Corn is not the only source for making ethanol. Brazil makes theirs from sugar cane. New technologies are also surfacing to make ethanol from a variety of other sources as well as making the distilling process more efficient. Like any new product, ethanol still has lots of areas of production that need improvement. I would imagine gasoline was the same in it's infancy????

 

We have people on the street, homeless scrounging for food in most every city in the us. They are always hitting the food banks, for food. And yes I know we ship tons of grain to most third world countries in need. On that yes, I think we should take care of home first. But our goverment has committed so must grain as aid to these countries, and I think fixed the price, which I disagree with. The reason a lot of farmers have started getting out of the business. And foreign investers have been buy these farms. Another problem with corn is that it uses a lot of minerals from the soil, depleting it. And like someone earlier pointed out it is a NEGATIVE fuel due to the fact it takes more to make it that what you get out.

We both agree it's not our solution for this countries energy demands. Never had a chance from day one, just a political move.

 

Well John even tho I respect everyone's opinion.... I damn Sure dont "KNOW" how you can say "where are the starving people in the US? DUH!

Come on now...I dont know how well heeled you are down in N.C...and I just live across the border here in VA... and I see it all the damn time...and these are god fearing working people "not living from payday to payday" But Day to day!! From the higher prices of everything going sky high and the wages and benefits going down...

I belong to Hunters for the Hungry...Have been for many years...And I felt bad this year, because I could only donate 2 Doe and $200 for processing them to feed the hungry around here... But I have to feed my family and Grandkids first!!

I have as My Family has once a year, and I meen all my family..probably between Aunts and Uncles and cousins and there kids 60 of us..we go in shifts to the Roanoke Recue mission and make food to feed 900 place settings..

The Nect time you want to know where the Hungry are in your community..Do me a favor, and look up your nearest Rescue Mission..and Help out for a day...they'll gladly have you....IF you have the stones for it..and then tell me what you saw....and when your not working the kitchen or line serving...Go out and sit with some of those folks and asked them how they got in this situation...

I have sat with Druggies that got straight..and did some stupid ***** and are having a hard time finding work because of there past, too Highly decorated war Vets....That have a never disorder from chemical warfare....to little ol lady and Men that could as well be your Grandparents...and that there medicene bills are so high per month and there damn insurance will only pay part....and there Bill is $1000 a month for there meds....They have a choice? Die without there meds...or buy the meds and eat in the mission...


So Dont even ask!! Where are the Starving people here!! Sorry about the Rant Guys...But being an X Nam Man myself.....This is a very sore subject with me.... But I do what I can do....And John..I invite you to make a trip to my home..and I'll take you 30 mins away..and you can see first hand!

WAY

RJ- know I hope someone will tell me I read the post wrong??

 

Let's keep it civil, and I have no problem keeping this thread around. I know people will disagree, and sometimes that causes bad feelings, but oh well

 

Humm this fe e85 post is warming up ,,, for one thing corn isnt the only plant capable of being used for alcohol , barley , sugar , switchgrass but that hasnt caught on yet , anything that will ferment it boils down to i guess .
Its been a long time coming for farmers to see grain prices like we had this year but the second a farmer sees a profit somebody is right there to steal or jack up imput costs of farming , it never fails .

 

RJ, Are you saying that the grocery stores in the Roanoke Va. area are not stocked to the brim? There are folk that may be hungry because they have make bad choices, that have spent the grocery money and rent money on items that have caused them to be in places they don't wish to be in.

I beg to differ with you sir, but there is no starvation in this country because there is no food. There are a gazillion tons of food thrown away every day. Check the garbage cans on your street.

Down and out people needing a helping hand are not starving because the corn is being used as fuel and there is none for them. IMHO of course.


John

 

Oh John I agree with you that alot of people have made bad choices in life..I have and I think if you were to poll everyone in the US..you would find that 99% of us had at one time or another...

But the point I was trying to make..is that the Elders on a fixed income have there bills to pay as we all do...and some have Big time Meds to buy every month...and some dont make enough hourly money to pay there rent , raise a kid or 2, keep there cars running too get to work with, Or Buy Groceries....

And of course this doesnt all realy on corn product.... But if we start getting the Farmers to all start growing corn...to be made into a fuel source, and which they would love to sell it as that rather than a food crop..It will pay more... and then more and more farmers will want to go that way be it corn or cane or what ever...

any product that we would eat..would suffer quility because the farmer would think..Oh well, it only being sold for fuel to be made from.. And then the farmers that were still growing a food crop, would want top dollar for it...as being there is less land out there being used for FOOD only crops..

And where does it all end at? I live smack Dab in the middle of Farm land...I'am surounded by 1 - 1500 acre farm and another 2500 acre farm..and the one across the road from me is 300 acre's.... But they grow feed for there cattle that you buy at the store....and the mentioned of the depleating the minerals from the soil is very ture...My Neighbors plant in diffrent locations on there land each year...and have to treat the soil for 3 years on the land they have allready grown crops on...

and thats just for cattle feed......It takes up more land..to do the same to grow consumable human crops with... So maybe, If we can get or goverment from giving away all the corn to the foriegn country's, we might have a good start on the corn for fuel deal.. without taking up food land...

Take a look at some of the products in your grocery store...they come from all angle's of the world....Why? we dont need it.....Our government even paid Famer in the corn belt for years "NOT" to grow crops.....Because they said there was to big of surplus....why didnt they use that for Fuel?? JMO

RJ

 

There are lots and lots of WHAT IFS in the world. This is another one of those subjects.

What if - what if farmers actually made a good living? Would they continue to farm? Would we draw more people into farming? Would we start USING all the land we have that's farmable as FARM land, or what? I know in Upstate NY, lots of fields laying fallow for decades that could grow something ethanol can be made from (switchgrass, etc). The money coming into Upstate NY would be a good thing for the people who live there. Doing this wouldn't increase the price of corn.

Oh, and the worst thing in the world would NOT be the loss of High Fructose Corn Syrup to sweeten everything your kids eat.

What if oil IS a non-renewable resource? Meaning it just doesn't keep flowing from the ground forever? Is it wise to look at (and begin using) alternatives NOW or LATER?

What if we all converted to diesel? The MPGs are higher with diesel. But then the price of diesel would skyrocket because of the increase in demand. Or would it? Gas demand would decrease allowing more diesel to be made. Or would the oil companies even do that?

And around and around we go.

For every argument someone can come up with against Ethanol, I can think of one FOR it. For every reason someone can think of why Ethanol is GREAT, again I can come up with reasons it is NOT.

We can ponder the what-ifs forever.

The original poster just wanted to know if anyone else has done it with an FE.

 

If it wasn't for goverment subsidy it would not be made. And any fuel that takes more energy to make than you get out, should not be made at all. Alternate or not. Now at some time technology makes it a positive, than great. Crude is on the decline, no refineries have been built it 30+ years. Everyone want the fuel but no body wants the industries. The reason we are importing fuel all ready refined. Can wait till Hydrogen becomes feesable. The Saudi's are building necular plants (10) for their needs, that should tell you something. They have not been able to increase production, why should they. The price will just go up to help fund the nuclear plants. Yet this county leaders keep telling everyone we have plenty. Now yes, 10yrs NO, 5 yr NO. World supply should start to decline by 1010.

Now as a racing fuel it is great if you build for it.

As far global warming........ We are actually glad it is. Increase the growing season. If it goes the other directions, growing seasons willbe less. We want be able to grow food if we enter an ice age.

So there are 2 sides to every discussions.

 

ENOUGH of this back and forth - if no one else has any input for the ORIGINAL POST, don't bother.

 

Ever hear of distillers grains?

http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

What about cellulosic ethanol?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&n...ol&btnG=Search

Does not burn as clean as regular gasoline wrong ethanol burns cleaner!

http://www.ethanolrfa.org/resource/facts/environment/

For the facts on ethanol as fuel try this site.

http://www.ethanolrfa.org/

 

Well, we finished up our third season using our E-90 blend in two drag cars, both powered by BBF's, aluminum head, Dominator carbs. Both cars completed better then 100 passes each this summer with Zero breakdowns and some very consistent ET's. I don't know poop about all the economics or politics of ethanol. But what I DO know about it as that our E-90 is 108 octane and we just finished our 3rd season with the two ethanol powered engines and I'm sure they will need nothing more then a general freshening....

Will it work on an FE engine????? IMO, heck yes!!!! and if the carb and timing is set up and tuned correctly it will work very well!!!!!

 

there is one quote that e85 doen not burn as clean as regular gas ,,, he is right i believe it burns cleaner and thus my interest in converting over to

 

Alcohol contains Oxygen, so it produces less heat - less energy - when burned. It takes more alcohol to use up Oxygen in the air/fuel mixture, so you get a loss of volumetric efficiency, too. Alcohol is used to reduce pollution in gasoline - it's a substitute for MTBE.

Because it burns more slowly, it needs more spark advance. Because of the increased spark advance, it causes pumping losses. High compression, small chambers, hot spark, and high thermostat temperatures are needed. Hypereutectic pistons, because of their heat resistance, would be preferred.

I would use an aluminum intake and paint the top side to try to get it as hot as possible. I would use the exhaust gas crossover in the intake to make sure it heats up. You want to vaporize the fuel as much as possible.

 

Also, don't forget that E-85 is a higher octane then pump gas, closer to most racing gas now and you can also run higher compression and not pay $6.50 a gallon for race gas!!!!! I'm certainly not a chemist and not very good as a theorist either, but I do know from our practical application that you can go fast with E-85!!!!!! It's certainly not a cure all for our gasoline problems, but it'll do til something better comes along!!!!