Biofuels and gas cars

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Dodge Charger 1970 (Image: Pinterest)

Biofuels and gas cars

Ethanol

In a technical way to think, nothing denies the use of ethanol as fuel. Theoretically, the car that uses ethanol as fuel can move "forever" if the ethanol production is high enough and happens in the chamber what is in the car.

If we are thinking about the possibility to make the car, what is creating its fuel independently. The creation of that system is easier than we even think. If we want to use ethanol as a fuel, we might put the fermentation chamber in the car. Then we might make 96% ethanol in that tank by using sugar, leaven, and potatoes.

In this case, the produced ethanol can conduct to the engine and use as fuel. So can this kind of vehicle move forever? The answer is that the operational range would depend on how effectively the leaven can create the ethanol from starch. There is introduced an idea of using genetically manipulated potato cells and leaven to produce ethanol in vehicles.

In this kind of system, the starch is created in the cell cultures and the same way the leaves and sugar are produced in the chambers, where those cells are feed by using bacteria. If the recycling of biomaterial is effective enough the system can operate in very isolated places where it cannot get outcoming nutrients. If the ethanol-producing would be high enough that thing can give a vehicle theoretically unlimited operational range. But the system requires enormous biomass and the leaven that produces very much ethanol.

But if those cells get enough nutrients and the leaven can produce enough alcohol these kinds of things are theoretically possible. In some ideas, the system would use in space cars and the cells that are making alcohol would feed in the cell cultures. And when the ethanol is burning the carbon dioxide will conduct to that bio chamber for making the good conditions for the fuel-producing system.

And from the futuristic scenarios to every day more or less practical solutions.

Wood gas cars

The development of wood gas cars began in the 1940s. The fact is that most of the wood gas cars are from that age, and somehow those vehicles are not developed after that. There is introduced a couple of hobby-projects on YouTube, where a car is turned to use wood gas, and here I must say that there is not used the most modern combustion technology in those systems.

The use of wood gas in cars is very common in history, in the time when gasoline was not allowed to get freely. The problem with a wood gas car is a low speed, and the fuel what is like logs or chips must fill to fuel chamber very often. The technology used in those systems were from the 1940s. But using modern technology would those cars be more effective.

So the wood gas car is not probably very interesting in the cases, where somebody wants to travel a long term trip by using the car. But there is possible to replace the wood with coal. And coal can use to create coal gas. That gas is also known as town gas.

Town gas and methane.

The creation of coal gas is simple. The system must only heat the coal in the chamber where is no oxygen. Then that gas can move to the engine by using the tubes. The problem is that heating the coal needs energy. But if the weather is sunny, the system needs only a parabolic mirror, whose purpose is to warm the coal for making the gas for its engine.

If the car uses a turbine, the system can use methane or hydrogen as well as coal gas. The use of methane is a very interesting opportunity because gas can produce by using rotten biomaterial. If the biomaterial will rotten in the anaerobic chamber. The bacteria is creating methane. That gas can use as fuel in fuel cells or turbines and piston gas-engines.

Coal gasification: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_gasification

Wood gas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas

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