Comments on: EFuel100 MicroFueler – Home Ethanol Micro Refinery

By: Chuck Johnson

Chuck Johnson — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 04:28:21 +0000

I know of only one ethanol still that is capable of producing close to 200 proof alcohol, true fuel grade ethanol. I could not tell what the proof of the ethanol is that comes out of the EFuel100. This other still produces a lot more alcohol than the EFuel machine does and it does not look like the traditional still with a big bulbous kettle and a copper coil sprouting from the top. I realize that with gas prices now at a low it would seem stupid to look into making your own fuel but it still gets back to the question about the enviornment and what are we to do about fossel fuels.
The sugar is part of the equation for running a still along with a source of heat to keep the yeast working. Too much or too little of either one and you do not have fuel grade ethanol. Too much heat kills the yeast, too little heat and you no longer are producing fuel grade ethanol. On a production basis, it really is a problem for a company not an individual to produce enough quantity and have the means of handling the quantities of raw materials for producing the fuel grade ethanol.
As to the addition of gasoline to the mix. That is only so no one will be able to cut and drink the alcohol. Fuel grade ethanol will kill you if you try to drink it out of the spout without cutting it.
Getting rid of the by-product, the used mash, is a problem. Unless it can be dried and used for animal feed the only other alternative is flushing it down our sewer drains and really overextendung our sewer treatment plants. Dumping it on the ground would tend to pollute the groundwater. Drying it in the sun or using the exhaust from the still to dry the mash from the prior batch and then using the dried mash to heat the next batch of mash would be a possible solution. The resulting smoke produced could be scrubbed to prevent more pollution, but that in turn means more labor or cost which in turn means more dollars per gallon.
I don’t know about you but my time is worth something. Just how the EFuel machine goes about getting rid of its mash and cleaning its innards is a mystery to me. The EFuel system just does not seem efficient enough to justify the price tag. Alternately the other still, while a great producer also requires a lot of elbow grease, stoking the fires, getting rid of the waste product and hoping, hoping everything does not blow up in your face. That is why I say maybe the ethanol is a good idea, just not on an individual person producer level.
c

By: Jim_L

Jim_L — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:55:08 +0000

Don’t forget that fermentation produces CO2 as well as alcohol. Don’t pretend this is a “green” solution. I actually don’t care about that. I am more interested in cheap fuel. Sugar is not cheap. I don’t see any benefit here.

By: graham

graham — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:02:12 +0000

Let us us take it up a bit. Assume I use at least 20 gallons of 100% ethanol fuel per week. After modifying my engine to use it. This a quote from the site promoting the machine.
“It will take between 10lbs to 14lbs of sugar to produce 1 gallon of ethanol”. So, on a per week basis I need to purchase as much as 280 pounds of sugar? over 10 weeks I need to purchase 2800 pounds of sugar? I can see the storage problem problem mentioned earlier. On a yearly basis, I need 14,562 pounds of sugar? Thats 6 and 1/2 tons of sugar! doesn’t Cuba have cheap sugar? wonder if they will sell me some. and internal combustion engines can operate efficiently on the stuff. Look at your top alcohol dragsters. Only problem is that when it’s burning, the only way you know it is if you are on fire. the flame is nearly invisible. back to the topic. It seems a little impractical. And blending it with petrol/gas still spews out greenhouse gas and toxins. Cheers

By: Loomis

Loomis — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:18:12 +0000

Dan,
You left out how much water will be consumed. In places where you get a beating for watering your lawn or having a backyard swimming pool, are they going to let you run one of these things? I make my own beer and I can tell you that fermenting 470 pounds of sugar would use up a whole lot of water. Then to get rid of the water and yeast, you have to boil away the ethanol and capture the vapor and condense it…very energy intensive. If you were using your ethanol as a fuel to make your ethanol, I wonder if you could make enough ethanol to keep your still running. If so, I bet there wouldn’t be much left over for your car to run on afterwards.

By: H

Tue, 13 May 2008 17:59:03 +0000

Far better solution for bio fuel are the organic oils – the biodiesel. After all to extract the oil from plants you just need to press them which is far more efficient than destilation which requires huge ammount of energy and water.

Another great bio fuel is the natural gas which can be produced garbage, farm waste etc.

Both solutions can be used without major modifications to the current car engines and can be transported using the existing supply lines. They are being successfully used in Europe and probably in other places in the world.

Probably everybody knows nowadays that event the famous Ford T had a switch on its carburetor to use gasoline or ethanol and that every time there is an energy crisis in the US the politicians bring the ethanol on the table, unsuccessfully so far.