Running a car on alcohol

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10-12-2012, 08:16 PM
cherrydrpepper

Running a car on alcohol

Does anyone know anybody running a car on alcohol?

I was hoping to find out the short answer. Why are we not running cars on alcohol? I stumbled across this website about how to convert a car to run on it and then make a distillery to produce your own alcohol yada yada. Is there something obvious I am overlooking? I have lived close to the country a couple of times, driving by vast farmland with the large silos and tractors and barns. I can just imagine a farmer setting up his distillery and converting his vehicle and pretty much going to autopilot after that. I don't get why this is pretty much unheard of in the US.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_...drane.html#ch1
10-12-2012, 08:26 PM
kalspic

probably because you can make it yourself and the govt cant tax you
10-12-2012, 08:39 PM
Far from massive

Actually its simple economics. The production of ethanol by conventional means from corn costs more than gasoline. This is why its subsidized by the gov in the US without government subsidies no corn would be made into ethanol for car usage.
10-12-2012, 08:45 PM
kalspic

couldnt you use just about any crop to make alcohol/ like potatos and such. not just corn
10-12-2012, 08:50 PM
LNT8799

If you were to invent a car that ran on anything but gas or diesel and tried to manufacture them in mass quantity, you would either be bought out, or killed more than likely
10-12-2012, 08:55 PM
FONZY007

Quote:

Originally Posted by LNT8799

If you were to invent a car that ran on anything but gas or diesel and tried to manufacture them in mass quantity, you would either be bought out, or killed more than likely

Tesla motors
10-12-2012, 09:32 PM
Times Roman

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalspic

couldnt you use just about any crop to make alcohol/ like potatos and such. not just corn

ANY vegetation can be converted to alchohol.

using a food source like corn to make ethenol is a huge mistake from an economic standpoint. It drives up the costs of food. Instead, if the government went about this correctly, they would require only the use of non food sources, like Bush W was going on about with switch grass.
10-12-2012, 10:45 PM
cherrydrpepper

Itd just be nice to get out of the middle east thats all Im saying. Imagine an end to that shit on cnn/fox every day.. because we dont need oil. You dont see Africa in the news everyday do you and they are a lot worse ****ed than the arabs, they just dont have oil that we care about.
10-12-2012, 10:46 PM
< <Samson> >

You can not run a car on alcohol. Well, sorta. . . . You can convert to E85 which just has a amazing octane rating. But, there are quite a few things to change over.

Cars don't like a crazy amount of alcohol in their gasoline either. Gasoline now has almost 15% ethanol which kills older cars and gives worse gas mileage. Yet, in newer style cars it does pretty damn well due to the fact that it burns much more efficiently.
10-12-2012, 11:24 PM
Lunk1

Quote:

Originally Posted by < >

You can not run a car on alcohol. Well, sorta. . . . You can convert to E85 which just has a amazing octane rating. But, there are quite a few things to change over.

Cars don't like a crazy amount of alcohol in their gasoline either. Gasoline now has almost 15% ethanol which kills older cars and gives worse gas mileage. Yet, in newer style cars it does pretty damn well due to the fact that it burns much more efficiently.

Just wondering Samson...what is it those darn top fuel funny cars use for fuel...man I can't remember ;)
10-12-2012, 11:28 PM
Lunk1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Far from massive

Actually its simple economics. The production of ethanol by conventional means from corn costs more than gasoline. This is why its subsidized by the gov in the US without government subsidies no corn would be made into ethanol for car usage.

This is the correct answer! Many types of vegetation can be converted to fuel but it is still very expensive. PPL might say well Brazil is using sugar cane and they are energy self sufficient. True...but now take that X the population in the US or China! It currently takes almost dbl the amount of natural gas to convert starches to fuel. It would make MORE sense to use natural gas. Propane enjines already exist so this is feasable.

My opinion is get behind electric powered by nuclear...its the safest and cheapest energy available
10-13-2012, 12:52 AM
Dpyle

Quote:

Originally Posted by < >

You can not run a car on alcohol. Well, sorta. . . . You can convert to E85 which just has a amazing octane rating. But, there are quite a few things to change over.

Cars don't like a crazy amount of alcohol in their gasoline either. Gasoline now has almost 15% ethanol which kills older cars and gives worse gas mileage. Yet, in newer style cars it does pretty damn well due to the fact that it burns much more efficiently.

Actually Samson I just heard it on talk radio yesterday morning that cars between the years of around 89-94 that use the OBD0 system are in a sense too "stupid" to recognize the difference of e85 so no conversion is necessary. It just keeps adjusting on it's own for the fuel mixture.
10-13-2012, 07:20 AM
Honkey_Kong

You know CDP, it is possible to run a diesel engine on 100% pure corn oil. It gets shittier gas mileage than diesel, but you can get it for free from any fast food restaurant. I don't know if I'd use this on an everyday thing because you'd probably gunk up your fuel injection system with it. But I do know of people who have alternate tanks where they start their trucks on diesel and when the car is warmed up switch over to corn oil and then before they shut down, switch back to diesel.

Right now it doesn't sound like too great of an idea to look in to, but as gas prices go up, it might be worth looking in to using a fuel other people aren't using that is pretty abundant.
10-13-2012, 07:30 AM
< <Samson> >

It's not just the air to fuel ratio. Alcohol fuel requires viton seals, older cars use rubber. See what alcohol does to rubber. Also the tune is important, but a car "will" run on it. Then fall apart.
10-13-2012, 08:18 PM
kalspic

....
10-13-2012, 08:19 PM
kalspic

so you could use grass clippings and corn stalks, basically compost. ferment it to get alcohol and use that?

i apologize if im just splitting hairs
10-13-2012, 08:24 PM
cherrydrpepper

Im guessing it has to be a vegetable but I have no clue without doing more research
10-13-2012, 08:27 PM
Lunk1

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalspic

so you could use grass clippings and corn stalks, basically compost. ferment it to get alcohol and use that?

i apologize if im just splitting hairs

Corn stalks yes! It's beingf studied now. It's all about pulling the starches from the stalks. Currently it takes to much fuel to extract enough starch fr5om the stalk to make it worth while. Storage is the other issue!
10-13-2012, 08:29 PM
Lunk1

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherrydrpepper

Im guessing it has to be a vegetable but I have no clue without doing more research

Switch grass is also being considered but its not affective yet. Some countries such as Briazil is using sugar cane
10-13-2012, 08:33 PM
cherrydrpepper

Maybe we should get your sis Dr Liz Lunk to assist I heard she is a pro at extracting starch from my stalk
10-13-2012, 08:35 PM
kalspic

i wonder if they will ever be able to use alge
10-13-2012, 08:36 PM
Lunk1

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherrydrpepper

maybe we should get your sis dr liz lunk to assist i heard she is a pro at extracting starch from my stalk

hah...
10-13-2012, 08:37 PM
Lunk1

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalspic

i wonder if they will ever be able to use alge

I beleive its being studied as well