Alcohol fuel

[kjvman]

Anybody interested in using alcohol fuel can check out my website. www.thefuelman.com

[SVOboy]

What kind of compression ratio do you suggest running to run ethanol? Also, could I home blend something like e50 or whatev to match the CR that I'll be running when I build up my engine?

[Matt Timion]

More info on alcohol fuel in this link taken from the "In the News" to the left:

Click me

[iburnh2o]

You can usually run 14:1 or higher. Here's some info on making your own : http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/id36.html

In some countries you pick the ration of alcohol to gas at the pump and mix whatever blend you desire.

Down sides... many, fuel system has to handle it, takes more total fuel as btu's are much lower. Takes more energy to make the alcohol than you get out.

fwiw:
If running E10 my mileage drops and I actually end up using more gas with the alcohol than if I ran with straight gas.

[SVOboy]

If running E10 my mileage drops and I actually end up using more gas with the alcohol than if I ran with straight gas.

Read an article about Brazil using mainly full ethanol, and it said that even though you get less mileage the thrift of it saves the brazilians money, and also is good for their economy. Plus, I believe it burns cleaner. Besides, e10 versus straight gas is going to be about the same in price, and I'd expect you to get different mpgs running different octanes anyway. So meh.

[chesspirate]

I think that even though there are many drawbacks to Alchohol fuel, the simple possibility of of the U.S.A. weaning itself off of foreign oil and all the problems that come with that are more important and significant.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Read an article about Brazil using mainly full ethanol, and it said that even though you get less mileage the thrift of it saves the brazilians money, and also is good for their economy. Plus, I believe it burns cleaner. Besides, e10 versus straight gas is going to be about the same in price, and I'd expect you to get different mpgs running different octanes anyway. So meh.

Brazil is an interesting situation. WIth the abundance of sugar cane, they can easily produce the ethanol very cheaply. It's makes more sense for them to run on ethanol than gasoline (especially considering the price to import and their massive population).

Other countries around the world would also benefit from things like this, especially tropical countries like the Philippines who burn enough diesel to make the Manila Bay sunset one of the prettiest in the world. I guess that's a positive side effect of pollution.... maybe the only one...

Here in America we don't have the benefit of an abundance of sugar cane. Making corn alcohol also isn't a very viable option, unless oil was over $100 a barrel. I honestly think that the best solution HERE is to use hemp, or genetically modified algae to make biodiesel. We're always better off using what we have. Ethanol doesn't make sense here.

I view Ford's ethanol/gasoline hybrid as a last ditch effort to save a failing company. They would have been better off with a diesel/electric hybrid IMHO.

[SVOboy]

I honestly think that the best solution HERE is to use hemp, or genetically modified algae to make biodiesel. We're always better off using what we have. Ethanol doesn't make sense here.

Hemp = good stuff for stuff like that.

In any case, yeah, well, I think ethanol would be worth the extra cost, and the farmers need something to do, they're getting screwed these days. Genetic engineering = for me though.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

In any case, yeah, well, I think ethanol would be worth the extra cost, and the farmers need something to do, they're getting screwed these days. Genetic engineering = for me though.

As it is now, we don't have the available farm space to make enough ethanol in our country. I can find a source for this, but I read that if we converted all of our crop space to corn for the exclusive purpose of making ethanol, we wouldn't have enough space.

The opposite is true for genetically engineered algae, which could also be used to clean the smoke stacks on coal burning power plants. We would get a two for one on that.

Like it or not, genetically modified foods and products have been on our shelves for years now. Most of the fruit you eat is probably genetically modified, as well as many medications. If you really want to talk about this we can start a new thread in the "off topic" section. Very interesting topic of discussion IMHO.

[SVOboy]

Yes yes, I know your point, but nevertheless, I should be working.