Synthetic Fuels (Dover Books on Engineering) by Ronald F. Probstein and R. Edwin Hicks

Synthetic Fuels (Dover Books on Engineering)

Features

Cover Type: Paperback with 512 pages

Published by: Dover Publications January 31, 2006

Written in: English

ISBN 10 Number: 0486449777

ISBN 13 Number: 978-0486449777

Book Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches

Weighs: 1.4 pounds

Product Description
This unified presentation starts with basics and proceeds to the derivation of gas from coal and gas upgrading. Subsequent chapters examine liquids and clean solids produced from coal, liquids obtained from oil shale and tar sands, biomass conversion, and environmental and economic aspects. 1982 edition.

Reader Reviews
This book was written for an engineering graduate course at MIT, but it is surprising readable. It is a technical book, so you do need an adequate technical background to read it. After two chapters on the technical fundamentals, five chapters were devoted to specific synthetic fuels technologies (three on coal, one on oil shale/tar sands, and one on biomass), followed by two chapters on environmental and economic issues. Lots of data are provided, and with the fundamentals provided one can use these data to make back-of-the-envelop calculations to quantitatively assess some of the currently popular synthetic fuels ideas, such as ethanol from corn---and to realize what key issues remain to be solved in order for such ideas to be viable. I recommend it highly to all who are seriously interested in the general topic of energy, and the role synthetic fuels can play in the future---particularly to the technical writers who are assigned the task of writing simplified-for-the-general-public articles for the public media. Comment | | (Report this)

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Updated on 6-4-2008.