 djkraz says: Ford's research into ethanol goes all the way back to Henry Ford's Model T, designed to run on ethanol, gasoline, or a combination of the two.I think my jaw hit the floor when I read this. I really wonder why it took them this long to figure out that he was on to something all those years ago. I'd also like to know why they chose something dirty and hard to get like oil vs something clean and renewable like ethanol. Ethanol can't produce the same level of combustion as gasoline does. That would explain why they don't go any higher than 85% ethanol now. Thanks for the info bbw. Here's a crazy thought... I put in a corn burner to heat my house this year and it save me about $1000 the first year alone. What if they came back out with steam engines, but instead of coal/wood, they ran on corn or other biofuel like the new biomass furnaces. I've always been interested in steam power and have been to many antique engine show's and have always been fascinated by them. Obviously it won't do much for a car, but what about to power your house. I wonder if it would be possible to convert my corn burner into a corn burning steam powered generator during the summer.... Dayam... that's a lot of thinking there! Hmmm... hate to get off track but... You did the corn burner huh? Are you finding a lot of soot or dust problems? A friend of mine did this a while back and had some issues with his wife who has allergies. I wouldn't say your idea about generating some power out of the corn burner is impossible but building a steam engine requires and engineer because of the high pressures. Another reason Ethanol is unpopular is that it actually costs almost 4 times more to produce per gallon that gas does. It requires more raw fuel to convert the corn into a burnable fuel than you get out of it. Ahhh, here's an article I'll quote; David Pimentel, an agricultural scientist at Cornell University and one of the foremost critics of ethanol, has conducted numerous cost analyses on ethanol production. He's made a name for himself mostly by driving the ethanol industry raving mad. From its very beginnings, when hoe enters soil, ethanol production has not changed much since the nineteenth century. Pimentel found that one acre of U.S. corn field yields about 7,110 pounds of corn, which in turn produces 328 gallons of ethanol. Setting aside the environmental implications (which are substantial), the financial costs already begin to mount. To plant, grow, and harvest the corn takes abo... Wow, very insteresting stuff. Any idea of it's 100% fact? Seems to me like it could be someone on the petroleum board with a vested interest writing that... Only reason I ask is because one of henry ford's quote's was that one year's worth of potatoe crop would create enough alcohol to fuel the cropping of the potatoes for another 100 years. Obviously that was very long time ago, and who knows if he was right or not too. As for the steam engine thing, I think the best bet would be to purchase one from one of the show's. I've never been to one where there wasn't at least 1 or 2 for sale. It really wouldn't take much to convert it to burn biofuel either. Now i'm getting really curious.  |
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