X-Message-Number: 12052
Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 12:10:19 -0700
From: Jeff Davis <>
Subject: Re: Cryostasis Careers

Dear Mr. Brown,

I was delighted to see your posting to the cryonet --#12042: cryostasis
careers yet? [David M Brown], where you wrote:

>i am 
>a cryogenic technician by trade. i maintain and  repair air 
>separation plants, dewars, high pressure systems, rechargers,...

  I have a question that you might be able to help me out with.

To my knowledge, the cryonics organizations do not make their own LN2, but
purchase from outside sources.

I have often wondered if a reduction in suspension cost might be achieved
by a cryonics organization that made its own LN2; that, in fact,
established an affiliated business located, say, in the mojave desert,
(perhaps using long-term uninterruptable, reliable, and free (yes, there
are non-trivial capital costs) solar energy) that produced liquid nitrogen
for sale in the LA, San Diego, Pheonix, Tucson, and Las Vegas areas, and at
the same time maintained a patient storage facility on the same site.

Such a facility could be jointly operated by any or all of the the current
cryonics oganizations, thus permitting an across-the-board reduction in
suspension costs.  The facility could be built and operated by members on a
volunteer or suspension-for-work exchange basis--a sort of cryonics
kibbutz.  The possibilities are endless.  (Heck, to take it just a bit over
the top, you could turn the place into a cryonics theme park and winter
season snow-bird resort.  "We treat you special.  All the way to the
future."  Those retirees are all potential suspension clients.) 

On the internet, I found the advertisments shown below.  

>Pos. 29 - LIQUID OXYGEN AND NITROGEN plant; yield 26 TpD; process
equipment skid
>    mounted; shutdown 1989 and kept under nitrogen mothball; build in 1965
and in 1987 >    >    installed new: 1/ Molecular sieve (twin beds), 2/
Hi-pressure heat exchanger, 3/ Non-lub >    Teflon ring expansion engine.
>
>    Pos. 26 - CRYOGENIC GAS plant (skid mounted); yield: 30 MMCFD;. price:
900 000 US $

I've sent off for more details on the above, to further my investigation,
and I wonder if you might help out with my ongoing "analysis".  I'd like to
find out what it costs to run such a plant, and what the market for and
price of the output would be.  I wonder about energy costs, and how a
dedicated solar energy system might effect costs, and how such a system
might be employed as a direct power source (no conversion losses) for the
LN2 plant.

I gather, from your posting, David, that you're exploring career
opportunities.  This might be something you could build into a career,
while at the same time making a significant contribution to the advancement
of cryonics.    
			Best, Jeff Davis

	   "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
					Ray Charles				

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