Green Fuel
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From: Mine Hill NJ
Green Fuel
Ok, I've been reading through the Alternative fuels post and realized that there seems to be a little confusion for some about alcohol fuel.
E85 is Ethanol (85 percent Grain/15 percent gasoline) and M85 is Methanol (85 percent wood/15 percent gasoline).
Now I live in the NW New Jersey where there are no stations that sell either of these fuels within 2 hours drive. They are supposedly building a Plant for production somewhere in the state but it seems to be only a rumor for all I've found out.
This put me to thinking about self producing one or the other type of alki fuel. I considered grain can be bought cheaply at a feed supplier but there is some issues as to how much of which grain it will take to produce a usable quantity of fuel alcohol, and while the final cost justify the work it takes to make it.
Now as for wood alcohol -
Have you ever considered the amount of grass you throw away after cutting your lawn each time?
If I had a small lawn I might not have considered it but I have a craftsman 3000 lawn tractor with a 3 hopper bagger system on it and I put 5 gallons of gas a week to mow twice. 1 load of grass fills the hopers with about 80-100 lbs of grass and I dump at least 4 times each time I mow. Lowballing the numbers that’s around 2560 pounds of grass a month. I read somewhere here that it takes about a ton (2000 lbs) of corn to yields something like 100 gallons of ethanol.
What would 2000 lbs of grass/vegetation produce when making methanol? <O:p</O:p
It would be easy to convert my old 68 f100 to an duel fuel vehicle as it has dual tanks stock and replacing the lines, pump, and swapping to a alcohol carb kit in my Holley 750 would be a cake walk. the only pricy things would be the poly tank, stainless lines, and alki pump. but I keep hearing conflicting info on how corrosive these fuels are as well. I know you need to run special detergent or antacid oil but
Can you run with an aluminum manifold/ pistons?<O:p</O:p
or can you coat the exposed surfaces of these to resist the corrosion?
In another post someone spoofed the Hydrogen car by saying to add turbines to catch the wind to generate more power to create more hydrogen.
Seriously though A shed outfitted with a bank of batteries and having a few solar panels and a couple of home built wind mills can easily power the heating element inside a still.
Another thing I heard about corrosion was that denatured alcohol is less corrosive but isn’t denaturing just adding something that makes its flavor intolerable to drink? Jake leg and all right?<O:p
Well I’ve asked a mouthful her so I'll wait for the replies<O:p</O:p
John
E85 is Ethanol (85 percent Grain/15 percent gasoline) and M85 is Methanol (85 percent wood/15 percent gasoline).
Now I live in the NW New Jersey where there are no stations that sell either of these fuels within 2 hours drive. They are supposedly building a Plant for production somewhere in the state but it seems to be only a rumor for all I've found out.
This put me to thinking about self producing one or the other type of alki fuel. I considered grain can be bought cheaply at a feed supplier but there is some issues as to how much of which grain it will take to produce a usable quantity of fuel alcohol, and while the final cost justify the work it takes to make it.
Now as for wood alcohol -
Have you ever considered the amount of grass you throw away after cutting your lawn each time?
If I had a small lawn I might not have considered it but I have a craftsman 3000 lawn tractor with a 3 hopper bagger system on it and I put 5 gallons of gas a week to mow twice. 1 load of grass fills the hopers with about 80-100 lbs of grass and I dump at least 4 times each time I mow. Lowballing the numbers that’s around 2560 pounds of grass a month. I read somewhere here that it takes about a ton (2000 lbs) of corn to yields something like 100 gallons of ethanol.
What would 2000 lbs of grass/vegetation produce when making methanol? <O:p</O:p
It would be easy to convert my old 68 f100 to an duel fuel vehicle as it has dual tanks stock and replacing the lines, pump, and swapping to a alcohol carb kit in my Holley 750 would be a cake walk. the only pricy things would be the poly tank, stainless lines, and alki pump. but I keep hearing conflicting info on how corrosive these fuels are as well. I know you need to run special detergent or antacid oil but
Can you run with an aluminum manifold/ pistons?<O:p</O:p
or can you coat the exposed surfaces of these to resist the corrosion?
In another post someone spoofed the Hydrogen car by saying to add turbines to catch the wind to generate more power to create more hydrogen.
Seriously though A shed outfitted with a bank of batteries and having a few solar panels and a couple of home built wind mills can easily power the heating element inside a still.
Another thing I heard about corrosion was that denatured alcohol is less corrosive but isn’t denaturing just adding something that makes its flavor intolerable to drink? Jake leg and all right?<O:p
Well I’ve asked a mouthful her so I'll wait for the replies<O:p</O:p
John
Last edited by johnnydmetal; May 29, 2006 at 04:52 AM. Reason: spelling
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,228
Likes: 5
From: Running Springs CA
Modern methanol production does not use "wood", it is synthesized from natural gas (methane). Corrosion is mainly due to the affinity alcohol has for water, not the alcohol itself. Race cars dont have a problem because the fuel does not sit for long periods of time.
As far as denaturing goes, the 15 percent gasoline in E85 makes it undrinkable.
Jim
As far as denaturing goes, the 15 percent gasoline in E85 makes it undrinkable.
Jim
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