On fuel alcohol: Difference between revisions
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Just a note to suggest an open mind on using alcohol as a decentralized | Just a note to suggest an open mind on using alcohol as a decentralized | ||
fuel source - alcohol, as distinguished from ethanol which is denatured | fuel source - alcohol, as distinguished from ethanol which is denatured | ||
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==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
[http://permaculture.org.au/2010/06/02/biofuels-and-confirmation-bias/ Biofuels and Confirmation Bias] | [http://permaculture.org.au/2010/06/02/biofuels-and-confirmation-bias/ Biofuels and Confirmation Bias] | ||
Revision as of 19:03, 15 February 2011
Just a note to suggest an open mind on using alcohol as a decentralized fuel source - alcohol, as distinguished from ethanol which is denatured or adulterated alcohol.
It is legal to make alcohol for fuel - illegal to make it for beverages. An engineering diagram is available on the web for building a distillation unit. Plans are $30. Materials are $600. The unit was designed about 30 years ago and can be found in assembled form on Ebay & Craigs list for less than the cost of materials. You simply Google the model number <charles 803> to find one. The equipment could easily be modified slightly and added to the open source inventory.
I've spent the last six years trying to develop gaseous fuels into a viable, decentralized fuel source. These include biogas, process gas and Magnegas. While useful for many stationary applications, I've found them to be impractical for transportation because of their low power density. The cost of increasing the power density - compressing them or cryogenically condensing them, makes them impractical in my view.
In reviewing the possibilities of liquid fuels, I learned that my bad impressions of ethanol were the result of oil company propaganda - especially the "food vs fuel" issue. I learned this from Permaculture designer David Blume who wrote the book, "Alcohol can be a gas". Here's a link to his YouTube interview if you wish to pursue this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jew3ah24Zj4
I'm writing to you specifically because there are no commercial engines
designed to exploit the high octane ratings of alcohol. There are custom-designed
units used in racing. Saab makes a 2-liter roadster that puts out 300 hp. (150 hp/liter)
Any ordinary IC engine will run on alcohol but the low gasoline compression ratio
penalizes its fuel economy. Increase its compression ratio and it approaches
diesel in fuel economy.
The Charles 803 allows you to make consistently pure E85 at the rate of 7.5 gallons per hour from sour milk, cattail rhizomes, fruit processing waste - any source of sugar or starch. Fuel production is now included in David Blume's permaculture garden designs.