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Company debuts ethanol home refinery system to offer consumers an alternative to gasoline

TameasDust	Date: May 11, 2008 @ 12:55 AM http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=backyard-ethanol-brewers A company banking on drivers' weariness of skyrocketing gasoline prices unveiled a home refinery device on Thursday offering another option: ethanol. E-Fuel Corporation says its EFuel100 MicroFueler can produce up to 35 gallons (132 liters) of ethanol a week that consumers can pump directly into their cars and trucks. There is no combustion inside the device, which runs on a standard household 110- to 220-volt AC power supply (consuming about 150 watts per day) and uses a membrane system to distill the sugar, yeast and water solution required to make ethanol rather than combustion heating elements, as commercial ethanol producers do.
zedsalt	Date: May 11, 2008 @ 3:23 AM I wonder what the bottom line is, the price per gallon at today's average material costs and electric rates...
Distilled1	Date: May 11, 2008 @ 4:12 AM I have been thinking of starting the Still up, but I'm afraid the neighbors would get mad at the smell, and that damn law that says I can't maybe we can make shine again a little for me some for the car! little more for me ...shit now I can't drive
GeneHilbert	Date: May 11, 2008 @ 5:49 AM You have to be careful with ethanol. Don't run it in older cars, or more specifically engines designed to run on regular gas.
killoFunk	Date: May 11, 2008 @ 10:15 AM what a load of crap! They even colored it green... to induce a little enviro-guilt arrrgh!
hate9wicket	Date: May 11, 2008 @ 10:45 AM Don't even think about it... if sugar costs 30¢ a lb. and it takes 14 lbs of it to make one gallon of ethanol.... well... shit, that's $4.20 a gallon! Save the 10 grand, buy an old mercedes diesel and spend the $300-$400 to convert it to accepting B-100 and the odd $1000 or so to build a veggie oil to biodiesel converter out of an old water heater, using race car fuel, lye and water.... then I could see $1.00 a gallon, but not with sugar or any other feedstock that evaporates in the tank when the temp hovers above 85º. I still drive, but I'm being real disciplined, parking my car at work monday morning, making it available for errands, but walking home and to work through the week, driving home on the weekend, and making quick stops at the corner grocery for the odd item or 3 that fit in a backpack. And Gene is right, you can't run E-100 unless you have the right engine, that and the plastic and rubber bits would corrode and fall apart.
TameasDust	Date: May 11, 2008 @ 7:35 PM Actually sugar costs a buck a pound here ... sooo $14 a gallon but that aint the worst of it .. this is what it polutes like Although ethanol is made from seemingly innocuous materials (like sugar or corn), it becomes dangerous when broken down in the atmosphere into acetaldehyde and acetic acid (the latter of which is corrosive and irritates the eyes), Jacobson says. "[Ethanol] kills people," he says. "Just like cigarette smoke, you're breathing in particles that are harmful."
Distilled1	Date: May 12, 2008 @ 5:57 AM is that what is is about 300-400 to convert a diesel to run on fry oil? I think thats the way to go. 'cept I will be hunfgry smelling all that French Fry smell whats the deal with the new water car is it honda? or one of them I've seen a few commercials on it I am assuming its a hydrogen fuel cell and not just water. read in the paper the other day about some water powered air pressure driven cars (and these are from the late 1800's {yes 1800}) a few are working on again. I don't drive at all anymore, no work to drive to. and ride the kids bike to the corner store, we hit 4.10 a gallon 87Oct. this weekend in the Chicago suburbs (that means its close to 5 in the city!) I really feel for anyone with a 7.550-9$ /hr job that has to drive to it, its almost a wash!
ChillinBuzz	Date: May 13, 2008 @ 1:45 AM the technology in the 1800s was stunning for its time, imagine if they'd had the current technology we have today - steam power was fecking awesome. steam powered trains... beautiful. and smelly. i believe the new cars are Hydrogen fuel cells, Rich. water is the by-product from burning Hydrogen with Oxygen so i bet the car has some snazzy recycling gadgets inserted... and i love that ethanol kit at the top... how many people can claim to have the legal equivalent of a giant petrol bomb (molotov cocktails to you lot ) on their land?
zedsalt	Date: May 13, 2008 @ 3:29 AM I saw a program on alternative fuels that featured (among others) a gent who had perfected a metal/ceramic alloy hydrogen fuel cell that was virtually impossible to coax energy out of, except without a very specific charge. You could crush it, toss it in a fire, hit it with a bolt of lightning...no accidental discharge. And they're not only safe to handle and store; they're easy. His prototypes were about six inches across, about one deep. He went to a few of the major auto manufacturers, and only one showed an interest. They did want to change one thing: they wanted to make one big cell per car...about the size of a door...and design a new bolt head to prevent anyone but an authorized dealer from changing the cell.
zedsalt	Date: May 13, 2008 @ 3:34 AM I can't remember if that was the same program wherein Tom & Ray Magliozzi were hopping up and down, chanting, "Drink it! Drink it!" To an industry rep who had reiterated the fact that the only thing coming out of the prototype car's tailpipe was water.
KitRumble	Date: May 13, 2008 @ 4:13 PM The air car is coming!!! Im pretty sure hydrogen is 20-40 years away but this is here virtually now. I just sold my wifes Grand Cherokee for a Toyota yaris..ouch...but I must admit it sure is a lot less painfull at the petrol pump. We are paying about $1.40 a litre here in Australia but a lot of cars here run on natural gas and have been for many years which is a lot cleaner apparently but bring on the air car ...my wife says Im full of hot air so I should ok http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4
hate9wicket	Date: May 14, 2008 @ 1:05 PM Oooh, I want an air car! I think the application for this would work wonders for the Lawn Care industry, since they still use those 2 stroke engines that are the absolute worst. I like the rotary design the best... Oh man, with a hybrid version of that.... a trip from L.A. to NYC.... on one tank of gas???? Here's a pretty straight forward and fairly easy to understand tutorial on making your own biodiesel, plus if you take that last step, cheap soap! or if you are the anarchist cookbook type... your own dynamite... "First, we render the fat" Tyler Durden is my co-pilot... ahem... oh yeah, the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL-M2IzYGuU&eurl=http://bio-green.blogspot.com/