Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Alcohol Fuel shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Alcohol Fuel offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Alcohol Fuel at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Alcohol Fuel? Wrong! If the Alcohol Fuel is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Alcohol Fuel then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Alcohol Fuel? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Alcohol Fuel and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Alcohol Fuel wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Alcohol Fuel then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Alcohol Fuel site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Alcohol Fuel, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Alcohol Fuel, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
on the left, alcohol on the right at a
filling station in
BrazilRising
energy prices and global warming have led to increased interest in
alternative fuels.
Alcohol has been used as a fuel in other points in history but
fossil fuels have become the dominant energy resource for the modern world. Generally speaking, the chemical formula for alcohol fuel is
CnH2n+1OH. The larger
n is, the higher the energy density. The viability of alcohol as a fuel is a debatable topic, as other energy sources are required for production.
The first four
aliphatic alcohols (methanol,
ethanol, propanol, and butanol) are of interest as fuels because they can be synthesized biologically, and they have characteristics which allow them to be used in current engines. One advantage shared by all four alcohols is octane rating. Biobutanol has the advantage that its energy density is closer to gasoline than the other alcohols (while still retaining over 25% higher octane rating) - however, these advantages are outweighed by disadvantages (compared to ethanol and methanol) concerning production, for instance.
Alcohol fuels are usually of
Biological material rather than
petroleum sources. When obtained from biological sources, they are sometimes known as
bioalcohols (e.g.
bioethanol). It is important to note that there is no
Chemistry difference between biologically produced alcohols and those obtained from other sources. However, ethanol that is derived from petroleum should not be considered safe for consumption as this alcohol contains about 5% methanol and may cause blindness or death. This mixture may also not be purified by simple distillation, as it forms an Azeotrope mixture.
Bioalcohols are still in developmental and research stages. Use of optimized crops with higher yields of energy, elimination of pesticides and fertilizers based on petroleum, and a more rigorous accounting process will help improve the feasibility of bioalcohols as fuels.
Methanol and Ethanol
Main articles: Methanol fuel, Ethanol fuel
Methanol and Ethanol both have advantages and disadvantages over
fossil fuels, such as petrol and diesel. For instance, both alcohols can run at a much higher
compression ratio without octane-boosting additives (ethanol's octane rating is 129 (RON), equal to 102 (MON) or 116 (AKI), with methanol at 123 (RON) as opposed to approximately 91 (RON), 81 (MON), 86 (AKI) for ordinary European petrol; note that American 'regular-grade gasoline' is about 1 point higher on all 3 scales, but still offers very similar performance.) Alcohols burn more completely because their molecules contain oxygen; carbon monoxide emissions are 100% lower than fossil-fueled engines because the only products of an alcohol combustion reaction are carbon dioxide, water, and heat. Despite this reduction in carbon monoxide, alcohol releases as much or more carbon dioxide than its gasoline counterpart (though this carbon dioxide has previously been drawn from the air in biologically-produced ethanol, so there is no net modern release, as there is for fossil fuels). There are also lower NOx emissions, as ethanol needs more energy to vaporise than petrol - so it draws more heat out of the air in a cylinder than petrol, having a greater cooling effect, which reduces the opportunity for nitrogen and oxygen in the cylinder (as air) to fuse into poisonous nitrogen oxides.
However, ethanol is degrading to some plastic or rubber parts of fuel delivery systems designed to use petrol, and has 37% less energy per litre than petrol. Methanol is even more corrosive and its energy per liter is 55% lower than that of petrol. High compression ratios and corrosion-resistant materials can overcome these issues, but require extensive engine modification. The sort of compression- and corrosion-resistant materials needed to run an engine on ethanol or methanol tend to be expensive compounds, such as stainless steel.
Methanol has also been proposed as a fuel of the future. There has been extensive use of methanol fuel in
Funny Cars for years, and it has been used as a fuel for open wheel car racing in North America since 1965. Unfortunately, although its octane rating is comparable to ethanol and it has similar emissions, it is also toxic (producing some toxic emissions, formaldehyde and formic acid), and has a lower (-38%) energy content than ethanol (-55% compared to petrol.)
Ethanol is already being used extensively as a fuel additive, and the use of
ethanol fuel alone or as part of a mix with gasoline is increasing. From 2007, the Indy Racing League will use ethanol as its exclusive fuel, after 40 years of using methanol.. Since September 2007 petrol stations in NSW, Australia are mandated to supply all their petrol with 2% Ethanol content
Methanol combustion is: 2CH3OH + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 4H2O + heat
Ethanol combustion is: C2H5OH + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 3H2O + heat
Alcohol in Brazil
Brazil is totally the largest producer of alcohol fuel in the world, typically fermenting ethanol from
sugarcane and sugar beets. The country produces a total of 18 billion liters annually, of which 3.5 billion are exported, 2 billion of them to the
US . Alcohol cars debuted in the Brazilian market in 1978 and became quite popular because of heavy subsidy, but in the 80's prices rose and gasoline regained the leading market share.
But from 2004 on, alcohol is rapidly rising its market share once again because of new technologies involving
Flexible-fuel vehicle , called "Flex" by all major car manufacturers (Volkswagen,
General Motors,
Fiat, etc.). "Flex" engines work with gasoline, alcohol or any mixture of both fuels. As of February 2007, approx. 80% of new vehicles sold in Brazil are hybrid fuel {{cite news] visited the city of São Paulo to sign agreements with Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on importing alcohol and its technology as an alternative fuel.
Alcohol in Russia
Other than Brazil, the only other country with an extensive programme for supplying alcohol fuel to supplement petroleum use is Russia, which has reduced its dependency on oil by using methanol made from the destructive pyrolysis of eucalyptus wood and fibre. However, this system is less likely to be emulated elsewhere, due to the disadvantages of methanol fuel, as compared to ethanol fuel Energy density, toxicity, and corrosiveness are the main concerns; methanol contains 40% less energy than ethanol, is more corrosive, and is also 4 times as toxic, with an average lethal dose of as little as 100-125ml (10 to 12.5 units), compared to 400-500ml, 40 to 50 units, for ethanol.
Butanol
Main article: Butanol fuel
Propan-1-ol and
butanol are considerably less toxic and less volatile than methanol. In particular, butanol has a high
flashpoint of 35 °C, which is a benefit for fire safety, but may be a difficulty for starting engines in cold weather. The concept of flash point is however not directly applicable to engines as the compression of the air in the cylinder means that the temperature is several hundred degrees Celsius before ignition takes place.
The fermentation processes to produce propanol and butanol from cellulose are fairly tricky to execute, and the Weizmann organism (
Clostridium acetobutylicum) currently used to perform these conversions produces an extremely unpleasant smell, and this must be taken into consideration when designing and locating a fermentation plant. This organism also dies when the butanol content of whatever it is fermenting rises to 7%. For comparison,
yeast dies when the ethanol content of its feedstock hits 14%. Specialized strains can tolerate even greater ethanol concentrations - so-called turbo yeast can withstand up to 16% ethanol. However, if ordinary Saccharomyces yeast can be modified to improve its ethanol resistance, scientists may yet one day produce a strain of the Weizmann organism with a butanol resistance higher than the natural boundary of 7%. This would be useful because butanol has a higher energy density than ethanol, and because waste fibre left over from sugar crops used to make ethanol could be made into butanol, raising the alcohol yield of fuel crops without there being a need for more crops to be planted.
Despite these drawbacks, DuPont and British Petroleum have recently announced that they are jointly to build a small scale butanol fuel demonstration plant alongside the large bioethanol plant they are jointly developing with
Associated British Foods.
Enerey Environment International developed a method for producing butanol from biomass, which involves the use of two separate micro-organisms in sequence to minimize production of acetone and ethanol byproducts.
Butanol combustion is: 2C4H9OH + 12O2 → 8CO2 + 10H2O + heat
The 3-carbon alcohol, propanol (C3H7OH), is not used as a direct fuel source for petrol engines that often (unlike ethanol, methanol and butanol), with most being directed into use as a solvent. However, it is used as a source of hydrogen in some types of fuel cell; it can generate a higher voltage than methanol, which is the fuel of choice for most alcohol-based fuel cells. However, since propanol is harder to produce than methanol (biologically OR from oil), methanol fuel cells are still used a lot more often than those that utilise propanol.
See also
References
External links
- Alcohol Stoves
- GTA Energy, Inc.
on the left, alcohol on the right at a filling station in Brazil
Rising
energy prices and
global warming have led to increased interest in
alternative fuels.
Alcohol has been used as a fuel in other points in history but fossil fuels have become the dominant
energy resource for the modern world. Generally speaking, the chemical formula for alcohol fuel is
CnH2n+1OH. The larger
n is, the higher the energy density. The viability of alcohol as a fuel is a debatable topic, as other energy sources are required for production.
The first four
aliphatic alcohols (
methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol) are of interest as fuels because they can be synthesized biologically, and they have characteristics which allow them to be used in current engines. One advantage shared by all four alcohols is
octane rating.
Biobutanol has the advantage that its energy density is closer to gasoline than the other alcohols (while still retaining over 25% higher octane rating) - however, these advantages are outweighed by disadvantages (compared to ethanol and methanol) concerning production, for instance.
Alcohol fuels are usually of
Biological material rather than
petroleum sources. When obtained from biological sources, they are sometimes known as
bioalcohols (e.g.
bioethanol). It is important to note that there is no Chemistry difference between biologically produced alcohols and those obtained from other sources. However, ethanol that is derived from petroleum should not be considered safe for consumption as this alcohol contains about 5% methanol and may cause blindness or death. This mixture may also not be purified by simple distillation, as it forms an Azeotrope mixture.
Bioalcohols are still in developmental and research stages. Use of optimized crops with higher yields of energy, elimination of pesticides and fertilizers based on
petroleum, and a more rigorous accounting process will help improve the feasibility of bioalcohols as fuels.
Methanol and Ethanol
Main articles: Methanol fuel, Ethanol fuel
Methanol and Ethanol both have advantages and disadvantages over
fossil fuels, such as
petrol and
diesel. For instance, both alcohols can run at a much higher
compression ratio without octane-boosting additives (ethanol's
octane rating is 129 (RON), equal to 102 (MON) or 116 (AKI), with methanol at 123 (RON) as opposed to approximately 91 (RON), 81 (MON), 86 (AKI) for ordinary European petrol; note that American 'regular-grade gasoline' is about 1 point higher on all 3 scales, but still offers very similar performance.) Alcohols burn more completely because their molecules contain oxygen;
carbon monoxide emissions are 100% lower than fossil-fueled engines because the only products of an alcohol combustion reaction are carbon dioxide, water, and heat. Despite this reduction in carbon monoxide, alcohol releases as much or more carbon dioxide than its gasoline counterpart (though this carbon dioxide has previously been drawn from the air in biologically-produced ethanol, so there is no net modern release, as there is for fossil fuels). There are also lower NOx emissions, as ethanol needs more energy to vaporise than petrol - so it draws more heat out of the air in a cylinder than petrol, having a greater cooling effect, which reduces the opportunity for nitrogen and oxygen in the cylinder (as air) to fuse into poisonous nitrogen oxides.
However, ethanol is degrading to some plastic or rubber parts of fuel delivery systems designed to use petrol, and has 37% less energy per litre than petrol. Methanol is even more corrosive and its energy per liter is 55% lower than that of petrol. High compression ratios and corrosion-resistant materials can overcome these issues, but require extensive engine modification. The sort of compression- and corrosion-resistant materials needed to run an engine on ethanol or methanol tend to be expensive compounds, such as stainless steel.
Methanol has also been proposed as a fuel of the future. There has been extensive use of
methanol fuel in Funny Cars for years, and it has been used as a fuel for
open wheel car racing in North America since 1965. Unfortunately, although its octane rating is comparable to ethanol and it has similar emissions, it is also toxic (producing some toxic emissions, formaldehyde and formic acid), and has a lower (-38%) energy content than ethanol (-55% compared to petrol.)
Ethanol is already being used extensively as a
fuel additive, and the use of ethanol fuel alone or as part of a mix with gasoline is increasing. From 2007, the
Indy Racing League will use ethanol as its exclusive fuel, after 40 years of using methanol.. Since September 2007 petrol stations in NSW, Australia are mandated to supply all their petrol with 2% Ethanol content
Methanol combustion is: 2CH3OH + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 4H2O + heat
Ethanol combustion is: C2H5OH + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 3H2O + heat
Alcohol in Brazil
Brazil is totally the largest producer of alcohol fuel in the world, typically fermenting ethanol from
sugarcane and sugar beets. The country produces a total of 18 billion liters annually, of which 3.5 billion are exported, 2 billion of them to the US . Alcohol cars debuted in the Brazilian market in 1978 and became quite popular because of heavy subsidy, but in the 80's prices rose and gasoline regained the leading market share.
But from 2004 on, alcohol is rapidly rising its market share once again because of new technologies involving
Flexible-fuel vehicle , called "Flex" by all major car manufacturers (Volkswagen,
General Motors,
Fiat, etc.). "Flex" engines work with gasoline, alcohol or any mixture of both fuels. As of February 2007, approx. 80% of new vehicles sold in Brazil are hybrid fuel {{cite news] visited the city of São Paulo to sign agreements with Brazilian president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on importing alcohol and its technology as an alternative fuel.
Alcohol in Russia
Other than Brazil, the only other country with an extensive programme for supplying alcohol fuel to supplement petroleum use is Russia, which has reduced its dependency on oil by using methanol made from the destructive pyrolysis of eucalyptus wood and fibre. However, this system is less likely to be emulated elsewhere, due to the disadvantages of methanol fuel, as compared to ethanol fuel Energy density, toxicity, and corrosiveness are the main concerns; methanol contains 40% less energy than ethanol, is more corrosive, and is also 4 times as toxic, with an average lethal dose of as little as 100-125ml (10 to 12.5 units), compared to 400-500ml, 40 to 50 units, for ethanol.
Butanol
Main article: Butanol fuel
Propan-1-ol and butanol are considerably less toxic and less volatile than methanol. In particular, butanol has a high
flashpoint of 35 °C, which is a benefit for fire safety, but may be a difficulty for starting engines in cold weather. The concept of flash point is however not directly applicable to engines as the compression of the air in the cylinder means that the temperature is several hundred degrees Celsius before ignition takes place.
The fermentation processes to produce propanol and butanol from cellulose are fairly tricky to execute, and the Weizmann organism (Clostridium acetobutylicum) currently used to perform these conversions produces an extremely unpleasant smell, and this must be taken into consideration when designing and locating a fermentation plant. This organism also dies when the butanol content of whatever it is fermenting rises to 7%. For comparison, yeast dies when the ethanol content of its feedstock hits 14%. Specialized strains can tolerate even greater ethanol concentrations - so-called turbo yeast can withstand up to 16% ethanol. However, if ordinary Saccharomyces yeast can be modified to improve its ethanol resistance, scientists may yet one day produce a strain of the Weizmann organism with a butanol resistance higher than the natural boundary of 7%. This would be useful because butanol has a higher energy density than ethanol, and because waste fibre left over from sugar crops used to make ethanol could be made into butanol, raising the alcohol yield of fuel crops without there being a need for more crops to be planted.
Despite these drawbacks, DuPont and
British Petroleum have recently announced that they are jointly to build a small scale
butanol fuel demonstration plant alongside the large bioethanol plant they are jointly developing with
Associated British Foods.
Enerey Environment International developed a method for producing
butanol from biomass, which involves the use of two separate micro-organisms in sequence to minimize production of acetone and ethanol byproducts.
Butanol combustion is: 2C4H9OH + 12O2 → 8CO2 + 10H2O + heat
The 3-carbon alcohol, propanol (C3H7OH), is not used as a direct fuel source for petrol engines that often (unlike ethanol, methanol and butanol), with most being directed into use as a solvent. However, it is used as a source of hydrogen in some types of fuel cell; it can generate a higher voltage than methanol, which is the fuel of choice for most alcohol-based fuel cells. However, since propanol is harder to produce than methanol (biologically OR from oil), methanol fuel cells are still used a lot more often than those that utilise propanol.
See also
References
External links
- Alcohol Stoves
- GTA Energy, Inc.
Alcohol fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Although fossil fuels have become the dominant energy resource for the modern world, alcohol has been used as a fuel throughout history. The first four aliphatic alcohols (methanol ...
Timeline of alcohol fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apart from petroleum-derived gasoline and diesel, Ethanol is a major fuel, used to run cars, other vehicles, and machinery. It is also an alcohol fuel.
Alcohol Fuel For Fire - Young Scot
YoungScot.org - scottish youth information portal - discussions competitions horoscopes information - Podcasts - First Article
Membrane and Alcohol Fuel Cell INTERACT with China
Principal Investigator: Professor RCT Slade: Other Investigators: Mr KV Lovell Professor K Scott Dr A Kucernak: Researcher Co-investigators: Dr JR Varcoe
Alcohol Fuel Manual Ch12
The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel . by S.W. Mathewson Ten Speed Press © Copyright 1980 J.A. Diaz Publications Out of print
Alcohol Fuel Manual Ch1-2
The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel . by S.W. Mathewson Ten Speed Press © Copyright 1980 J.A. Diaz Publications Out of print
Alcohol Fuel Lube
Alcohol Fuel Lube - Petroleum Fuel Additives ... Provides lubricity for alcohol to prevent upper cyclinder wear and fuel system corrosion not detectable by normal fuel tests.
Fuel line rot alcohol *** Dr. Dalene Frater, quality information ...
Fuel line rot alcohol, save up to 75% online, always low prices at our drugstore, order online lowest price drugs easy, absolute a new freedom online pharmacy,
Bailiffs seize alcohol from Tesco in contaminated fuel twist| News ...
Bailiffs have seized £60,000 worth of alcohol from a Tesco store after the supermarket giant repeatedly failed to pay damages to a driver whose van was damaged by contaminated ...
alcoholfuel : Alcohol Fuel
alcoholfuel: Alcohol Fuel ... Yahoo! Groups Tips Did you know... Want to share photos of your group with the world? Add a group photo to Flickr.
