[Gasification] OT Ethanol or diesel conversions -- was Re: Tuning for Speed

[Harmon Seaver]

Mark Ludlow wrote:
> Peter,
> 
> I wonder about distillation. Best case: aquahol. Unless you want to
> azeotrope the water off with toluene or use molecular sieves like the ETOH
> industry does. 5% water? If it's a good thing I'll start to add Everclear to
> my gas tank, as no one around here believes that gasoline is not forever.
> 
> Distillation is not cheap. None of the ethanol plants that I am aware of (I
> was in Iowa last week!) uses ethanol as a thermal source for distillation.
> 
> What's wrong with this picture?
>

   Peter and I were talking about small scale distillation, right? So
how is it not cheap? Grow or gather the feedstock, gather the wood to
fire the still --- free fuel. Pretty simple. I can have all the fuel I
want for my car, truck, tractor, rototiller, etc. essentially for
nothing but a bit of my time. And I've got lots of that.
   And, BTW, getting 100% is not really all that difficult for
individuals -- ask the guys who make anhydrous ethanol to use to make
biodiesel. It's definitely doable in the backyard, and not too expensive
to set up.



-- 
Harmon Seaver