Biofuels get mixed review (Ethanol does well on efficiency, but only so-so for the environment.)

How about using the diesel exhaust to generate steam. AKA the Still engine. IIRC the thermal efficiency of the still engine runs in the 50% range.

21 posted on 01/30/2006 4:04:50 AM PST by cannonball

See www.biodiesel.org and www.biofuels.coop

FYI, I am the token capitalist member of the Biofuels cooperative.

22 posted on 01/30/2006 4:11:34 AM PST by Andy from Chapel Hill

Thanks for the post and reference to the Still Engine...

I had not heard of it before and will have to read more about it..

I mistakenly thought you meant the "Sterling" (sp? Stirling ? ) engine..

23 posted on 01/30/2006 4:21:51 AM PST by Drammach (In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king..)

Corn isn't really the best industrial plant, it's just the best legal one.

24 posted on 01/30/2006 4:23:22 AM PST by publiusF27

Overlooked in this discussion is the fact that Ethanol is used as an oxygenate in gasoline to replace MTBE's, which are a known carcinagen.

How about using replacing it instead with a blend of heptane and octane?

25 posted on 01/30/2006 4:11:23 PM PST by supercat (Sony delenda est.)

The link in comment 10 seems to imply otherwise.

No it doesn't. And if it did, it would be wrong. If you want to ruin a diesel engine, fill it up with ethanol. It is obvious that you don't know anything about diesel engines or biodiesel.

-A8

26 posted on 01/30/2006 7:06:34 PM PST by adiaireton8 ("There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse." - Plato, Phaedo 89d)

No it doesn't. And if it did, it would be wrong. If you want to ruin a diesel engine, fill it up with ethanol. It is obvious that you don't know anything about diesel engines or biodiesel.

Synthetic diesel

"Wood, straw, corn, garbage, and sewage-sludge may be dried and gasified. After purification the so called Fischer Tropsch process is used to produce synthetic diesel. [1] Other attempts use enzymatic processes and are also economic in case of high oil prices. Synthetic diesel may also be produced out of natural gas in the GTL process. Such synthetic diesel has 30% less particulate emissions than conventional diesel (US- California) [2]. Another approach is to use a blend of 95% ethanol (typically derived from corn) and 5% gasoline in what is termed E95 as a substitute for diesel, analogous to the E85 ethanol-based fuel used in flexible-fuel vehicle gasoline engines."

You're correct in that I'm not a motorhead. Maybe you should inform TheFreeDictionary that their information is not correct.

27 posted on 01/30/2006 7:28:32 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)

The only way you could put ethanol in a diesel engine is if you built the engine from the ground up specifically for (and only for) ethanol. Ethanol and diesel have greatly different ignition properties, and to get ethanol to ignite without a spark, you would have to increase the compression ratio signiticantly.

28 posted on 01/31/2006 4:30:17 AM PST by adiaireton8 ("There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse." - Plato, Phaedo 89d)

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794