THIS MIGHT
BE USEFUL FOR YOU ETHANOL USERS I once saw
in an old copy of “Mother Earth News” where a farmer had a good crop of
corn
but every one else had a good crop too and the market had taken a dive.
He
decided to convert his crop to ethanol. He had to go through all sorts
of
rigmarole to get the permits etc but prevailed in the end. After his
“mix” had worked and the time came to get the ethanol from the mash, he
devised
a “solar still”. Using sunlight to extract an ethanol that he then used
to run
his vehicles and farm equipment. There was water in it already but not
so much
that it would not work. The still
was simplicity itself, with an elevated reservoir with (I think) a
Hessian or
similar product, to “siphon” the liquid down a slope (angled to catch
the sun).
This whole area was covered with glass (like a solar hot water heater)
and
there were two reservoirs at the bottom. One for the finished mash
liquid and
another, which collected the alcohol/water mix, which had condensed on
the
under side of the glass. I imagine
that some experimentation would be needed with the flow rate and length
of the
slope to ensure that there was not too much water in the ethanol.
BLUE;
reservoir for mash RED; glass
needs to cover the whole thing and be sealed so the ethanol does not
get out. GREEN; slope for the liquid to run down. The hessian needs to sit in the top reservoir and go up and over the edge and down the slope. It would probably be best for it to go all the way to the bottom thereby providing a much larger surface area for the mash to absorb heat etc. The crude diagram does
not show the two reservoirs at thr bottom. He
then sold
the depleted mash as a stock feed and ended up in front. It would be
a cheap way to make “white lightning” Ron
(Canberra) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: We made most of our ethanol out of rice. We added 20% water and drove our car and truck on it with excellent results. MarilynBiofuel@sustainablelists.org wrote: Sticky/Glutinous rice from the fields makes real good ethanol. If used with and injection of 15 to 20% water it produces much more energy in a tuned engine to the fuel water mix than gas. Why the need to go to other Bio-Fuels? The Ethanol with the water injection would be sufficient to run pumps, generators and the likes as long as the intake to the engine was as short as possible for easy starting. Doug ----- Original Message ----- From: "Johnathan Corgan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <Biofuel@sustainablelists.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 3:24 AM Subject: [Biofuel] The Accidental FarmerI've recently acquired through inheritance about 20 acres offarm landin rural Philippines. It's currently being used for rice and I think some tobacco. My wife's extended family works the land andtheoperation has now passed into our hands. Being a professional engineer and California-based city boy, Ihave noclue whatsoever about anything to do with farming. My lifetime agricultural experience is watching seeds sprout in egg cartonplantersas a child in an elementary school science project. By pure coincidence, I've recently begun experimenting withWVO-basedbiodiesel production, currently at the "successful 1L batch"stage.In addition, we've thought of building a vacation/retirementhome onthis land, emphasizing "off the grid" energy--PV, wind,battery-basedpower leveling, and diesel-generator backup. So all this adds up to a grand opportunity--can the land bemadesufficiently productive to support methanol or ethanol basedbiodieselmanufacture for a small community, for a suitable definition of"small"?My understanding is that the climate is suitable for severaldifferenttypes of oilseed crops, but I don't even know the rightquestions toask. I do know, though, that rural Philippines has manyinterestinglogistical issues, not to mention some geopolitical instabilityand poorinfrastructure. I have many ideas, but little understanding of practicalities :-) (Not to mention the livelihoods of a number of members of mywife'sfamily, so this is more serious than mere experimentation.) -Johnathan _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.orghttp://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainableli sts.orgBiofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives(50,000 messages):http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Lao Telecom MailScanner with NOD32,and isbelieved to be clean. |
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