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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
Those against ethanol say that you must include the fossil fuel required to till, plant and harvest as well as refining it.
Oil is there already in the ground. We only need to drill for it, claim it and refine it. Those people usually forget the cost of shipping it half way across the world and the potential hazards involved when tankers leak in the ocean or when sand people torch the wells. Farmers are allot easier to get along with than sand people.
Ethanol may have its limitations and quality of ignition and other downsides. I'm for it. It is renewable and within control inside our country. We still however need to deal with all the lobyists whether they are oil guys or Archer-Daniels- Midland or whatever that is controlling the ethanol.
I just wish there were corn kernel burning cars and trucks.
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
Having looked at the new pellet/corn stoves with their quick start up, I was wondering the same thing. Could we be thinking of a new Stanley Steamer?
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
I think it was the November 30th issue of the Wall Stree Journal that had an article exposing how worthless hybrid vehicles are. Apparently toyota is laughing at us.
I was thinking a corn burning hybrid would work that worked on a low setting recharging batteries while sitting in parking lots, etc. The corn burner could run turbines or flywheels. If it had a boiler or someother device, could it plug into your home or business and run giving an energy credit when not in driving use!
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
Pete; I did not see the post earlier. Is that the post in the WSJ by Holman W. Jenkins Jr? I think Jenkins is the one laughing at us. I have read a couple of his articles and I don't think he has the were with all, to understand the problems or the technology. As he lives in the center of the metropolis and previously in Hong Kong it is likely he doe's drive much. His BA in literature and MA in journalism does not really make him an expert in technology in my opinion.
Although I am not an expert, I am a member of SAE. I have worked on materials for NiMH batteries and have one patent in the area. I helped pull apart the first Prius to hit American shores years ago for analysis. I agree the technology used in the hybrids is not perfect, but neither is the logic used by Jenkins. I can say the technology has advanced since the first model.
Personally I think the MIT review puts a truer prospective on Hybrid technology.
They are talking about taking your fuelcell car home and pugging it into the electrical grid.
Personally I think the clean diesel makes better sense, then again clean diesel and hybrid technology may do even better.
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
Frank, I came across this on a fabrication board I belong to.
Apparently you can buy a micro-chip thing-ama-bobble to convert almost any vehicle to run on E-85 or almost anything else now.
Have a look and see what you think.
(This is not an endorsement, I only found the site through the owner Brad Miller, I have nothing to do with it.)
Best of luck.
Link:
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
Thanks Murf, I'll give it a look. Frank.
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
Murf, that was a VERY interesting link. What interested me the most was the still kits. Unless you used wood or solar power for heating the still; I just don't see how it would be economical to produce alcohol but they sure did have some nice kits! The pay back period to justify the cost of the still would probably exceed the life of the automobile unless you were making very large quantities and selling it for a profit it that were possible. On the other hand, you could really have some fun experiementing with different blends of sour mash to develop a favorite drinking whiskey! ;O)
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
Randy, I was thinking pretty much the same thing. I buy a kit, then I buy corn and propane, then all the time and effort to make it.
Unless you count alcohol production as a hobby I can't see a reason for doing it myself.
Homemade (reprocessed) bio-diesel is another story. I have a neighbour at the farm who collects and reprocessed a LOT of gallons of WVO every week. He uses it himself, in both his truck, and his 80's Mercedes car, and also blends it with convectional dino-diesel in the big trucks that his sons drive for a living.
He claims he is saving 10's of thousands a year doing so.
Best of luck.
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
I was thinking the same thing about WVO to biodiesel but even then unless you are making a LOT and I mean for a fleet. The costs of the the biodiesel processor can get into a prohibitive cost vs benefit too although it sure looks to be much more cost effective than the ethanol. I guess if you could scrounge around and find the components to make a biodiesel processor on the cheap it would be very cost effective; especially if you could find a high capacity source of WVO and make enough to sell to help recover start up costs. Sounds like it would be an interesting project to undertake.
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Can gasoline pickup be converted to burn E-85
I think this may be wondering a bit far off topic but another alternative fuel us tractor folks tend to ignore is the transmission/hydraulic fluid that we periodically change out. After letting it settle for a month or more, I mix it in with my diesel fuel or sometimes Kerosene when I can buy it cheaper than diesel. As long as you keep the mix to around 10% or less, it burns fine. Not only does this help extend my fuel dollars, it also is a very good method of disposing of waste oil. This can be done with waste motor oil but I would recommend filtering it good before mixing with the diesel. This might make a good subject matter for another thread for "Alternative Fuels".
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Gas Generator Weather Protecti
12-09-2005, 13:53 
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