GASOLINE: Pete Palumbo, a retired chemistry teacher at Otto-Eldred Junior-Senior High School and St. Bonaventure university, wrote to us Wednesday in response to an assertion by Port Allegany resident Clyde Johnson that natural gas can be made into gasoline for $1 a gallon.
Pete wrote, “The process of turning methane into gasoline is a decades old process (Fischer–Tropsch conversion system). It requires approximately 1 billion dollar investment because the process uses extremely high temperatures and pressures. The price tag of a $1/gallon is quite a stretch.
“If Mr. Johnson is referring to the new process of using a catalyst to convert methane into ethylene (two carbon molecule) and then into gasoline, this process is the pilot stage only, but development into large scale production is in the planing process. Once large scale production is accomplished, if the price is $1/gallon gasoline, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. The science of chemically changing carbon rich molecules into gasoline in nothing new. But, going from the laboratory to large scale production is quite a leap.
“I would prefer to see a change in the infrastructure to burn methane directly in our vehicles. Why not eliminate the middle man (gasoline)? Why convert methane into gasoline to be burnt, when greater net efficiency is gained by burning the natural gas directly. In addition, engines burn natural gas more cleanly than gasoline. There would be less carbon buildup in the engine and less air pollution. A number of commercial firms are pilot testing natural gas fleets.”
LEAVES: We’ve been talking about the leaves changing color for the fall, and Toni Falconi of Lewis Run wondered about a tree in his own backyard.
“I have a tree in my backyard about 15 feet high. I do not know what type it is,” Falconi said, but he explained each leaf “resembles a large mint leaf.”
According to Falconi, “It is the last to get leaves in the spring and the first to drop leaves in the fall. But this year at about the middle of August half of the tree from top to bottom the leaves turned yellow. The other half has its original green leaves. The yellow leaves have been falling off a little at a time.”
He wonders, “Does anyone know what is up with this oddball?”
We’re not sure what would cause half of a tree to change color while the other half stays green. Maybe part of the tree gets more sun? What do our readers think?
