[Gasification] [Stoves] Methanol stove fuel. was Re: Methanoltoxicity?

[Thomas Reed]

Dear Harmon and All:

A good friend of mine (Peter Robeck) flew spotter planes using 15% 
ethanol as an octane enhancer at the battle of Stalingrad.  He told me 
that they found that by adding a little water to the fuel they could 
separate out the ethanol to drink.  The remaining low octane gasoline 
they burned in their tents to keep warm. 

But the water extraction also adds benzene from the gasoline - not good 
for the liver.  However,  the killer was the tetra ethyl lead remaining 
in the gasoline.  Peter had terrible teeth and hair.  (Maybe also a bad 
liver.)  The Russian Winters have saved civilization more than once.  
When your life expectancy is measured in weeks, this could have been a 
good choice. 

So let's remember that methanol is a fast poison from which very few 
die, while ethanol is a slower poison with possibly pleasant side 
effects from which thousands die. 

Alcohols are the most likely replacements for petroleum and can be 
easily colored and odorized to make good fuels. 

Yours truly,

TOM REED                  THE BIOMASS ENERGY FOUNDATION




Harmon Seaver wrote:
>    I well remember this exact procedure being passed around when I was
> a kid, as to how you made anti-freeze drinkable. Same loaf of bread
> BS, etc.
> I also knew 3 guys who tried it, 2 died, one was permanently blind and
> very, very sick for a long time.
>    Some denatured ethanol is denatured with methanol, some with gasoline.
>
> On 7/5/06, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispin at newdawn.sz> wrote:
>   
>> Dear Paul
>>
>> Thanks for asking the question.  Very relevant these days.
>>
>> Denatured alcohol is apparently ethanol with a bitter additive to keep it
>> off the booze market, coloured to show it is 'different'.  It is still plain
>> ethanol.  It burns quite well.  It has an octane rating of 106 if you want
>> to throw it into your street dragster.
>>
>> Drinking Denatured Alcohol - A Practical Guide
>>
>> Cut off one end of a load of break
>>
>> Pour the denatured alcohol into the end holding the bread vertically with
>> the open end on top so the alcohol runs through the length of the loaf.  It
>> will eventually pass out of the bottom into a container in which you collect
>> it.
>>
>> This effect, running the denatured product through a yeasty bread, renders
>> the product drinkable - at least if your REALLY need a drink.
>>
>> Then, to dilute the yukky taste a little more and to share it with your
>> (drinking) friends, heat a bucket of water on a small fire - not too hot
>> because you will have to swallow it quickly.
>>
>> The add what quantity of 'strained' alcohol you have to the bucket and drink
>> as much as you can as fast as you can.  The hot water will ensure that the
>> alcohol is taken up rapidly through the stomach wall and quick as a flash,
>> you are drunk!
>>
>> There is no warning needed with this list of instructions.  The denaturing
>> agent in the ethanol provides its own bitter lesson.  This method of having
>> fun with friends was provided to me by a reliable source though I have not
>> taken steps to confirm the veracity of its assertions.
>>
>> Best regards
>> Crispin the tea-totaller
>>
>>
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>>     
>
>
>