were melted down into plowshares and tractors given freely to farmer cooperatives. That would be a cool adjunct idea.

I will be brief. Were the disaster mine to solve I would advise thusly:

Let the ground heated warm oil and saltwater rise naturally by convection to the surface inside a sluice tube. Apply the principles of Archimedes. Call in a stream of tanker ships to carry the saltwater and oil laden streams away for land based processing and cleanup.

Let the oil and saltwater combination be separated by gravity, each according to its nature, as they crawl their way to the surface doing gravity’s dance of separation. Let the saltwater’s water be recovered by contained condensation. Let the final distilled water be put to some socially conscious purpose. Let some portion of the recovered salts be fired into oblivion in a plasma furnace, as a penance offering to the universe.

Otherwise the Gulf becomes a toxic wasteland for the thousands of years that the oil flows. And it leaks from there into the Gulf Stream current and on some future day perhaps blackens the ice at the poles.

Let it be that the science of the BP oil disaster be taught freely by means of training videos so that all humans might understand the peril of the collapse of civilization that might be triggered by just such a disaster. Explain how it is that science and mathematics are applied and how it was that such an environment threatening technology was loosened upon earth without there being in place some bigger technology prepared and ready to be applied. Let this be a lesson for our posterity.

Let there be formed a Cooperative among the oil Leviathans such that they levy among themselves, each according to its gross revenue, a fee. The combined levy must purchase a mini navy of surface and undersea vessels with equipment designed for the containment of ocean based drilling disasters and spills.

P.S. On a personal note, while you were campaigning in Butte, Montana I was at Chief Plenty Coup’s Spring praying that you would win the election and that you would be granted the wisdom to do good work. I recollect that being around the time of the Fourth of July. Thank you so very much for your efforts and your success on Health Care. We still need the Public Health Nurse Corps to be activated. Thank you also for your support of Financial Reform. You are doing a fabulous job. Thank you for being willing to serve in public office.

P.P.S. Industry and commerce must direct itself to constructing the necessary equipment at the fastest rate possible. This will be beneficial to commerce. It may be a great application of the rocket scientists at Nasa. It will be good for the economy. You have the Executive Authority to command such a first response to an environmental disaster which, upon your watch, may be likened to Chernobyl.

. . . [to be continued, above and below in the presentation URL: http://peaceengine.com/blog/category/environment/

I emailed to this link:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

I emailed this link also:

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/clients/2931/319487.pdf

I posted at Digg:

http://digg.com/political_opinion/Dear_Mr_President_Re_Gulf_Oil_Spill

NOTES ARE BELOW:

The idea is that the warm oil and saltwater rising in a convection sluice tube and being pumped into waiting tankers will work. It might work better with a stream of air injected in at appropriate depths. The sluice tube can be miles long and suspended by buoy.

The oil circulates along the top of the tube and the saltwater tends to flow under the oil. This is the natural effect of a oil/water mixture flowing up a gentle hill at a 3:1 slope. Let the oil flow upward at a gentle slope from the seafloor to the surface.

Pray for no hurricanes aimed at Louisiana.

The proposed clamping assembly is explained below

1. robot affixed magnetic collar
2. iron ring
3. Sluice tube to surface
4. Stream of tankers carrying away mix for land-based processing and cleanup

MORE IDEAS

Perhaps a more gentle 12:1 slope is achieved by a twelve mile long spiral complete with buoys, constructed in pieces in a dry dock, and towed into place for final assembly.

A buoyed single, double, or triple helix descending from the surface of the water to the sea floor might work. The only universal requirement is that it be uphill all the way.

Assuming the structure has near neutral buoyancy it should be easily assembled at the surface and sunk down into the water below the construction on top. Each buoy would need to control its own ballast as it descends. The structural stress would need to be monitored with buoyancy adjusted by the robots.

The cost of constructing a triple helix sluice and getting it to the sea floor is staggering. The alternative has taken thirty days to construct and does not seem to be working very well. Perhaps a combination of the two approaches will work best.

Human civilization demands a clear vision and a steady hand. I urge you, Mr. President to, with all due haste secure the area of the spill and see yourself to the cleanup effort. Let it never be said that, upon your watch the Gulf of Louisiana became an environmental wasteland. BP will repay the United States for such an emergency response mobilization. Perhaps the Coast Guard should be mobilized to build oil/saltwater capture, containment, and transport vessels, ever ready for just such oil spill emergencies, worldwide. As a Nation we owe the World a huge penance for the damage wreaked by the cozy Washington lobbyist political corruption that permitted this to happen in the first place.

OTHER IDEAS AND NOTES

Create an autonomous robot cleaner vessel capable of finding and capturing underwater stray plumes of oil in the open ocean. It will naturally float with its bladder full to the surface of the ocean for easy retrieval. A fleet of such vessels, capable of deployment anywhere on the ocean’s surface, will be an asset whose cost will be recovered on first use from the oil companies involved.

When a surface ship operates, like a mobile cleaner with an oil capturing conveyor belt of membrane buckets, upon the surface of the ocean, it is a different matter. Perhaps, loosen a swarm of such devices surrounding the mother ship, each connected by means of an umbilical cord to the mother ship. Perhaps each oil slick capture ship protrudes a wide scoop and tows a bladder or a tar collection barge.

Assuming such oil spill lapping vessels existed it would be an easier matter to sweep the ocean clean of its oil spills.

If the nation of the United States does not act upon its own to contain the oil and tar, then BP will seek the least cost solution because it is in its nature to do so. The least cost solution is not acceptable. Human civilization must hold itself to a higher standard of morality.

SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010 — HOT OIL BALLOON

Suppose a hot air style balloon skin could be sunk and tethered in place above the oil leak. Vent tubes connected into the top of the balloon could collect the oil and gas mixture and direct it towards the surface. Perhaps this would work by sucking the oil and gas mixture into a tube connected to the surface.

The balloon assemblage, perhaps laid out by robots on the sea floor, could be winched into place by robots in such a manner that the opening of the balloon is pulled across the spill head. Incidentally, by timing the first filling of the balloon the volume flow rate of the spill may be ascertained.

The entire hot oil and gas balloon may be dropped into place from above, adjusted to slightly negative buoyancy for the descent, and guided into place by robots. The natural drag of the water will tend to inflate the balloon and slow its descent.

Once the balloon and its tethered ballast boxes reach the bottom and quickly lose their remaining buoyancy, the balloon will begin to fill. As the balloon fills with oil and gas it will have a tendency to rise up from the sea floor towards the surface of the water. In this regard the balloon will be self filling. If the balloon overfills, the excess oil and gas will leak out the bottom of the balloon.

feed excess carbon-dioxide to methanogen bacteria…they eat carbon-dioxide.

Oliver explained how hydrogenotrophic bacteria (a sub-species of methanogen bacteria) do indeed bond the carbon from carbon-dioxide with hydrogen to produce methane gas.

methanogen bacteria produce methane (natural gas)

Oliver explained the value to civilized society of a stable natural gas supply.

Oliver would have been 94 years old tonight at midnight. He claimed January 25, 1916 as his birthday.

1127 Coal to Liquid Fuel, Plastics, and Concrete

This document researches the important topic of the role of coal, as a strategic raw material of America’s destiny.

This survey of field work follows the process flow from the inputs of coal, bio-mass, and human waste, through the gasification process, and all the way through to the outputs of pure diesel fuel, the emergence of an associated plastics industry, concrete as a useful byproduct, asphalt for roadways, heat for industrial purposes, electricity production, and a continuing list of quantifiable benefits.

. . . The Alarm . . .

Much has been written about the USA’s growing dependence on foreign oil, the limits of oil reserves in the world, the fuel economy of today’s vehicles, and so on and so forth. Depending on who you want to believe, we’re either running out of oil at an alarming rate or technology will save us as it always has.

And there are practical considerations too. Nobody wants a flyash lake spilling over their property. Something useful must be done with the flyash–as a condition of operating permit continuance.

. . . Technology May Save Us . . .

Sometimes people are surprised to learn that we can produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products out of coal. In World War II, over ninety percent of Germany’s aviation fuel and half its total petroleum came from synthetic-fuel plants. Since Apartheid days, South Africa has used a similar technology for its oil needs.
http://www.cogeneration.net/synthetic_diesel.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fuel

. . . Coal: Key Transition Technology . . .

For obvious reasons, four hundred years gives USA a small window of opportunity to fulfill the destiny of our nation, to become a nation at peace with long-term survivability of civilization built into the design goals.

Long-term we’ll tap much of our energy needs directly from photon light capture (with storage/transmission as electron energy) by means of plasmonic surfaces, indirectly by wind energy capture, and so on and so forth. Coal is the source of energy during civilization’s transition phase from our dependence on foreign oil, to our nation’s oil production from USA coal, and then through the next few decades of science and technology fostered change, growth through time until we attain no-growth stability, ushering in the age of the continuous quality improvement of civilization.
Plasmonics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmon
http://www.theenergyroadmap.com/futureblogger/show/1557-quantum-mechanism-breakthrough-for-thin-film-solar-and-oled-lighting-displays
http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2008/574.html

. . . Montana Coal Seams . . .

Under eastern Montana there exists a seam of low-sulfur lignite coal sufficient to supply all of the liquid fuel needs of the United States for at least the next four hundred years.

The chief coal-producing area is the Powder River Basin, which lies in northern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. Coals of Cretaceous age are present http://www.wsgs.uwyo.edu/coalweb/library/coaltime/cret.aspx which is 144 to 66 million years ago. It is interesting to see that 66 million years ago the earth was http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Phanerozoic_Climate_Change.png experiencing a hotter climate. We know that life flourished upon earth because coal is the residue of that 66 million year old life. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_temperature_record
Another useful chart of earth temperature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:All_palaeotemps.png

. . . Liquid Fuel Output . . .

From the coal seams of USA will flow the liquid fuel supplies of our nation.

. . . Plastics Output . . .

From the coal seams of USA will flow the plastics supplies of our nation.

. . . Roadway Concrete and Asphalt . . .

From the coal seams of USA will flow the roadway surface supplies of our nation.

. . . Follow the Chemical Roadmap . . .

The best way to understand how coal gets turned into liquid fuel and plastics, is to follow the chemical flow roadmap of the physical and chemical universe.

. . . Syngas Production . . .

Syngas (from synthesis gas) is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon_monoxide and hydrogen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngas

One aspect of the overall material and energy flow system of turning eastern Montana lignite coal into liquid fuel is the coal gasification and production of syngas. Please study the following diagram and take note of the syngas flow.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/IGCC_diagram.svg

Now take note of the picture in its true context. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Gasification_Combined_Cycle

. . . Gasification Process . . .
There is a large body of documents from the 1920’s through the present day which are important for researching and understanding the history and development of the Fischer-Tropsch and related processes. The purpose of this site is to make these documents available in electronic media and in a centralized location. http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/

. . . Oxygen Supply . . .

In the syngas flow diagram notice the system which removes oxygen from the air. That oxygen is fed into the gasifier ensuring clean combustion of the coal.

Another alternative source of oxygen is the electrolysis of water, for example, by means of electricity from wind turbines and the direct current power grid.

. . . Nitrogen Supply . . .

Nitrogen is a by product of the oxygen separation from air. Nitrogen has its uses, in fertilizer, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer

. . . Hydrogen Supply . . .

Hydrogen is a far more useful by product because it can be bonded with carbon, forming polymers used in the plastics industry. Given recent concern about releasing carbon into the atmosphere, bonding the carbon with hydrogen in plastics makes more sense that bonding it with oxygen and releasing the carbon as carbon dioxide.

. . . Carbon-dioxide . . .

In terms of balanced science, one must accept the truth that plants breathe in carbon-dioxide and breathe out oxygen, as part of photosynthesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis

Therefore, it makes sense that during times of global earth warmth, when more of the earth’s surface is covered with plants, a carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere is conducive to the quick expansion of plant life, which traps the carbon-dioxide exhaled by animal life and generated by human life.

. . . Carbon Supply . . .

It becomes obvious that carbon, being naturally a solid may be supplied by means of coal from the ground, carbon-dioxide from the air, carbon from the bio-mass of life, and carbon recycling of plastics.

. . . Plasma Furnace Recycling Front End . . .

Ahead of the coal gasification facility exists a plasma furnace based recycling system capable of recycling everything by reducing matter back to its elemental form from which matter cools back to solidity.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/10/02/dow-corning-to-install-50-million-plasma-recycling-system/

. . . Gasification . . .

Gasification is a thermo-chemical process in which carbonaceous (carbon-rich) feedstocks such as coal, petro-coke, or biomass are converted into a gas consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (and lesser amounts of carbon dioxide and other trace gases) under oxygen depleted, high pressure, high-heat and/or steam conditions. The resulting gaseous compound is called Syngas.
http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/gasification/howgasificationworks.html

In the case of eastern Montana lignite coal, its high water content means that the coal slurry supply needs less outside water coming into the rod mill. Raw sewage and agricultural bio-mass can be mixed with the coal feed stock. Such a system affords a community a full spectrum recycling solution for its carbon supply.

. . . Flyash Cement and Other Uses. . .

Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal. Pollution control equipment mandated in recent decades now require that it be captured prior to release. In the US is commonly used to supplement Portland cement in concrete production.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_ash

Technology finds other creative uses for coal fly ash.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/546859/

. . . dimethyl-ether (DME) . . .

Dimethyl ether is the organic compound with the formula CH3OCH3. The simplest ether, it is a colorless gas that is a useful precursor to other organic compounds and an aerosol propellant. Dimethyl ether is also promising as a clean-burning hydrocarbon fuel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyl_ether
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DME_Process_diagram.jpg

Syngas can be directly converted to DME using the Liquid Phase Dimethyl Ether Synthesis (LP-DME) process developed at the University of Akron in conjunction with Electric Power Research Institute. This direct one-step conversion of syngas-to-DME can then be an ideal front end for further conversion to diesel. http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/97/97cl/peng.pdf

. . . DME is Pure Diesel . . .

DME is a promising fuel in diesel engines,[4] petrol engines (30% DME / 70% LPG), and gas turbines owing to its high cetane number, which is greater than 55 compared to diesel, which is 40–53.[5] Only moderate modification are needed to convert a diesel engine to burn DME.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyl_ether#Fuel

. . . DME Converts to Plastic . . .

A polymer is a large molecule (macromolecule) composed of repeating structural units typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. While polymer in popular usage suggests plastic, the term actually refers to a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a variety of properties and purposes. Well-known examples of polymers include plastics and proteins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic

[1127_11_DME_Process_diagram]
1127_11_dme_process_diagram.jpg

digg: http://digg.com/general_sciences/Coal_to_Liquid_Fuel_Plastics_and_Concrete

[peaceengine_license_mark]

It is interesting to see that 66 million years ago the earth was
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Phanerozoic_Climate_Change.png experiencing a hotter climate. We know that life flourished upon earth because coal is the residue of that 66 million year old life. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_temperature_record

Another useful chart of earth temperature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:All_palaeotemps.png

There is a large body of documents from the 1920’s through the present day which are important for researching and understanding the history and development of the Fischer-Tropsch and related processes. The purpose of this site is to make these documents available in electronic media and in a centralized location. http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/

Dear Bill,

I will begin to take you on a whirlwind tour of places to visit on the Internet. First, I must do some experimentation concerning the blog tool I am using for this writing. Therefore, I shall begin by showing you a series of places to visit. You need merely read the few words I write and then click on the URL presented in the body of the text.

Let’s practice a bit by researching one of our favorite discourse topics: coal to liquid fuel and plastics. One aspect of the overall material and energy flow system of turning eastern Montana lignite coal into liquid fuel is the coal gasification and production of syngas. Please study the following diagram and take note of the syngas flow.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/IGCC_diagram.svg
Now take note of the picture in its true context. Be sure to explore a few URLs on the following page and use the back button to come back to here (http://blog.peaceengine.com/). If your browser is correctly setup you will notice that the URL links are changed as you click on them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Gasification_Combined_Cycle

Now study the following picture by clicking on the thumbnail image below.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

In the http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/IGCC_diagram.svg
flow diagram notice the system which removes oxygen from the air. That oxygen is fed into the gasifier ensuring clean combustion of the coal.

Nitrogen is a by product of the oxygen separation from air. Nitrogen has its uses, in fertilizer, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer

The primary goal is oxygen. Another alternative source of oxygen is the electrolysis of water, for example, by means of electricity from wind turbines and the direct current power grid.

Hydrogen is a far more useful by product because it can be bonded with carbon, forming polymers used in the plastics industry. Given recent concern about releasing carbon into the atmosphere, bonding the carbon with hydrogen in plastics makes more sense that bonding it with oxygen and releasing the carbon as carbon dioxide.

In terms of balanced science, one must accept the truth that plants breathe in carbon-dioxide and breathe out oxygen, as part of photosynthesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis

Therefore, it makes sense that during times of global earth warmth, when more of the earth’s surface is covered with plants, a carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere is conducive to the quick expansion of plant life.

Gasification is a thermo-chemical process in which carbonaceous (carbon-rich) feedstocks such as coal, petro-coke or biomass are converted into a gas consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (and lesser amounts of carbon dioxide and other trace gases) under oxygen depleted, high pressure, high-heat and/or steam conditions. The resulting gaseous compound is called Syngas. http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/gasification/howgasificationworks.html

In the case of eastern Montana lignite coal, its high water content means that the coal slurry supply needs less outside water coming into the rod mill. Raw sewage and agricultural bio-mass can be mixed with the coal feed stock. Such a system affords a community a full spectrum recycling solution for its carbon supply.

Syngas can be directly converted to DME using the Liquid Phase Dimethyl Ether Synthesis (LP-DME) process developed at the University of Akron in conjunction with Electric Power Research Institute. This direct one-step conversion of syngas-to-DME can then be an ideal front end for further conversion to diesel. http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/97/97cl/peng.pdf