Maybe the end of ???

They have been working on a substitute for a few years now...........Ethanol in fuel is all to do with making money, and cant see why there is so little attention paid to its questionable benefits to the environment?
 
"questionable benefits" from ethanol are actually DEMONSTRABLE, PROVEN NET DAMAGE to the environment, not to mention the world's food supply due to ineffectual rotation of the worlds arable land.
 
I think there are a few places on earth right now that could use ethanol fuel effectively. I am involved in the fabrication end of a project to bring ethanol production to a West African country where the nationals are spending $30 per gallon for gasoline to get around fishing on about 60 islands. We're trying to come up with a cost effective and locally buildable way to turn cashew fruit into ethanol for their personal use. Luckily they also have caster oil which can be used with ethanol to make a 2 stroke fuel for outboards. We'll see how it goes.
 
Corn fed ethanol to dilute gas is not ethical nor economic to the world at large. Guess why. Ethanol on cane and grasses and hemp and other cheap feed stock for pure ethanol fuel like Brazil does is workable recyclable carbon,for cars made for it. The real liquid fuel future lies in the likes of Butanol biogenerated in one step.
 
IMHO corn only has 2 uses EATING and DRINKING and has no place in a fuel tank. it takes a lot more energy to grow corn and distill it than what you get from it as a fuel. it has also caused a lot of damage to engine fuel systems. till we have a better and cheaper something to make ethanol from WITHOUT the subsidies than IMHO it is a looser. the massive farm subsidies to perpetuate this also need to stop.
 
motorson said:
I think there are a few places on earth right now that could use ethanol fuel effectively. I am involved in the fabrication end of a project to bring ethanol production to a West African country where the nationals are spending $30 per gallon for gasoline to get around fishing on about 60 islands. We're trying to come up with a cost effective and locally buildable way to turn cashew fruit into ethanol for their personal use. Luckily they also have caster oil which can be used with ethanol to make a 2 stroke fuel for outboards. We'll see how it goes.
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I have often wondered if an engine couldn't be modified to run on grain dust. This idea was based first on seeing a demonstration of the volatility of grain elevator dust. In the demonstration the instructor introduced a small amount of flour into a metal cylinder. Then he touched off a spark in they cylinder using a coil and a mounted spark plug. The the resulting explosion was amazing. If it could be possible to run and engine on combustible dust it would eliminate the need to distill a liquid fuel and it would provide fuel from the inexpensive byproducts of agriculture. Even a simple hit and miss engine in this configuration would work wonders throughout the world for tasks like pumping water.
 
Big_Jim59 said:
I have often wondered if an engine couldn't be modified to run on grain dust. This idea was based first on seeing a demonstration of the volatility of grain elevator dust.
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Maybe with cylinders as big as grain elevators. :D

In all seriousness, I read where the first diesels were developed for coal dust which has a much higher thermal contant than grain dust.

Had blasts in the evenings when people would put out bags of saw dust from hardwood floor refinishing. Dribble a little over a small flame and then let go of the rest - resulted in beautiful mushroom fireball on your own street.
 
Who will be first to mount a Hydrogen tank on their Norton that has been filled up by pumping gas from their own Solar powered electrolysis generator?
 
Dances with Shrapnel said:
In all seriousness, I read where the first diesels were developed for coal dust which has a much higher thermal contant than grain dust.
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You are correct and the coal dust engine exploded!
 
beng said:
Who will be first to mount a Hydrogen tank on their Norton that has been filled up by pumping gas from their own Solar powered electrolysis generator?
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Be surprised if someone hasn't already done it ?
An all-electric featherbed has been out there for some years now.

One of the problems with hydrogen, long term, is that it doesn't stay in its tanks. Its such a small molecule that it can escape through the walls of whatever tank you throw at it. And tanks tend to be heavy, and small capacity.

May not be a problem if can be replentished at home, like you say. But there will have to be a whole new industry providing this capability, including all the safety stuff (yet to be developed ?) so you don't end up like that dust fireball in the street....
 
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