Posted on 04/23/2010 2:55:15 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Domestic Fuel
Grilling enthusiasts will find a new product that uses ethanol as an alternative to charcoal or propane on the shelves of many grocery and hardware stores this summer.
The FlameDisk® actually utilizes proprietary solidified ethanol and is the first ethanol product to be used exclusively for outdoor grilling, according to manufacturer Sologear, the Wisconsin-based company that invented the product. They are marketing FlameDisk as “more eco-friendly than charcoal and lighter fluid because it features renewable ethanol. Ethanol is extremely clean burning and generates 90% fewer pollutants than charcoal. The FlameDisk®’s aluminum casing is also recyclable.”
“We buy our ethanol from an ethanol manufacturer in 200 proof,” said Sologear president Chad Sorenson. “Then we convert it from a liquid into a solid with a special chemical process that we’ve developed. Nothing like this has ever been done to my knowledge.”
Each FlameDisk utilizes one pint of domestically produced ethanol, which makes it a new market for the fuel, albeit a small one. “Obviously, the largest volume consumer of ethanol is the transportation industry and we’d have to go a long way to cut into those volumes,” Sorenson said. “But it has a lot of significant potential with about 3.8 billion grilling occasions in the U.S. every year and we are already selling product overseas so we think over time this could be a significant new use of ethanol that may have not been considered prior to this.”
The FlameDisk is already on the market and available at places like Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and True Value with a suggested retail price of $4.99.
ML/NJ
$5 for one light and uses one pint? Sounds excessive on both levels.
I use a grill that fits a 14 ounce propane bottle (costs ~$4) that gets 20 lights or so. Highly recommend this Weber grill.
Chafing fuel?
I’ll stick with my old eco standby-— chunks of tires.
I think Sterno is denatured alcohol.
rofl!
more of a baby seal blubber man myself
One problem is that if we were to rely too much on ethanol as a fuel source, many farms may stop growing food in favor of a higher selling ethanol fuel.
Sterno is “good drinkin” if you are down and out - probably where we all will be towards the end of the year when the economy implodes.
LOL We used to use those when we went fishin we finial y figured out where all the wire we got hung up on was coming from.
sgtyork interesting nic my grandmother was a York 1st cousin to Alvin C York.
I am certain that if the cap and tax bill is passed outdoor grilling will be a federal crime. The bill outlaws all wood burning and pellet stoves s it would take very little regulatory interpretation to also ban grills. Of course health Nazis will be banning red meat too so we may be stuck grilling our tofu over a solar cooker.
Is that kooky ethanol out looking for new markets now? I thought it had a full time job of lowering our reliance on foriegn gasoline.
I'll stick with my green egg
"Taste the meat, not the heat"
I prefer to chill with ethanol. Mine is currently comming from Paulaner Salvator, Double Bock. They didn`t have my prefered Sam Adams in stock, bummer.
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