Home Fuels

Basics

• This page explores what fuels a home/small business may need / be able to have / make
• What will be used largely depends on the scale of the facility; This page focuses on home scale to low commercial end options
• Some are a bit out there, but most are easily acheivable if not already existent

Fuel List

Electricity

• Stored in batteries
• Can be used for EVs etc

Solid Fuels

Bamboo

• Grows fast, yet needs to be processed to burn well
• Is also invasive if not properly contained and not native
• Can be used as a source of non wood biomass

Wood Logs

• Very Common, yet not optimal

Wood Scraps

• Byproduct of producing lumber + shop work
• Some may be used for projectss, but small ones mayt be used for fuel like wood logs, or be further processed

Wood Pellets

• A byproduct of sawdust
• Also a more consistent form of solid fuel

Biomass Bricks/Briquettes

• Compressed biomass
• Useful in a similar manner to logs

Biomass Pellets

• Similar to wood pellets, but from non wood biomass

Charcoal

• Easy to make yet quite inconsistent
• Burns cleaner and/or hotter than wood/biomass

Charcoal Dust

• A powderized version of charcoal
• Can be used in charcoal/coal dust burners, or be pressed into other fuel types

Charcoal Bricks/Briquettes

• More Cleaner and/or hotter burning than logs/biomass bricks/briquettes, yet otherwise similar in use
• Pressed from charcoal dust

Charcoal Pellets

• A Pellitized form of charcoal dust
• One of the best forms of solid fuel; burns clean and / or hot and is very consistent

Hexamine

• Made from formaldahyde and amonia
• Hard to make and not too neccisary, yet it is solid, SOC/STP Stable, and burns hot with little to no residue

Gellied Alchohol

• Useful as a heat source yet semi hard to make
• Mix of ethanol or methanol and a gelling agent
• Usually stored in cans
• More stable than Liquid Alchohols at SOC/STP
• Often sold under the name brand sterno

Gasous Fuels

RNG

• RNG either in CNG form or LNG form

RHCNG

• RNG mixed with hydrogen

Hydrogen

• Available in high pressure or cryogenic liquid form depending on tech used
• Made from electrolysis or via purification/upgrading of various gas streams Syngas etc

Compressed Air / Other Gasses

• Low Storage Density, but easy to produce and cheap to store, assuming space and mobility are not a requirement
• Mainly Used For Tools + Speciality Vehicles

Liquid Fuels

Waste Oil/Bio-Oil/Pyrolysis Oil

• Aquired as a waste product, or form oil crops such as algae, soybeans, and various seeds
• Can be used in special engines/burners, or be processed into Biodiesel

Pyrolysis Gasoline

• Easier to use directly that Pyrolysis Oil , But it probably requires the usage of a more "controlled" feedstock like cleaned plastic RDF rather than Biomass
• However given the ammount of wrappers/shrink wrap that are often already "non-recyclable", this should be a sensible option

Biodiesel

• A Form of diesel made from waste oil or bo oil
• Directly substitutable for diesel fuel

Bio-Crude

• Hard to make, but may be done by prosumer or small commercial level facilities
• See Bio-Crude and HTL

Bio-Petrolium Products

• Very hard to make
• Extracted from Bio-Crude
• Most Likely would be used in commercial and up thus isn't too appropriate for this page
• Includes gasoline, kerosine, etc

Storage Concepts

Electricity

• One Home Power Supply (Transformers Fuses Etc)
• One Battery Bank
• One or More 12v Battery Trickle Chargers
• One or More Cordless Tool Battery Chargers
• One or more AA/AAA Battery Chargers
• One or more slow EV chargers and/or one or more ev quick chargers
• AC Power Outlets + Wiring
• DC Power Outlets + Wiring

Solid Fuel Storage Area/Bins

• Log Stack + Shelfs + Bulk Bins for Solid Fuels
• Possibly add dessicant/dehumidifier to aid quality controll

Liquid Fuels

• One or more IBC Bins with Electric Pumps for fuel storage + Dispensing
• One or more Portable Fuel Cans

Gasous Fuels

• One or more Tanks (Either Above or Below Ground) for refined gasous fuels (Hydrogen, RCNG, RHCNG, etc)
• One or more gasometers (Either Above or Below Ground) for less refined gasous fuels (Syngas, Biogas)
• One or more Compressed Air Tanks + at least one Non-Food/Diving/Medical Spec Air Compressor
• One or more Fuel Compressors (Ambient to pipe level "Low Pressure" for time fill station + home level piping
• One or more Fuel Compressors ("Low Pressure" to "High Pressure") for fast fill stations
• One or more Fuel Cryocoolers for cryogenic storage of gasous fuels (Liquid Hydrogen, Liquid Oxygen, Liquid Methane / LNG)
• Home Level Gasous Fuel Lines + Outlets (Fuel Gas)
• Home Level Compressed Gas Lines + Outlets (Non Fuel)
• One or more Gasous Fueling Stations (Time Fill, Fast Fill, or Combination Fill)
• One or more Cryogenic Gas Fueling Stations
• One or more Gas Canister Filling Station
• One or more Dewar Filling Station

Internal Links

• Open Source Fuels Construction Set