Not much is going on at the bioethanol refinery, however, where two tanks are filled to capacity with up to 100 million liters (26 million gallons) of the plant-based fuel, enough to make a billion liters of biofuel mixture. But demand is much lower than expected, which is why the entire production process now has to be shifted away from E10 — a mixture of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline — and back to the old super unleaded fuel.
German motorists are to blame for the commercial failure of the supposed green gasoline. The first attempt by politicians to foist a product that is both expensive and environmentally questionable on consumers has failed. German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen, who had earlier argued in favor of the fuel, is now as embarrassed as the petroleum industry and the auto industry.
“Consumers have made up their minds,” says Volker Kauder, chairman of the parliamentary group of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). “With people starving in many countries, wheat doesn’t belong in our gas tanks.”
Flashback – The City of Brandon is saying goodbye to its biodiesel processor.
hydrogen gas being produced
making biodiesel?
Your ignorance of the facts is astounding.
METHANOL, wood alcohol, does -not- come from food
No, it comes from natural gas, at a net energy loss, and very little methanol is produced in North America.
Thankfully people way smarter than you are making decisions for the future.
“The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.” – Albert Einstein
100,000,000 liters of the stuff in storage?
shucks, they could always just dump in into a sanitary sewer….
http://www.townoflouisburg.com/city-services/utilities_sewer_fog-reduction.aspx
Actually “French Fry Grease” to use Kates term, can be made from various sources. A basic source is rendered beef fat. That is produced in a rendering plant which takes in animal fats and bones and under pressure and heat produces edible and inedible oils, and meat meal. Factories producing French Fries for fast food chains, may use a combination of vegetable oils (soy, sun, or canola) with edible rendered fat for the flavour it emparts. Edible oils are also the basic element of ladies lipsticks and face creams.
M.Peltier, upon further investigation you are correct, the explosion risk entailed with biodiesel reactors does not come from hydrogen gas. It comes from alcohol fumes. Which are, if anything, more dangerous than hydrogen.
The use of extremely corrosive and explosive chemicals (concentrated caustics, alcohols, etc.) at high temperatures (distilation, heated reactions to separate the glycerin etc.) remains.
I remain unconvinced this is something I’d want to be doing on my premises, or something I’d be happy having a neighbor doing less than a mile away. I hope you have your purification unit far away from anything you don’t want burnt/melted/dissolved. And by far, I’m thinking a couple hundred yards. Welding on a used gas tank seems safer.
Now, about calling me an idiot with the water/methanol injection: methanol is commonly called wood alcohol, as opposed to ethanol which as you know is commonly called -grain- alcohol. Please note, natural gas is not -food-. Hence my point. That methanol is a net energy loss from its natural gas, A) duh and B) I don’t care, because methanol changes the exhaust gas temp of my diesel where natural gas doesn’t. Also methanol is a nice convenient liquid whereas natural gas (or propane) requires an inconvenient armored pressure vessel to carry it around. I view pressurized fuel containers on a vehicle as unsafe, as does Ontario Dept. of Highways which is why you don’t see many compressed gas vehicles out there. The tanks are expensive and fuel is hard to come by.
Diesel is $5.00+ a gallon and 3/1 water/methanol mix, the most expensive source of which is winter windshield washer juice, is ~$3.00 a gallon. 10% savings on a 20 gallon fuel tank at these prices is $10. Plus my engine stays squeaky clean and I can pass the slow-@ss ancient Boomers in their Beemers on the 401 as I tow my decadent Imperialist Capitalist Planet Wrecking toys up north to my decadent Imperialist Capitalist Planet Wrecking cottage.
Best part, a Snow injection unit doesn’t void my warranty, whereas running biodiesel is specifically listed as a warranty no-no. Possibly the factory knows a thing or two about it, I’m thinking.
I’d start in fiddling with propane injection too, except for the exploding tank business. Maybe nitrous…
Bottom line dude, the whole country, hell the whole world can adopt methanol injection on their diesel engines without creating an ecological catastrophe and without starving a billion people from too-high food prices. The same cannot be said for biodiesel.
That’s my personal objection to the technology. If somebody figures an -economical- way to make fuel out of sewage, landfill material, sawdust and other non-food, non-animal feed, non-useful material, that I’d be interested in. It won’t fill the fuel needs of civilization to be sure, but it would be a handy way to get rid of the garbage.
“Germans are known to stand at a stop light at 3:45 AM on a deserted street in the driving rain waiting for the light change.
If the government orders Germans to use the fuel they just might comply.”
Posted by: Oz at April 21, 2011 4:18 PM
As another poster has said, most traffic lights are off at that time of day; running a red light can cost you the licenze if you’re a car driver.
As for pedestrians and bicyclists, they will look out for police cars and if there are none cross the red light.
An exception is Berlin, and Berlin only – through centuries of Prussian dictatorship they are still all authoritarians and will do what you described. This behavioral pattern ends outside the city limits of Berlin.