Rodale Institute's 1995 Projects
James B. Houser (jbh4@cornell.edu)
Wed, 10 May 1995 10:32:44 -0400
I studied biofuels for my Master's at Appalachain State University in
Boone, North Carolina. The local transit authority built a still in the
early 80's and converted buses to run on the alcohol, though the
conversions were not that successful. The question of input vs. output is
critical I believe since the distillation process requires high
temperatures (> 170 degrees F). They used propane to make the ethanol and
eventually just ended up burning the propane directly in the buses which
was more fuel efficient and effective since propane is a true gas. I did
convert a van to run on their ethanol with some success by starting it on
gasoline and then switching it to ethanol. I also had a manual choke which
seemed to be a critical component, since their automatic choke buses had
problems with stalling. Anyway, the issue of inputs vs. outputs could be
solved somewhat, especially in a farm situation, if methane (biogas) was
used as the fuel to run the ethanol plant. Methane could be made from
animal manures or from young grasses which, as Rod pointed out, have lower
lignin contents. The key to this approach is that methane production in an
anaerobic environment can be carried out at rather low temperatures (60 -70
degrees F). This can be maintained with solar or by burning some of the
methane. Then you have a fuel source for ethanol production that is not
fossil fuel based and a real biofuel cycle has been established.
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James B. Houser Agricultural & Biological Engineering
jbh4@cornell.edu Riley-Robb Hall
(607) 255-2249 Cornell University
(607) 255-4080 FAX Ithaca, NY 14853
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