On my way to fuel independence..........
An acre of corn around here yields about 150 bushels per acre. You can make 2.5 gallons of ethanol from a bushel of corn (56 pounds). This would give me enough corn to make 1125 gallons of ethanol.
E95? what kind of octane rating does that one have?
oh yah and dave will know when i say Cedar Point FTW!
Last edited by BiFfMaN; Apr 4, 2007 at 05:37 PM.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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From: Jacksonville/Boca Raton
Sounds cool as heck Dave, too bad florida sucks at t3h ethanol, otherwise I would be running it already.
On the other hand. Al, please stop going on about how much better buying USA is, unless you are prepaired to sell your car.
On the other hand. Al, please stop going on about how much better buying USA is, unless you are prepaired to sell your car.
Damn, when I saw the thread title, I thought Dave had managed to squeeze a turbo diesel into the Evo...
Dave, you might want to look into other crops as well. IIRC, ethanol in Brazil is made from sugarcane - no good for the US, but prairie grass, for example, might get you a better return on your investment than corn will.
l8r)
Dave, you might want to look into other crops as well. IIRC, ethanol in Brazil is made from sugarcane - no good for the US, but prairie grass, for example, might get you a better return on your investment than corn will.
l8r)
If you are really interested in using ethanol you'll be surprised how easy it actually is to make. Did you know you can make it from grass clippings? You can use sugar, fruits, corn, beats, potatoes etc. I think as this all moves along more and more people will find all kinds of stuff they can get for free and turn into ethanol.
Here is how the basic process works.
Find the "stuff" you are going to use to convert into "beer" or "wine". You have to grind it/chop it whatever to get it broken down. Then you put it into a large can, a big garbage can would work, add yeast, enzymes etc., (different "stuff" needs different combination to get it to break down and ferment) Then you cover it and let it ferment. It will eventually peak at it highest alcohol content. So for example if you had access to a bunch of apples. You would pick them, smash them, add water and yeast and wait 48 hours to ferment. You end up with hard apple cider, if you are lucky when it's done you will have 15% alcohol content. The water portion of this is all drained off and put into a boiler. This is then brought up to 176 degrees F which gets the alcohol to boil out of the water. The steam goes into the still, ethanol is made.
That's a very basic run down.
A lot of people actually use a water heater for doing the boiling which at first I didn't want to do. I was going to make a big boiler and fire it with wood. You can do that and for me it is cheaper but a hot water heater just makes sense. You can use Propane/natural gas to fire it, it's insulated, regulates it's own tempurature and is actually very cheap and clean to run. While it isn't advised, this entire thing could be set up in a bedroom.
Here are some links for you guys to check out:
www.milehidistilling.com
http://www.cleanhouston.org/energy/f...s/ethanol2.htm
Here is how the basic process works.
Find the "stuff" you are going to use to convert into "beer" or "wine". You have to grind it/chop it whatever to get it broken down. Then you put it into a large can, a big garbage can would work, add yeast, enzymes etc., (different "stuff" needs different combination to get it to break down and ferment) Then you cover it and let it ferment. It will eventually peak at it highest alcohol content. So for example if you had access to a bunch of apples. You would pick them, smash them, add water and yeast and wait 48 hours to ferment. You end up with hard apple cider, if you are lucky when it's done you will have 15% alcohol content. The water portion of this is all drained off and put into a boiler. This is then brought up to 176 degrees F which gets the alcohol to boil out of the water. The steam goes into the still, ethanol is made.
That's a very basic run down.
A lot of people actually use a water heater for doing the boiling which at first I didn't want to do. I was going to make a big boiler and fire it with wood. You can do that and for me it is cheaper but a hot water heater just makes sense. You can use Propane/natural gas to fire it, it's insulated, regulates it's own tempurature and is actually very cheap and clean to run. While it isn't advised, this entire thing could be set up in a bedroom.
Here are some links for you guys to check out:
www.milehidistilling.com
http://www.cleanhouston.org/energy/f...s/ethanol2.htm
A small quote from www.e85fuel.com
The next generation of ethanol production facilities will include production from cellulose and biomass feedstocks. Earlier this year, there was a groundbreaking for a new ethanol production plant in Jennings, Louisiana which, when completed, will produce ethanol from rice hulls and bagasse. Three other plants are currently planned in California that will produce ethanol from rice straw.
One company has plans for production facilities in New York and Alabama to produce ethanol from the biomass portion of municipal solid waste. The plants would reduce capacity problems at wastewater treatment plants and reduce the need for landfills. Many ethanol producers capture carbon dioxide emissions for processing and use in beverages.
One company has plans for production facilities in New York and Alabama to produce ethanol from the biomass portion of municipal solid waste. The plants would reduce capacity problems at wastewater treatment plants and reduce the need for landfills. Many ethanol producers capture carbon dioxide emissions for processing and use in beverages.
switch grass is excellent but it is much harder to manage on a small scale. The switch grass has to be bailed and stored which takes up a lot of room. It also has to be chopped up fairly fine, no easy task.
For the average guy, like myself, corn is the easiest. I can be planted by hand if you really needed to, picked by hand, shellers are cheap and mills for grinding it is pretty cheap.
I am going to just make some first. By some corn, give it a try. If it works out well and it is enjoyable to do then I will plan on planting some corn. As I said I put about 3 acres of my own land into corn. The equipment needed to plant 3-4 acres of corn is pretty basic and can be found dirt cheap as all modern farmers use huge machines and this type of stuff is ancient. So I'll pick up a small plow, disc, planter. I should be able to find a small 2-3 row corn picker. Gravity wagons are all over the place sitting around here. I would like to pick up a few used ones, enough of them to store all the corn and just cover them with some good tarps. Then I can grind it as I use it and just dispense it out of the gravity wagons as I use it.
I have a large enough tractor already. Farmer David....
For the average guy, like myself, corn is the easiest. I can be planted by hand if you really needed to, picked by hand, shellers are cheap and mills for grinding it is pretty cheap.
I am going to just make some first. By some corn, give it a try. If it works out well and it is enjoyable to do then I will plan on planting some corn. As I said I put about 3 acres of my own land into corn. The equipment needed to plant 3-4 acres of corn is pretty basic and can be found dirt cheap as all modern farmers use huge machines and this type of stuff is ancient. So I'll pick up a small plow, disc, planter. I should be able to find a small 2-3 row corn picker. Gravity wagons are all over the place sitting around here. I would like to pick up a few used ones, enough of them to store all the corn and just cover them with some good tarps. Then I can grind it as I use it and just dispense it out of the gravity wagons as I use it.
I have a large enough tractor already. Farmer David....
