tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post8910382172728695262..comments2024-02-16T17:52:44.944-06:00Comments on The Nuclear Green Revolution: Whither the Steel?Charles Bartonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01125297013064527425noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-9427973704326114832010-09-23T09:33:54.852-05:002010-09-23T09:33:54.852-05:00What a wonderful, informative, stimulating, amusin...What a wonderful, informative, stimulating, amusing, desultory ramble. I hung in there to the end because it was worth it? My brain is a little fried but there's a smile on my face so who cares?R Ramjethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04223198657658612003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-35626340846210243022010-08-18T22:17:54.259-05:002010-08-18T22:17:54.259-05:00Don't sell Rod Adams short - you were by far m...Don't sell Rod Adams short - you were by far my favorite blogger at Daily Kos!<br /><br />Even after I discovered there was more left than I ever knew and I was pretty moderate and decided DKos was better off without me, I went back for your posts.Duncannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-57326878016055027872010-08-09T20:32:53.416-05:002010-08-09T20:32:53.416-05:00David:
According to Smil, the quantities of steel...David:<br /><br />According to Smil, the quantities of steel used that is recycled is somewhat smaller than 90%.<br /><br />It's about 70%.<br /><br />I didn't cover this, but even Smil notes that some steel is made by using methane as a reductant from dangerous natural gas.<br /><br />Methane is readily accessible from carbon dioxide if one has the energy to produce hydrogen. Under certain circumstances it is a side product in the production of DME.<br /><br />Moreover it is readily separable from DME (to a certain extent.)<br /><br />My point is that we don't necessarily <em>need</em> coal as much as Smil thinks we do.<br /><br />I am more concerned with metals like vanadium. <br /><br />Interestingly vanadium is a side product in the separation of uranium from sea water, although not in amounts that could ever be industrially important. This is true, however, only for the most well known aldoxime resin type uranium concentrating solid phase resin. There are certainly other approaches to obtaining uranium from seawater.<br /><br />None of these should be necessary for many centuries however.NNadirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11454945291097578006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-70455739154917628872010-08-09T20:26:06.244-05:002010-08-09T20:26:06.244-05:00Robert: Finding out the actual percentage of fixe...Robert: Finding out the actual percentage of fixed nitrogen that derives from the Haber process is actually quite complicated.<br /><br />Smil throws out in one place a figure of "40%," but there isn't a good description of methodology.<br /><br />Methodological papers tend to focus on isotope ratios between N-14 and N-15 but often they are localized. For instance there is quite an interesting paper on this case referring to several Connecticut rivers, but the local ratios are effected by the fact that Connecticut has many septic and sewer run-off systems.<br /><br />I may dig out some references to these papers in the future. It's not a clear cut question.<br /><br />The most famous hydrogen cycle is the SI cycle, but there are many (possibly hundreds) of such cyles.<br /><br />The favorite ones are not necessarily even the best ones.<br /><br />I may write here a full post on the subject, giving the historical reasons why the SI cycle is probably the most studied and most advanced and why it may not be the best of even the known cycles.NNadirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11454945291097578006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-15372369051241453882010-08-09T13:27:00.075-05:002010-08-09T13:27:00.075-05:00Titanim! Who would of thunk it? It would be intere...Titanim! Who would of thunk it? It would be interesting to see a comparison of a coke-driven steel costs chart next to one of an LFTR driven Titatium one.<br /><br />BTW...so ya' know...Steel is one of the most widely recycled materials in the world...I think the number is something like 90% of all steel products is derived from recycled material. Something like that.<br /><br />Most/all/many of the newer steel mills in the US and most of the world use recycled, not ore-derived steel. So I suspect, even with the advent of titatium, steel will be around long after MSR produced titatium makes it to market.<br /><br />David WaltersDavid Waltershttp://left-atomics.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-17298784728729282482010-08-09T02:15:17.919-05:002010-08-09T02:15:17.919-05:00I am, needless to say, very pleased to have NNadir...I am, needless to say, very pleased to have NNadir posting on Nuclear Green.Charles Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01125297013064527425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-8890966092783322192010-08-08T23:05:34.288-05:002010-08-08T23:05:34.288-05:00hey NNadir... nice to have another ramble with you...hey NNadir... nice to have another ramble with you through the backwoods of industrial history.<br /><br />The point on coke for steel is spectacular, it has to be admitted, even if the answer is not "more coke" but "different metals". And I simply have to steal Mr Smil's phrase "High regard for facts, and low regard for wishful thinking".Joffanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18025437863119781181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-17523766840391793532010-08-08T20:45:14.195-05:002010-08-08T20:45:14.195-05:00NNadir, I love your writing style: offhanded, comp...NNadir, I love your writing style: offhanded, competent, train of thought, history, technology, all flowing along with cynicism, quotes, and facts. One has to be in a receptive mood to read such a long post, though.<br /><br />Can you help me on nitrogen? I often say (without enough backup) that two thirds of the world's food comes from crops fed by ammonia fertilizer, and that the "green revolution" in Africa (50 years ago?) that diminished starvation is largely due to such fertilizer. Where's a good reference?<br /><br />High temperature reactors (900-1000 C), such as the pebble bed reactor or LFTR, can dissociate water to make hydrogen with a 50% thermal/chemical-potential efficiency. (Where's a good reference?) Of course hydrogen is a poor fuel, but a wonderful feedstock for NH3 ammonia or H3COH methanol or H3COCH3 dimethyl ether, all of which can be used as vehicle fuels.Robert Hargraveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06846491141058940965noreply@blogger.com