Re: Why BioDiesel and Not Hydrogen Cars...

From: brianb (bri1600bv_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 08/08/04 

Date: 8 Aug 2004 11:35:48 -0700

Anthony Matonak <res04ijs@gte.net> wrote in message news:<41162C65.6090504@gte.net>...
> brianb wrote:
> > "Michael Foster" <PostNoSpam@recoverybydiscovery.com> wrote in message news:<2mvtq4Fque2tU1@uni-berlin.de>...
> >>http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
> >>
> >>Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae
> >
> > I think they are using 20,000 gallons of oil per acre. That sounds
> > incredibly high, but what do I know. Sounds exciting.
>
> Algae can be very efficient at converting sunlight. They can be as
> efficient (or more) than solar PV if they have the right growing
> conditions. I don't know how close to real-world these numbers are
> but the US Government did a lot of research on this stuff a couple
> of decades ago and some of it involved test farms. I would assume
> these numbers are at least in the ball park.
>
> > Why do you have to mix this oil with anything? (they mention ethanol
> > or methanol). Why can't you just burn the oil directly? Can it be
> > refined?
>
> You can if you include a fuel heater and seperate fuel tank containing
> ordinary dieself or biodiesel for starting/shutdown of the engine.
> There are a few places that sell vehicle conversion kits for running
> your diesel on straight vegetable oil.
>
> You can turn vegetable oil into Biodiesel by adding some chemicals.
> This is where the ethanol or methanol comes in. Biodiesel can be used
> in any diesel engine as a direct replacement of diesel fuel.
>
> > I've heard that companies don't like working with methanol b/c it's so
> > poisonous (among other reasons). I'm not sure how cheap ethanol could
> > be. Maybe cheaper if a non-corn base was used?
>
> Ethanol can be cheaper. How much cheaper depends on a lot of factors
> and Yes, there are things cheaper than corn to use as feedstock. Algae
> can be used as a feedstock for ethanol, for example.
>
> Anthony

Well this sounds fascinating. I wonder why we don't get right on it?

1 acre is 4000 square meters or so. One square meter in sunny S.
Arizona probably gets 2500 kwh of sunlight per year or 10M kwh per
acre. 20,000 gallons of oil is about 750,000 kwh of energy. So
overall efficiency is 7.5%. That could be I guess.

How exactly would this work? Would you dig a big canal to bring salt
water into the desert? If it were just a pipe bringing water in would
you be worried that as water evaporated the salinity of the marsh
would rise until it was all salt?

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Why BioDiesel and Not Hydrogen Cars...
    ... > Algae can be very efficient at converting sunlight. ... > You can turn vegetable oil into Biodiesel by adding some chemicals. ... > in any diesel engine as a direct replacement of diesel fuel. ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: 5th Gear chip fat limo....
    ... But the beauty of Algae is, as well as using nasty CO2s it can also make ... Not gasahol, not ethanol, not brown gas, not diesel, but petrol. ... Instead polluting the air though, the exhaust from the burner is fed ...
    (uk.rec.cars.misc)
  • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VEGETABLE OIL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    ... waste vegetable oil ... raw vegetable oil for diesel ... waste vegetable oil melbourne ... vegetable oil fuel valve ...
    (alt.marketing.online.ebay)
  • Re: transmission rebuild question
    ... The air filter bracket lasts 2 months then breaks. ... I am going to drain the tank of the SVOil and put real diesel in to ... Los of poeple run waste vegetable oil or biodiesel in these things. ... Need Mercedes parts? ...
    (alt.auto.mercedes)
  • Re: Get Yer Vegie Oil in yer car tomorrow NO DUTY PAYABLE
    ... there is only a need to keep 'basic' receipts ... sensitive beasts and do not take readily to pure vegetable oil or even ... diesel is a good proposition here) or you just grin and risk it, ...
    (uk.legal)
Loading