New to the forum, good morning all

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Corerftech
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Joined: Fri May 20, 2022 4:57 pm

New to the forum, good morning all

Post by Corerftech »

Good morning!

I live in the Memphis area of Tennessee and work in AG (in part). Moved here from the west coast 5 years ago.
I dont drink, at all, but ethanol has become a bit of a focus for me in the last year or so.

Some background:

Im a middle aged man who only drives Fords and in my youth I didint get enough hot rodding out. Older, smarter, better skilled, it is my intention to do some things now that as a teenager and young adult, I couldnt do really well. I have two Ford Rangers that are receiving V8 engines, one has a trubo destined for installation.

Now being a cheap bastard who works his butt off for every buck he gets, everything must be CHEAP, JUNKYARD-ish and work as well or better than the guy with no budget. The engines will have Microsquirt ECUs to control fuel/air/spark and with that I can use alternative fuels.Both trucks are in various stages of completion.

Boost is demanding of octane. Octane is expensive, exceptionally so now. E85 is cheaper, but since I started the projects in 2020, well times have changed. Plus E85 isnt as good as Methanol. But Methanol has issues, speed bumps in use, is stupid expensive now ($8-10/gal if lucky).
As I considered my fuel options, I thought "what about pure ethanol"??

So I did my research (for 6 month) and crunched numbers and realized in my fuel research that the Fed and TN state allow for Alcohol Fuel Permits. In my research I bumped into this forum, and many here have said, "hogwash", as its too expensive to produce.

Not being one to give up on things..... over the last 30 years I have designed and built vacuum tube amplifiers and have a design that in the last 90 years, has never been deployed commercially. Its the culmination of 9 years of R&D and its indeed the first. If the USA can recover trade with Russia, the tube magnate, I will deploy it for commerical use (Had a west coast topur scheduled the June following Covod outbreak and had to cancel 10 day trip, basically never to return to it). The point is, people said it couldnt be done, at any cost...... I did it and affordably. Technology needed to catch up with me and in 90 years it did!

So it goes with home ethanol. And as always in my life, monetization of my hobbies is a potential. I found vacuum distillation, an alternative feedstock, alternative heat sources, etc all to reduce the cost of production. Then a certain older gentleman and his friends did some things to raise energy prices here i teh USA, further making a gap in production cost and causing me to see even larger savings. Thanks Brandon, I guess??

So, Hydrous Ethanol is the game, azeotrope in the tank. Denatured 2-3%, fed heavy to a forced induction engine. I only need 500 gallons a year to run and the engine will take anything from E90 up. I am after a measely 450hp from a nearly stock 302, thats the blocks relative strenght limit. It should be very easy to make teh power, the fuel...... maybe not so much.

So that I am understood, there have been many endeavors I have attempted that fail. Consider them science projects, This is one that may fail, and at nearly any position; engine, fuel system, economics, time, input BTUs, crop space, crop failure, distillation, etc. But what else do I do except go to work for 12 hour a day......some people get to fish, hunt, race cars, build model airplanes, fly elaborate kites. Me, I work, figure something weird out, then try to escape some of the hard work by making or saving money with the new thing. I believe that there is success to be had at many levels, maybe not all...... but many in this endeavor. This cycle of work, hobby research, monetize, etc has worked very well over the last 40 years. Im just gettign tired of the forst part, the WORK 12 hours part.

I will say this: I HAVE distilled once before. 10th grade in high school. We had grapes in back yard, wasting away. Made a wine on kitchen counter in mason jar. One Saturday in dads old webber aluiminium kettle BBQ grill (used as a foundry, lead pot, forge, if it needed heating, it was used!) after he had grilled some fish, I set up a "Still" cobbled together from remnants of home remodel junk (no real condenser, no water flow, just air cooled..... funny (more like stupid!). I indeed did enrich the ":brandy" that was formed. Oh My Gosh it was horrible. If it had 10% ABV to start it had 15% at the end, maybe...took it to school, put in locker and had friends test it. Everyone said, "I dont dont taste much alcohol but there is some in there!". Yep, yeast water!

Hope that stupid story gets a laugh. 100% true. I said I dont drink at all, I never said I didn't........ me and the mood altering chemicals dont get along, not since 1988, except for a recipe or two in the kitchen. Prior, we got along far too well neding much intervention to break the relationship.

Thanks for having me here in the forum. Ill try not to ask any questions I can search for and find. My AFP has been approved by TN, havnet applied at Fed level yet but I will soon pending a couple answers needed first.

I look forward to pursuing Alcohol Fuel, distillation efficiency, fuel quality, power, alternative heat inputs, shorter processing times and designing a patent process for processing the alternatiev feedstock. Also PUSHING the new-ish feedstock! Also interacting with you folks!!

I am "corerftech" literally EVERYWHERE on the planet, the named after my prior CA based electrical firm.

Have a great Saturday folks.
Mike in Memphis
Corerftech
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Posts: 30
Joined: Fri May 20, 2022 4:57 pm

Re: New to the forum, good morning all

Post by Corerftech »

I misplaced a post, very sorry. Relocated to proper thread.
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EricTheRed
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Re: New to the forum, good morning all

Post by EricTheRed »

Quite the intro.
Keep us posted.
I'm intrigued
My fekking eyes are bleeding! Installed BS Filters - better! :D
Life has gotten interesting!
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LWTCS
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Re: New to the forum, good morning all

Post by LWTCS »

Really nice intro.
Though I will ask you to be mindful that political rhetoric ( the "let's go Brandon" thing) does not bode well here. Please read the forum rules at your soonest convenience.

As for your project,, so excellent.
I was first drawn here looking for fuel production answers, and soon realized that distillation is all about economy of scale. Big oil knows this. They have volumes of patented technologies collecting dust on the shelf.

The bulk your solution will be to source a cheap fermentation material that can provide adequate yeild.
And if time = money, enough time in the day to process enough material to justify the time needed to do so.
Also, you'll need to ensure the fuel / energy needed to render a finished product does not exceed the value of your finished product. I feel you already know this?

This place specializes in distilled spirits. There are fuel forums out there that may provide better strategies for fuel production.

I think you'll need to look at the continuous stills forum to keep yourself pointed in the right direction.
Trample the injured and hurdle the dead.
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