133 lines
6.4 KiB
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133 lines
6.4 KiB
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From robin.hill@baesystems.com Wed Aug 28 10:53:58 2002
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From: Robin Hill <robin.hill@baesystems.com>
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Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 09:17:20 +0000
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Subject: [zzzzteana] re: Steam
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Reply-To: zzzzteana@yahoogroups.com
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Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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On Tue, 27 Aug 2002 10:15:36 -0500 (EST)
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Jay Lake <jlake@jlake.com> wrote:
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<snip>
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>Second, one could make the assumption that ancient or future civilizations
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>would not be hydrocarbon based. There are alternative fuel sources,
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>including seabed methane, biomass and all the usual suspects -- solar,
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>hydro etc. Some of these could be exploited on a decidedly low-tech (ie,
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>emergent civilization) basis. However, it is difficult to conceive of an
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>industrial civilization that doesn't employ wheels, axles and bearings,
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>all of which require lubrication. I'm not an engineer (Robin, anyone?) but
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>it's my understanding that vegetable lubrication breaks down under stress,
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>and that oil or graphite lubricants are the only reasonable choices for
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>high temperature/high rotation applications, at least prior to extremely
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>advanced modes of chemical synthesis.
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This is a good point. There are a lot of alternatives to hydrocarbon
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products derived from petroleum, but these have often been developed as
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a replacement for petroleum after the technology has been established -
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there is a growing industry in plant-derived plastics and lubricants,
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but this is to replicate materials that have been previously created
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much more easily within the petrochemical industry.
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Vegetable-derived lubricants have been used. The Russians used sunflower
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oil in the lubrication systems of tanks and trucks during the second world
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war, and work is being done in the UK to produce diesel fuel derived from
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waste cooking oil from fast-food restaurants.
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Jay's correct in his opinion that vegetable oil is not as durable as
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petroleum oil, but this is only because of the lack of sophistication
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of the chemistry involved. Synthetic fuels and lubricants are continuously
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being developed, and I don't see any problems with synthetics ultimately
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matching the performance of the more conventional products. As the rock
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oil runs out, plant oil derivatives *will* be developed to fill the
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gap. In parallel, changes will occur in the designs of the machines to
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cope with any changes in performance of the lubricants.
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My big concern is if the technology were ever to be lost for some reason.
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Re-creating a petrochemical industry from scratch without petrochemicals
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(that is, going immediately to plant-based synthetics) would be extremely
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difficult, especially if it were necessary to recreate *all* of the
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petrochemical-derived products (not just lubricants and fuels). I suspect
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that, bearing in mind the ingenuity of the human race, it would happen,
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just at a different pace. Imagine an industrial revollution based on,
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for example, methane from pig manure, or diesel oil from sunflowers.
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All we would then have to do is get used to all the machines smelling
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like pig farms and fish and chip shops...
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Robin Hill, STEAMY BESS, Brough, East Yorkshire
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