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The Micro Fueler - The 1st 'At-Home' Ethanol Refinery System
popularmechanics.com — Recently, the E-Fuel Corporation, introduced the first ethanol refinery system designed for home use. The Micro Fueler, a backyard fueling station, can create pure E100 ethanol from sugar feed stock.
Bukowsky- 392 diggs
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- Bukowsky, on 05/09/2008, -0/+8“It’s third-grade science. You just mix together water, sugar and yeast, and in a few hours, you start getting ethanol.” according to Thomas Quinn, founder & CEO of E-Fuel Corp.
- TJ11240, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2I made wine in my dorm this way- $2 / gallon
- mattnyc99, on 05/09/2008, -2/+7Under $1000 minus offsetting government credits? Available now? Sign me up THIS INSTANT.
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Unfortunately, it's illegal to ferment more than 98 proof Ethanol (even with a TTB license [I know, I have one pending]).
Now, if they denature it with Toulene or Gasoline, etc. they're on to something great.
This is really cool !
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Unfortunately, it's illegal to ferment more than 98 proof Ethanol (even with a TTB license [I know, I have one pending]).
- claybodie, on 05/09/2008, -1/+8I don't see any way that this thing will go popular because it costs $10,000 (though there are tax credits), and the cost of the fuel it makes depends on the price of sugar. If it's "3rd grade science", it seems like the the unit shouldn't be so expensive.
NYT article:
"It takes 10 to 14 pounds of sugar to make a gallon of ethanol, and raw sugar sells in the United States for about 20 cents a pound, says Michael E. Salassi, a professor in the department of agricultural economics at Louisiana State University."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/technology/27pro ... - RanIntoTheDevil, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5I'd prefer a home biodiesel refinery personally.
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Then build one! There's enough info out there to do it...!
Stop complaining about what you can't buy, and ***** BUILD IT !
Your generation has more information available to it than any other in the history of humankind and you're not utilizing it.
I know I'll get buried for asking people to actually do something, but just go learn something new (metalcasting, etc)
Really, it's the least you can do. - bassik, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2heres the plans for one. get crackin. http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/appleseedprocess ...
if you need supplies heres a few places that have general biodiesel supplies such as chems, etc.
http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/ http://www.b100supply.com/
also keep in mind that http://www.hemp4fuel.com/ hemp oil can be used to create biodiesel if you have a steady supply of it - redxxx, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2You can buy small ones though.
A home biodiesel refinery really isn't too much more than a 50gallon plastic barrel with a few tubes and holes. The hardware is pretty easy to get or make.
Unfortunately, you need a fair number of chemicals, and some of the important ones are hard to track down in decent quantity and purity, because they are precursors for crystal meth. - Leopards, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You obviously do not live in the Northern part of the United States! Bio-diesel fuel has a FEW problems when the Temperature drops below 40 degrees, unless you start blending regular diesel fuel with it or add an anti-gelling agent! You can also add heaters to fuel tank and lines and plug in your car overnight, but this doesn't help in a cold parking lot all day!! Even regular diesel fuel is not a real good option in places like Minnesota!!
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Then build one! There's enough info out there to do it...!
- zscottkilgore, on 05/09/2008, -8/+4sugar ethanol's the way to go. corn-based biofuels are just making my dinner more friggin expensive...
- Akairenn, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6And this will just make products with sugar far more expensive. Probably wouldn't hurt as much as corn, of course, since we tend to use the ungodly subsidized high fructose corn syrup for everything.
- bob10marley, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1corn was invented by Indians
- unpolloloco, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Products with sugar being more expensive will shift production to HFCS, which will cause us to get even fatter, which will increase medical costs (a stretch i know, but it's an example of how everything in the economy is incredibly interconnected)
- Akairenn, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6And this will just make products with sugar far more expensive. Probably wouldn't hurt as much as corn, of course, since we tend to use the ungodly subsidized high fructose corn syrup for everything.
- SpaceDreamer, on 05/09/2008, -0/+7sounds like a good excuse to have my own distillery
- thirteenthcor, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Hear Hear!!
- TJ11240, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Sounds like a good idea, I wish it could take other fuel stocks besides sugar, something I could grow maybe.
- 9Digits, on 05/09/2008, -2/+21Ethanol's a joke. Nuclear power and efficient battery design could get us out of this mess. Ethanol just creates shortages.
- zebraz, on 05/09/2008, -12/+4Sorry
Nothing is going to get us out of this mess - itspuddingtime, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Complete reliance on ethanol would be a mistake, yes. But there is no reason to discount it entirely... ethanol could still prove to be very useful in a limited fashion.
- jackalsclaw, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1only if we cut driving to about 10% of what we do today and starve the 3rd world with high food prices. hydrogen made with nuclear power is a much better fuel.
- zebraz, on 05/09/2008, -12/+4Sorry
- nbx909, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1and if you're going to have a party just fill up a pitcher!
- jesuswuzanalien, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4So I can make moonshine with it?
- stevetron, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Yes, but it'll taste disgusting. You're far better off buying a gallon of pasteurized apple juice, pouring out a little, tossing in a packet of yeast from the grocery store, and laying a cloth (or buying an airlock/stopper) over the top for 2 weeks. Put the jug in the fridge for a full day, and pour off (or siphon) the clear liquid while avoiding the material at the bottom. Glug glug!
- unpolloloco, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1should be everclear, more or less
- redxxx, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You mean put it in the freezer, not fridge, right? You get to do the whole freeze distillation thing that way, rather than just chilling the liquid a bit.
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Legally, no. You have to denature it with 2% gasoline to get your fuel producers permit approved (I know, I have one pending).
- stevetron, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Yes, but it'll taste disgusting. You're far better off buying a gallon of pasteurized apple juice, pouring out a little, tossing in a packet of yeast from the grocery store, and laying a cloth (or buying an airlock/stopper) over the top for 2 weeks. Put the jug in the fridge for a full day, and pour off (or siphon) the clear liquid while avoiding the material at the bottom. Glug glug!
- zebraz, on 05/09/2008, -2/+6$7.52 per gallon of ethanol
Wow
What a deal !- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1How many gallons of corn you eat a day?
I'm sure you'll see that a $1.43/gallon 85 Ethanol blend will allow you to buy many more bags of potato chips (at a whopping $.99 per bag).
2.5 bags of potato chips + 1 gallon of Ethanol = ONE gallon of Foreign Iraqi Oil... Do the math dude, you're not helping things by suggesting that we stay with grandpa's gasoline/Oil.- evillawngnome, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Strawman? I don't think zebraj suggested we stay with oil. I think zebraj was just pointing out that this system may not be the holy graile OP or the article is suggesting.
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1How many gallons of corn you eat a day?
- loaff, on 05/09/2008, -1/+6How is this environmentally friendly? It makes no sense to decentralize ethanol production and have a bunch of mini-factories that people dump sugar that has been distributed by truck into a container. If it could turn compost into ethanol, now that'd be a story.
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1Corn (and Sugar) consume CO2 as it grows.
It's post-combustion byproduct is H2O.
Sounds pretty environmentally friendly to me. You must be one of the dolts that are buying in to the billion-dollar-Oil Companies that are spamming against Ethanol and Hydrogen energy. - evillawngnome, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Your decentralization point is interesting. I didn't really think about that, but you're right: It's more efficient to distribute fuel at fueling stations, even if it IS e100.
- FairDinkumMate, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You mean as opposed to filling up with gas that has been distributed by a truck?
There may be arguments against this but distribution isn't one of them
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1Corn (and Sugar) consume CO2 as it grows.
- unpolloloco, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3It's a technicality, but getting E100 is physically impossible (and anything above 96.4% is really expensive). Ethanol forms an azeotrope with water, which means that in an ethanol/water mixture, water will boil off until the concentration of ethanol reaches 96.4%, when a mixture of water and ethanol starts to boil off, until everything is gone. To get above the 96.4% threshold, you have to do a ton more work (substituting something else other than water in the mixture), which would make it incredibly expensive. Therefore, this device can probably only put out ~E96. (source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotropic_distillati ...
- unpolloloco, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2link fix: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotropic_distillati ...
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2That's why it's denatured with 2% Toyulene or Gasoline.
You must not have read what you wrote about.- redxxx, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2False. It is denatured so it can't be consumed by humans, which removes it from the bailiwick of the ATF and the vice taxes that go along with alcohol produced for human consumption.
- st3vo, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1High fructose corn syrup, meat, and just another reason to start using up more land.
- gcnaddict, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4Correct me if I'm wrong here... but isn't E100 the same as 200 proof moonshine?
Yeah, you know where I'm going with this.- unpolloloco, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1yes - just you can't physically get 200 proof ethanol (best you can do easily is ~192) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotropic_distillati ...
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Technically, you are absolutely right (depending on your distillation mechanism).
Legally, you can't produce more than E-98 here in the US, so you have to "denature" your Alcohol with at least a 2% blend of various petroleum blends (gasoline, methanol, toyulene, benzene, etc).
Denaturing means making your fuel unconsumable by humans.
- Goodanswer, on 05/09/2008, -4/+5America's economy is tanking and all they are promoting is a fuel source that is NOT based in America.
There has to be a better way.
You cant use salt water because we would damage that, not to mention hurt our ocean and fish supply.
You cant use ethanol because instead of a fuel supply it would be better spent feeding the tens of millions of people who dont have enough food.
You shouldnt use Nuclear because of the harm to the planet and the fact the if it loses power from the grid it can go really bad really quick.
Wind, solar, electro magnetic are what I think we should look into
If you believe in it then zero point flux field energy (the empty space between atoms) is what we realy should be putting our money into.
ok ill go put on my tin foil hat back on now.
*GoodAnswer is now preparing to be dugg down for using his intellect.*- bob10marley, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1zero point flux field energy, that sounds interesting
- unpolloloco, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1It's possible in theory - extracting it on the other hand is a bit difficult to say the least.
- thirteenthcor, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1My comptar runs on Zero Point Energy! Thanks to Thermaltake!
- unpolloloco, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2It takes more energy to burn salt water than it creates - not exactly helpful.
Ethanol (and sugar for that matter) are both food, so any resources diverted into fuel production would make food prices go through the roof (as they are starting to do right now). Furthermore, increased food prices encourage more farming, which results in more habitat destruction (including a bunch of rainforests).
Nuclear isn't really very dangerous/bad for the environment (three mile island released less radiation than is released by the limestone walls of the capitol building), but it is EXPENSIVE.
Solar's probably the best way to go right now - NIMBY significantly effect hinders wind production.
Electromagnetic energy is thermodynamically impossible, but zero-point is in theory (but no one yet has figured a way out to harvest it). Fusion is also a possibility (assuming we can ever get it to work).
Geothermal should be exploited more in areas that are suited for it
So in other words, renewable energy isn't completely viable (yet). - darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1America has the freshest agricultural landscape on the planet. China has too many mountains and swamps and India is vastly desert.
We're in a new global economy, son. You'd be wise to wake up to that fact and appreciate the food prices that you've been paying. The world is vastly different now, and the sooner you realize it, the better off you're going to be.- thirteenthcor, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1...Yup Chips are still below a dollar... All is Well.
- PhantomPhoenix, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Well, actually China has a growing desert, and India is full of swamps (and people, over a billion).
- jenshik, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Nuclear power does NOT, repeat does NOT harm the planet.
Except when it's being run by idiots.
Nuclear power is the cleanest source of power. People have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into thinking that nuclear is bad. It's not.- Fratz, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Not to mention that there are emerging technologies that could soon generate electricity from radioactive waste. But I suppose it wouldn't be called _waste_ anymore after that.
- bob10marley, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1zero point flux field energy, that sounds interesting
- Elude107, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Well this will save me some trips to the liquor store- i mean gas station.
- thirteenthcor, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Hear Hear! I'd never drink this stuff straight... But MIxed with some Orange Juice? Hmmmmmm... Actually hell, brewing your own beer, wine, cider, or mead.
- wissler, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Asinine--unless you're going to drink it.
- louiebaur, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Interesting story
- zenithmbr, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2when they invent an at-home refinery that turns my excrement into ethanol, THEN i'll be interested.
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2It's actually quite possible. You'd have to boil it in a copper bowl, distill the vapors into methanol, etc. Store the raised methanol (gas) in a balloon or tank or something, and then it becomes a valid fuel source. It would be combustible (aka, able to be used as fuel) and it could power a machine [generator, etc] to produce usable energy.
You'd have to have a LOT of poo to power your house though. It's a start and there are many renowned researchers working on that very concept (along with cellulosic Ethanol production, etc).
There's no such thing as a stupid post (but sarcasm is stupid and worthless).- zenithmbr, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1sounds like jenkem to me
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2It's actually quite possible. You'd have to boil it in a copper bowl, distill the vapors into methanol, etc. Store the raised methanol (gas) in a balloon or tank or something, and then it becomes a valid fuel source. It would be combustible (aka, able to be used as fuel) and it could power a machine [generator, etc] to produce usable energy.
- evillawngnome, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Does it denature it, too, or can i use this as a home rum making distillery?
- thirteenthcor, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1HRUM!
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1It's obviously not denaturing it if it's proclaiming 100%. Federal Law is quite clear on this.
E-85: consider yourself lucky if you can find it
E-98: the holy grail....!
- TheMachine1, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5960905/
Home natural gas refueling station would cost around $2000-$3500
http://www.omnitekcorp.com/altfuel.htm
Conversion kit for diesel truck is $ 1,828
CNG has a gasoline gallon equivalent cost of $1.60+.
Anyway for a lot less than $10,000 and with lower reoccurring cost you could burn natural gas.- evillawngnome, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Natural gas is a fossil fuel. You're not solving the problem, just delaying it.
- darkciti2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Also, this isn't the place to sell. Buried.
- changyuegu, on 05/09/2008, -2/+0hello
- jenshik, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1It's not that hard to build your own still. A lot more work, but more fun and you can make some really nice stuff to drink. I think ethanol is hygroscopic though so it won't get more than 97% /vol without using a molecular sieve (because you don't want water in your car's engine. Drinking anything >60& /vol is dangerous.).
Here in New Zealand, it's legal to distil alcohol. In fact, the laws don't prevent under-18s (me) from making it, only buying it and drinking it. - IronDonut, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0More feel good ***** from the greenies where the solution is worse than the problem.
You're going to waste more energy making fuel in this device than if you just bought gasoline.
Don't forget that alcohol has a much lower energy density than gasoline. So on top of this being just plain stupid and wasteful the cost per unit energy will be 4-5 times that of gas. - MrFurious2k, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Sorry, but we've already got tons of shortages on commodities. This is just not a viable solution. It's time that we seriously start looking at nuclear power.
- beersnob, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0This is a gimmick aimed at people who are freaking out over the current price of fuel. I can't see how this thing would ever be cost effective....their math doesn't work for me. Plus I don't think it is legal in the US.
- itspuddingtime, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1sugar + water + yeast makes ethanol. But the yeast also produces a good deal of the dreaded CO2 that everyone is in a fuss about nowadays. The article mentioned nothing about this.
Also, I'm pretty sure sugar is not measured in gallons... so how much sugar do we need to make that one gallon of EtO again?- itspuddingtime, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1*EtOh
- Leopards, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Wonder how much trouble it is going to be to square your ethanol production with the ATF and pay the road tax on that fuel you are making and not drinking!! I can tell you that anywhere in the South Eastern United States that you have large amounts of sugar delivered to your house the ATF will not be far behind!!
- yiling1990, on 05/10/2008, -0/+0seriously, ethanol is not an efficient way of replacing alcohol. people are complaining about 3, 4, or 5 dollar per gallon gasoline now, ethanol would cost so much more per gallon, and you can't go as far on one gallon of ethanol as u can on one gallon of gasoline. the only good thing about ethanol is that we arent depending on other countries to provide us with oil.
- diggitornot, on 05/15/2008, -0/+0I work at E-Fuel thus have some knowledge about MicroFueler. 1) US Federal permits to produce under 10k gallons of ethanol can be obtain by any property owner "free" and within 3 weeks of filing two page form. On restriction unit must be operated outside the structure you live in. Forms can be found at www.fuel100.com 2) It is not illegal to operate E100 ethanol in your vehicle when you produce yourself. EPA does not monitor ethanol production under 10k gallons for personal use. 3) You can buy efuel carbon credits on efuel100 website that discount sugar feedstock as much as 80% that will reduce ethanol under $1 dollar per gallon. 4) You can also pick up discarded liquor from restaurants in you town for free, they are tossing thousands of alcohol away, and make ethanol for 10 cents a gallon. See our website for example. You can even find free sugar water from soft drink mfrs in your area; they are also tossing thousands of gallons down the drain. There is no excuse in the statement that it will cost too much to make your own ethanol. 5) There's also more sugar in the world than any other feedstock, if you check the price of sugar it's been coming down not up over the years. If efuel used only the surplus sugar from 2007 (which couldn't be sold) our sales would be the size of Exxon Mobile - that's how much sugar is lying around the world. US makes less sugar now than it did 25 years ago. 6) Thousands of Americans have been making home ethanol for that past 75 years. Its 3rd grade science to make ethanol by just putting sugar, water and yeast together. To make fuel ethanol you must remove the water, which our membrane does better than commercial ethanol plants. 7) Ethanol can be mixed with gasoline right in your tank or if used exclusively mixed with water to help reduce your cost. E100 ethanol has 120 octanes thus plenty of power that your car can't use unless it has high performance. 8) Sugar ethanol also reduces carbon dioxide by 85%, just check how it clean Brazil is now since switching over which is cleaner now than the USA. Also because ethanol is made from plants, that absorb carbon during their growth, it would be 100% carbon (free) renewable if sugar wasn’t harvest and transported by gasoline or diesel.
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