Fuel Alcohol

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Biofuels - for the temperate climate, alcohol derived from Jerusalem artichokes or waste orchard fruit appears to be the proven, sustainable route of fueling cities. Crop productivity and fuel usage calculations indicate that most cities, worldwide, scale in size in such a fashion that they can produce all their vehicle fuel needs from a land area equivalent to the size of the city - as long as this calculation is not based on the inefficient, though touted, alcohol from corn - but on perennial crops such as Jerusalem artichokes. This would not contribute to the food-or-fuel scenario that detractors of this proposition point out. Key: this is proven technology, and vehicles can run on alcohol with minor modifications. In the tropics, palm oil appears to be the solution for fuel needs, based on yields.

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From unidentified collaborator

It is legal to make alcohol for fuel - illegal to make it for beverages without a licence. 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". See his YouTube interview if you wish to pursue this.

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.

See Also: http://permaculture.org.au/2010/06/02/biofuels-and-confirmation-bias/ Biofuels and Confirmation Bias

Biofuels - Developments Needed

Biofuels - Specific

Biofuels - Information Work

What is required to distill the alcohol?

Where will the energy come from to distill the alcohol?

What is the fruit to alcohol ratio?

I've visited plum brandy distilleries and they said that it was a 50:1 ratio...--Dennis 08:15, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Development Work Template

1. Biofuels - Product Definition
   1. Biofuels - General
   2. Biofuels - General Scope
   3. Biofuels - Product Ecology
      1. Biofuels - Localization
      2. Biofuels - Scaleability
      3. Biofuels - Analysis of Scale
      4. Biofuels - Lifecycle Analysis
   4. Biofuels - Enterprise Options
   5. Biofuels - Development Approach
      1. Biofuels - Timeline
      2. Biofuels - Development Budget
         1. Biofuels - Value Spent
         2. Biofuels - Value available
         3. Biofuels - Value needed
   6. Biofuels - Deliverables and Product Specifications
   7. Biofuels - Industry Standards
   8. Biofuels - Market and Market Segmentation
   9. Biofuels - Salient Features and Keys to Success
2. Biofuels - Technical Design
   1. Biofuels - Product System Design
      1. Biofuels - Diagrams and Conceptual Drawings
         1. Biofuels - Pattern Language Icons
         2. Biofuels - Structural Diagram
         3. Biofuels - Funcional or Process Diagram
         4. Biofuels - Workflow
      2. Biofuels - Technical Issues
      3. Biofuels - Deployment Strategy
      4. Biofuels - Performance specifications
      5. Biofuels - Calculations
         1. Biofuels - Design Calculations
         2. Biofuels - Yields
         3. Biofuels - Rates
         4. Biofuels - Structural Calculations
         5. Biofuels - Power Requirements
         6. Biofuels - Ergonomics of Production
         7. Biofuels -Time Requirements
         8. Biofuels - Economic Breakeven Analysis
         9. Biofuels - Scaleability Calculations
         10. Biofuels - Growth Calculations
      6. Biofuels - Technical Drawings and CAD
      7. Biofuels - CAM Files
   2. Biofuels - Component Design
      1. Biofuels - Diagrams
      2. Biofuels - Conceptual drawings
      3. Biofuels - Performance specifications
      4. Biofuels - Performance calculations
      5. Biofuels - Technical drawings and CAD
      6. Biofuels - CAM files whenever available
   3. Biofuels - Subcomponents
3. Biofuels - Deployment and Results
   1. Biofuels - Production steps
   2. Biofuels - Flexible Fabrication or Production
   3. Biofuels - Bill of materials
   4. Biofuels - Pictures and Video
   5. Biofuels - Data
4. Biofuels - Documentation and Education
   1. Biofuels - Documentation
   2. Biofuels - Enterprise Plans
5. Biofuels - Resource Development
   1. Biofuels - Identifying Stakeholders
      1. Biofuels - Information Collaboration
         1. Biofuels - Wiki Markup
         2. Biofuels - Addition of Supporting References
         3. Biofuels - Production of diagrams, flowcharts, 3D computer models, and other qualitative information architecture
         4. Biofuels - Technical Calculations, Drawings, CAD, CAM, other
      2. Biofuels - Prototyping
      3. Biofuels - Funding
      4. Biofuels - Preordering working products
      5. Biofuels - Grantwriting
      6. Biofuels - Publicity
      7. Biofuels - User/Fabricator Training and Accreditation
      8. Biofuels - Standards and Certification Developmen
      9. Biofuels - Other
   2. Biofuels - Grantwriting
      1. Biofuels - Volunteer grantwriters
      2. Biofuels - Professional, Outcome-Based Grantwriters
   3. Biofuels - Collaborative Stakeholder Funding
   4. Biofuels - Tool and Material Donations
   5. Biofuels - Charitable Contributions