Make Your Own Ethanol

[flashh4]

Heard about this today on Paul Harvey news. Found it very interesting how to make your own fuel !!

We have most of those parts where i work, gonna try & get the boss to try it !!

http://www.dogwoodenergy.com/

[Bubba Bob]

Hey, keep us updated, Flash. I've wondered how difficult it would be to make this stuff.

Also, do you have a vehicle that will run on an ethanol blend?

Edited May 5, 2006 by Bubba Bob

[flashh4]

No BOB but just called boss & he thinks we should try it out !!! He's good at building stuff so we're gonna start tomorrow !!! Also said we proably will only have to change jets in carb & adjust fuel injectors & pump !! Depending on what type of vechile we try it out on ! So we shall see how it goes !

[Bubba Bob]

Goodluck

Keep a camera handy

[TheTerrorist_75]

Don't forget the Federal permit to distill alcohol. It is a must or the revenuers will be breathing down your back. You will have to change jets/injectors, fuel pump and lines plus tweak the timing settings. If it is a computer equipped vehicle you will need to get it re-calibrated. By the way, you burn more Ethanol in a given distance than gas. You might want a bigger fuel tank. After buying the kit, ingredients, vehicle parts, labor plus permit you may find your savings not to be what is expected. You will at least be environmentally friendly.

[tenmm]

They tried this at my work,it did not work out very well and they quit tring two years ago.

[JDoors]

Ethanol will have its place in the future, to reduce or eliminate dependance on foreign-sourced oil (or as a substitute for the eventual depletion of oil), but because of the low engergy content of the end-product it actually uses more energy (and dollars) per mile than gasoline (if you count the energy & expenses used in either process from beginning to end).

That could change, eventually, but for now and the near-future, ethanol's not practical.

Since ethanol's been mandated locally for at least a decade (up to 10%, we're in the "corn belt" after all), I'd have to guess that you could also substitute at least 10% without any modifications to your vehicle.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Ethanol will have its place in the future, to reduce or eliminate dependance on foreign-sourced oil (or as a substitute for the eventual depletion of oil), but because of the low engergy content of the end-product it actually uses more energy (and dollars) per mile than gasoline (if you count the energy & expenses used in either process from beginning to end).

That could change, eventually, but for now and the near-future, ethanol's not practical.

Since ethanol's been mandated locally for at least a decade (up to 10%, we're in the "corn belt" after all), I'd have to guess that you could also substitute at least 10% without any modifications to your vehicle.

You may still need to change the timing some. Also Ethanol sucks in cold climates.

[tenmm]

Ethanol will have its place in the future, to reduce or eliminate dependance on foreign-sourced oil (or as a substitute for the eventual depletion of oil), but because of the low engergy content of the end-product it actually uses more energy (and dollars) per mile than gasoline (if you count the energy & expenses used in either process from beginning to end).

That could change, eventually, but for now and the near-future, ethanol's not practical.

Since ethanol's been mandated locally for at least a decade (up to 10%, we're in the "corn belt" after all), I'd have to guess that you could also substitute at least 10% without any modifications to your vehicle.

You may still need to change the timing some. Also Ethanol sucks in cold climates.

It does not do well in hot climates ether(vapor lock) this was a problem a few years ago when the started blending ethanol with gas.

[flashh4]

Day 1 of project: Head of the county (commisioners) dropped in ask what we were makeing, said fuel.

He said bullchitt looks like a still, tear it down. ................ lots of junk for sale real cheap if anyone is interested !!!!!!

[Bubba Bob]

Don't forget the Federal permit to distill alcohol.

.....

Day 1 of project: Head of the county (commisioners) dropped in ask what we were makeing, said fuel.

He said bullchitt looks like a still, tear it down. ................ lots of junk for sale real cheap if anyone is interested !!!!!!

ANyway, that's a bummer.

Edited May 5, 2006 by Bubba Bob

[tenmm]

Hey flashh4

Just a thought on my part,but did you offer the CC a "free" fill up??

[flashh4]

Guess we should of, then ask for a raise !!! Yeah right !

[JDoors]

Day 1 of project: Head of the county (commisioners) dropped in ask what we were makeing, said fuel.

He said bullchitt looks like a still, tear it down. ................ lots of junk for sale real cheap if anyone is interested !!!!!!

... now I'm havin' doubts ... You're still stickin' to the "fuel" story, huh?

[Pete_C]

If it really were that cheap to make ethanol, all I can say is that cheap vodka would be less than the $9 for 1.75 litres ( WHat is that over $20 per gallon) that it goes for.

The only reason that there are ethanol from corn for gas additives plants is because the government pays to subsidize corn growing, high fructose corn syrup production, and finally the ethanol plants as well as mandating that it be used.

Otherwise, since it currently takes more energy to grow the corn, refine the high fructose corn syrup, brew the ethanol and distill it than the ethanol provides it would not be commercially viable.

http://hubbert.mines.edu/news/Pimentel_98-2.pdf

To fuel one car with ethanol for one year means that nearly 7-times more cropland would

be required to fuel one car than is needed to feed one American (USDA, 1996).

...

Expanding ethanol production could entail diverting essential cropland

from producing corn needed to sustain human life to producing corn for ethanol factories. This

will create serious practical as well as ethical problems.

...

Ethanol production is wasteful of fossil energy resources and does not increase energy

security. This is because considerably more energy, much of it high-grade fossil fuels, is required

to produce ethanol than is available in the ethanol output. Specifically, about 71% more energy is

used to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy contained in a gallon of ethanol.

More examples of short sited imbecility on the part of loud mouthed small brained environmentalists and politicians.

A much better use of resources would be to subsidize the construction of algae farms using the exhaust of fossil fuel power plants as a heat and carbon dioxide source and the new strain of algae developed at MIT which produces fifty percent of its mass in oils which can be converted to biodiesel.

[blim]

Thank you, Pete! What you wrote about ethanol was something I long wondered about and suspected!

I also found this article about the "hybrid cars"--I'm not sure if I'm reading the results correctly, if I am, these cars don't save the consumer any money in the long run....and it brought up an interesting point, that the mileage on these is highly, highly overstated (I've heard that before)

clickity

Liz

Edited May 6, 2006 by blim

[bozodog]

Not too impressive. The ones with the best milage are tiny. The bigger ones don't have the fuel economy you'd think they should have. Figure this....... 18 months ago I bought a '94 GMC Safari V-6 for $1700.00 It has room for all three dogs,(240 pounds total) luggage and food for a week. It gets nearly 20 MPG on the highway. I still don't see the value in hybreds. And did anyone factor in the cost of replacing batteries? That's gotta be expensive.

[Bubba Bob]

And did anyone factor in the cost of replacing batteries? That's gotta be expensive.

THe car will most likey fall apart before the batteries need to be replaced.

I agree with you though, right now I don't see why they are selling like hot cakes.

Edited May 7, 2006 by Bubba Bob

[Pete_C]

Thank you, Pete! What you wrote about ethanol was something I long wondered about and suspected!

I also found this article about the "hybrid cars"--I'm not sure if I'm reading the results correctly, if I am, these cars don't save the consumer any money in the long run....and it brought up an interesting point, that the mileage on these is highly, highly overstated (I've heard that before)

clickity

Liz

Yeah, I heard that.

Most hybrid car manufacturers say their battery packs will last for the life of the car; but what do they mean by this? The warrantied life? 3years 36000 miles up to 8 years 80000 there is a big spread. And the cost looks to be about $5000 for the pack. If they are lead acid, this poses a recycling issue and I have rarely seen a lead acid last the full life expectency especially if they run down even once. What if the batteries are low and you park it for a week or two ?

But the worst thing is hot climates which not only seriously shorten battery life; but more importantly people roll up the windows and run the air conditioner. There was a big hybrid problem here in Texas last summer when folks found out that if the engine is not running neither is the air conditioner compressor. The solution offered by most manufacturers was to set the "towing" or "heavy load" option so that the engine stayed on , pretty much eliminating the benefit of a hybrid.

Now, what they really need to do is to utilize the MIT algae which grows in water warmed and enriched with carbon dioxide from power plant exhausts and produces half its weight in oils. This can be used to produce biodiesel.

But the next thing to work on then is to instead use gassification technology to de saturate it and release hydrogen or methane and leave behind carbon. The carbon can be blended with fertilizers to drastically boost their effectiveness and prevent them from leaching from soils (the so called black earth of the Amazon.

http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1017-amazon.html

The best explanation for this kind of botanical record is the past creation and use of terra preta do indio, meaning "Indian black earth" in Portuguese. This unique, mineral-rich soil was purposely created by pre-Columbian people through a process of adding charcoal and animal bones to regular soil to create a highly fertile hybrid, ideal for agriculture.

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Charcoal_20enriched_20fields

Experimental research shows that by adding pulverized charcoal or powdered carbon to the soil the amount of fertilizer needed to produce a crop is slashed dramatically and the actual production / output of the crop significantly increases over the same crop and soil with just standard fertilization.

This would allow US crop production to increase while cutting fertilizer costs and decreasing the contamination of watersheds by runoff.

[flashh4]

Howdy, had a long talk with our mechanic (23yrs hes been mechanic) today on useing ethanol, no adjustments will will be needed on automobiles. Theres 3 stations in our state (Wyoming) & there will be one in our next door neighbor state (Montana) next month. Do any of you have them in your state yet ! What is the price for the ethanol ?? I cannot find the price here yet but when i do i will let everyone know !!

Peace --- Out !!!!!

[Bubba Bob]

Howdy, had a long talk with our mechanic (23yrs hes been mechanic) today on useing ethanol, no adjustments will will be needed on automobiles.

Uh, what vehicles are we talking here?

I doubt auto makers would go to the trouble of creating, and marketing flex-fuel vehicles if vehicles already ran on 85% or 100% ethanol.

Pete, good point with the A/C issue. I'd never thought about that before. Hmm, why hasn't that been mentioned in the hybrid commercials?

Edited May 9, 2006 by Bubba Bob

[blim]

"Pete, good point with the A/C issue. I'd never thought about that before. Hmm, why hasn't that been mentioned in the hybrid commercials? "

*whispers* because they wouldn't be able to sell them! Shhhhh, it's a secret

Liz

[JDoors]

Actually, most new cars turn off the compressor (or turn it down) when idling (or they have that "feature" available as some sort of "economy" mode).

At any rate, anyone buying an alternative fuel vehicle will have to accept several compromises, for now.

Just saw an episode of "Great Cars" on alternative fuels and I was surprised to learn Ferdiniand Porche created the first hybrid vehicle in 1900! (Not technilogically feasible for production though.)

Edited May 10, 2006 by JDoors

[bozodog]

Hold that thought Pete. My friends own a Honda dealer. When I looked into their hybred two years ago, they showed me the batteries. 150 Ni-Cad "D" cells!!!!!!!!!!! No way those are gonna last that long. Oh and of course the disposal would be ugly. BTW, A/C was optional/extra, installed by the dealer not at the factory.

[Pete_C]

Actually, most new cars turn off the compressor (or turn it down) when idling (or they have that "feature" available as some sort of "economy" mode).

At any rate, anyone buying an alternative fuel vehicle will have to accept several compromises, for now.

Just saw an episode of "Great Cars" on alternative fuels and I was surprised to learn Ferdiniand Porche created the first hybrid vehicle in 1900! (Not technilogically feasible for production though.)

What surprised me was that he also designed some of the finest tanks.

The Porsche Super Panzer, King Tiger and Tiger II for example.

(Well not completely and not all of his design features were adopted due to material constraints)