making alternative fuel

[foxxie02]

i am getting into this for future use if I need alt fuel for generator or vehicle... anybody here do this and have good books or reputable shops to deal with in getting yeast/ other supplies?? thanks.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

If you buy an OLD military truck you will be able to run the engine on anything liquid/semi-liquid that burns. Bear in mind that only SOME models had this option, shop around.

 

[smokingman]

Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel: How To Adapt Your Automobile Engine For Ethyl Alcohol Use
^ how to convert a vehicle to alcohol.

Wood gas --->http://wood-gas.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/woodgas12.pdf

And making your own ethanol Building Your own Still or rum.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I have a LOT of experience with it (I've posted some about it here, a search can bring up some of the stuff I've written). I'd be happy to answer specific questions, but it's a complex topic and there's other places like those smokingman posted to get primers on it.

 

[kycrawler]

alot of diesel engines will run on other things that diesel fuel . I have a 1995 ford f350 with the 7.3 powerstroke engine that i run almost exclusively on used automatic transmission fluid . i do mix the diesel about 50/50 in the winter to thin it down so it starts easier . i bale about 70 acres of hay and also run used trans fluid in a jd 4010 tractor and a bobcat 753 . i am a mechanic and have a real good supply for used atf and it works out w ell for me i used to run wvo and had no real problems with it but i do like the used atf better

 

[Ogre]

alot of diesel engines will run on other things that diesel fuel . I have a 1995 ford f350 with the 7.3 powerstroke engine that i run almost exclusively on used automatic transmission fluid . i do mix the diesel about 50/50 in the winter to thin it down so it starts easier . i bale about 70 acres of hay and also run used trans fluid in a jd 4010 tractor and a bobcat 753 . i am a mechanic and have a real good supply for used atf and it works out w ell for me i used to run wvo and had no real problems with it but i do like the used atf better

Thats alot of ATF...
Are you running it through a particulate or magnetic filter before putting in your fuel tank? Or are you just using a secondary onboard fuel filter (CAT...)?

 

[ATOMonkey]

Steam engine burns anything. Doesn't require a fuel filter either.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Steam engine burns anything. Doesn't require a fuel filter either.

Not quite. There's a really good reason that we switched away from steam as soon as we could. From a practical engineering standpoint steam power on the scale of what we can do (excluding very high pressure turbines which is out of reach of the average DIYer)) is both inefficient, and extremely maintenance intensive. When I say extremely maintenance intensive, I mean on the order of near constant attention.

I thoroughly explored that route as we are off-grid here and set up for as much independence as we can get, and it simply was not a practical solution.

 

[sloughfoot]

Does anybody know anything about making hydrogen from water using electricity?

One of my customers is advertising such a system and he claims a 40% improvement in mileage for a car.

I am sceptical..

 

[shibumiseeker]

Does anybody know anything about making hydrogen from water using electricity?

One of my customers is advertising such a system and he claims a 40% improvement in mileage for a car.

I am sceptical..

You should be skeptical. He's lying, and I'd willing to bet $100 that he couldn't prove that claim.

It takes a huge amount of electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and any horsepower gains made by feeding them into the intake is offset by the increase in HP needed to generate the electricity.

These systems have been thoroughly debunked by reputable automotive labs. At best they have zero net effect, at worst they actually decrease fuel economy. TANSTAAFL.

 

[SmileDocHill]

Does anybody know anything about making hydrogen from water using electricity?

One of my customers is advertising such a system and he claims a 40% improvement in mileage for a car.

I am sceptical..

It is an easy "high school science" process to demonstrate and do but like Shibumi said, the energy in and the energy out equation of the electrolysis process by itself is a net loss. I looked into it a couple years ago. To boil down the spin a lot of the sales pitches use is that when used in an internal combustion engine the net increase in the engine efficiency is greater than the net loss of the electrolysis component. Not bad logic but it just hasn't been shown to actually happen (that I've found). To get close you have to be able to override the computerized engine "tuning" controls enabling you to tune it yourself since it totally messes with the things it monitors (type and proportion of gasses going through the system are going to be different than what the program is expecting). The benefit of a car system would be that the gas is generated as it is being used so you don't have a volatile substance being stored.
I think electrolysis has potential for the DIY'er in situations where energy is in abundance and wasted if not used at the time. If you make an electrolysis system that is extremely NOT efficient BUT the energy you are using to power it is the sun you have something. Then you are really taking energy that is free and otherwise going to be wasted and essentially storing it up in the form of the separated gasses. The fun part is experimenting with the ways to generate that energy. (parabolic solar collector arrays, wind mill...whatever you have to tinker with)