From My Globel Spec News a Biofueled Steam Locomotive‏

Where you go. Another one hits the news.

Biofueled Steam Loco

Hi Andy,

Very funny!!!
I wonder if they even know about the big number of locomotives used for well over a hundred years on the sugar plantations in Hawaii and Cuba burning bagasse, the remains of the sugar cane after it is pressed???? They compacted it too for easier handling.
Nearly all of them built by Davenport Locomotive and Porter, both Besler family owned firms. I have the 1926 Davenport catalog and bagasse fireboxes are prominently mentioned for sugar cane plantation use.

Then again Andy, we have to remember that oh so many of these university engineering departments and "Green Energy" entrepreneurs are really in the Government grant harvesting business and not in anything realistic or marketable. So they reinvent bagasse, or any other dried plant material burning, in steam locomotives, might one ask that except for the Chinese and one or two Swiss companies, who today in America is building main line steam locomotives? Inefficiency and huge maintenance costs killed them long ago. I wonder what they plan to do with the ash and the smoke produced??

Jim

Hi Jim

Interesting comments. Thought it would provoke some responses here. I get a GlobelSpec news letter email. Mostly electronic applications news. Not sure how thta relates to electronics but it was a link from yeasterday.

Andy

There are many Global Spec newsletters, and I saw the article featured also.
There is a great deal of process work in making biocoal. I would hope the fuel would be used in its most basic state where it is found rather than transported, processed, coked, packaged and transported again before use. It is the same reason electric cars running on batteries charged from power transmitted from coal fired steam electric plants is about a fifth as efficient as burning the fuel in the end application.

Karl Petersen

Just stumbled across this patent:

[www.google.com]

Forced recirculation boiler in a locomotive with about 8:1 circulation ratio. Might be a bit more credible as a locomotive plant as the designers were working for Lima and designing with locomotive requirements in mind. Makes me wonder how much stuff from the end of the steam locomotive era is out there that didn't get into production due to the Depression, WW2 and then the switch to diesel.

Ken

Karl,
Then add collecting and liquifying hydrogen, CNG, the hydrogen for fuel cells and on and on. The list of energy sources that demand big energy consumption to get it into a usable form is endless.

Ken,
That is a notable list. Steam turbine locomotives, full condensing, water tube and rapid response steam generators, pulsed combustion boilers, the International Harvester locomotive with compound high pressure and temperature steam with a fast response steam generator, Besler's Blue Goose railcar for the New Haven & Hatford, later the concept went to multi generators in the power car for main line service, Doble's monotube steam generator powered main line locomotive, the Sentinel locomotives, the advanced Henschel and Borsig locomotive. There were many advanced and good steam locomotives designed and prototyped here and in Europe to keep steam alive.

Jim