Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Clean Energy Filter

Filters harmful gases from anything, giving us--at last--Clean Energy
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The world is in the midst of an energy crisis, the details of which are well known. There are alternative energy sources. Unfortunately, they all muck up the landscape and/or use large quantities of raw materials. It is currently more effective (economically and environmentally) to use conventional power and remediate their adverse effects.

This proposal uses existing technology to burn whatever fuel is cheapest (closest, most abundant, least costly to produce, etc), and simply filter the harmful by-products from the gas produced.

The cigarette filter is a miracle of modern technology. It allows a person to inhale the smoke of burning tobacco with impunity. Smart, health-conscious smokers purchase only filtered cigarettes.

It was disclosed recently in the annos of a HalfBakery idea [link], that these filters are capable of removing harmful gases from burning rubber, feathers, tarred rope--or almost anything.

I propose we burn whatever is at hand and install giant filters made of cigarette filter material on the output-- mission accomplished. Clean, cheap energy.

Boomershine, Sep 21 2010

Smoking Deterrent Device Smoking_20deterrent_20device
Annotation from Maxwell Buchanan, et al, re inhaling smoke from various materials. [Boomershine, Sep 21 2010]

[link]






       We can bury the used filters under Yucca Mountain.
mouseposture, Sep 22 2010
  

       Smoke stack filters are [marked for deletion] widely known to exist, considerably more complex than cigarette filters, and expensive. And given that cigarette filters have no active components (with the exception of certain varieties that use activated charcoal), they don't filter anything gaseous, just particulate.
MechE, Sep 22 2010
  

       //..they don't filter anything gaseous, just particulate.//   

       Tell this to [Maxwell Buchanan]. I'm taking his (implied) word that cigarette filters take the bad shit right out of anything you burn.   

       I bet there are a lot of smokers who would deny the truth of your 'facts,' to say nothing of tobacco companies.   

       This idea is cheaper and less complex, so it gets MFD?
Boomershine, Sep 22 2010
  

       Cheaper, less complex, but also [marked-for-deletion] bad science.
Custardguts, Sep 22 2010
  

       A simple cellulose fibrous filter, which is all most cigarette filters are does not do anything to filter gasses. An activated carbon filter, which some manufacturers include in a capsule that is broken or dissolves when heated, will remove some but not all organic components from the smoke. None of the above will remove sulfur dioxide, CO2, CO, etc.   

       The very first smokestack filters were screens or particulate filters to remove fly ash. This is exactly what you are proposing.   

       Current scrubbers remove Sulfur compounds and some nitrogen compounds at the least, and catalyze CO into CO2. CO2 scrubbers are being developed, I'm not sure if they're in production yet.
MechE, Sep 22 2010
  

       Ok, I KNOW it's bad science. I guess I haven't figured out the HB code of what-will-work-as-a- tongue-in-cheek idea.   

       I had hoped that: //Smart, health-conscious smokers purchase only filtered cigarettes// would make this an almost obvious joke. I guess not.   

       I should have added some kind of anti-gravity device.   

       Consider this newbie folly.
Boomershine, Sep 22 2010
  

       Meh, I tend to be one of the 'bakers that takes things more seriously, but yeah, this didn't read as satire, next time include custard.
MechE, Sep 22 2010
  

       [ME] At the risk of opening myself to a flood of crap (not from you), would you mind filling me on the custard thing? I see references to it here all the time.
Boomershine, Sep 22 2010
  

       Lab rats seem to absorb carsinogens pretty well, let's filter the gas through lab rat farms. I'm sure PETA would understand. It's not like they're squirrels or anything.
doctorremulac3, Sep 22 2010
  

       //...let's filter the gas through lab rat farms. I'm sure PETA would understand. It's not like they're squirrels or anything.//   

       This is BRILLIANT! I hope you are writing this up as an idea for HB right now. Lab Rat Filters! WDITOT?!?!   

       (MechE suggests adding custard...)
Boomershine, Sep 22 2010
  

       I actually have no clue, it predates me. I think it was originally pulled in as an example of non-newtonian fluid and then kind of metastasized.
MechE, Sep 22 2010
  

       Use custard-impregnated fabric as a filter to absorb particulates and some of the gases. Feed the dirty custard to the lab rats. When the rats die, autopsy the corpses to study the effects of the toxic smoke components. When the autopsy is finished, grind and dry the corpses and feed them to chickens. With the eggs from the chickens, make more custard...............
Freefall, Sep 22 2010
  

       [Freefall] That's the spirit!
Boomershine, Sep 22 2010
  

       You might care to research the history of DDT and its effect on eggs as it became concentrated in the food chain, [Freefall].
infidel, Sep 22 2010
  

       [infidel] It's not a custard machine. If you follow [Freefall]'s flawless circular logic, you will realize that no one eats the custard. It goes back to the filters. Self-contained, infinitely sustainable, -- >almost<-- perpetual, free lunch-like elegance in design.
Boomershine, Sep 22 2010
  

       [infidel] DDT is actually *good* for you. The whole _Silent Spring_ thing was a scam by malaria-loving radicals. But fortunately bedbugs are making a comeback, and that should bring people to their senses.
mouseposture, Sep 23 2010
  

       You mean like a scrubber or carbon capture?
travbm, Oct 29 2015
  
      
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