Dave, I know Maria slightly and she is a good source of learning this stuff. I don't do things quite like she will show you but the end result is the same. She likes to use water heaters (apple seed) for reactors but I build them out of 55 gallon drums.
Feel free to PM me with questions. I don't consider myself an expert but am expert enough for my needs. There are new methods coming on line but mostly they deal with recovering methanol. Methanol goes thu wild price fluxuations but always ends up higher than it started so recovery is a good idea.
'01 Dodge 3500 CTD, Lance 1121, Air Bags, Rancho 9000, All Wheels Under Power When Needed, A Few Engine Mods For Increased HP
Burning Grease, 800 ft/lbs. of torque from something you throw away.
Little Kopit wrote: I am hearing some very clear statements about the cost of food in the world and starvation. Increases in the cost of food grains are pricing them out of the market for many parts of the world.
What is the cause of this increase in grain prices? That they can be in demand to make an eensy weensy tiny decrease in the cost of fuel for wealthy countries.
'Bout time some wake up to the value of food first.
Fuel last.
Starving people/nations generally have everything to do with political instability and/or theft of food aid.
The rising cost of crops is like everything else right now, farmers are paying much more for fuel, fertilizers/pesticides (which are all made from oil) along with processors/transportation/wholesalers/retailers paying considerably more for energy than just a short time ago. This is where the increases are coming from, using crops for fuel is such a small part of the equation its not even worth mentioning.
Dream time, dream time. Clearly some don't want to accept what is being reported and are turning deaf ears to reports of increased markets for land that will grow corn, wheat, rice and other grain that can be used for bio fuels. Industry vs. basic living. Past time to open your ears. Or get your media to wake up and pay attention to news rather than what they think people want to hear.
Not really, off topic, how many have seen stations that sell LPG as automotive fuel. These conversions are readily available in Europe and Australia!!!
whistlebritches wrote: Well I'll tell you what, if they start fining people for making their own fuel and not paying road fuel tax, then we've got more problems on our hands than high fuel costs!
Well of course I can't vouch for the accuracy of the media but here is the article.
Keith J, Retired from GM Engineering
2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD SLE 2WD/CC/SB/DA.
1999 Sunnybrook 27RKFS Fiver
Bilsteins, Line-X, Westin steps, Prodigy, Retrax, 16K Superglide, 5th-Airborne pin-box, Multi-vex mirrors.
FreeLanceing wrote: Maybe we should trade our corn for deap discounts on crude. Then the Saudi's and the other Mid Eastern oil countries can feed the world. We are broke and cannot afford to police and feed the world anymore. In a few more years it will not matter. If we continue to buy that chinese junk they will own us. I buy American whenever I can even if it costs me double. No Toyo tires for me thank you. Mine are made in Akron Oh. Sorry for highjacking but the message has to get out.
Ben
Not many years ago, this was said about buying Japanese goods. It has proven not to be true.
The Japanese
A Are not communist
B Do not have a population of well over 1 Billion
C They had there buts kicked by US once and don't want that to happen again
The US is far from having really good options on trucks.
EU trucks have stronger gvwr with smaller vehicles that consume less fuel.
In EU and Oz one can get LPG shared option. & I have been told of a Canuck who drove across this country last year on propane/LPG.
There is also a myth that Toyota just started to develop a 1-ton truck in the US. Hogwash, I know an Aussie with a 1995 1-ton Toyota tray back pick up.
South Africa is another place that has insisted on strength in a practical size, rather than splash and flash of looking big without much additional strength.
& do you still consider these personal trucks with a truck bed higher than 48" at the top as a pick-up? Can you load items into it over the sides of the truck bed? IMO these are not pick-ups.
Toyota has been making one-ton trucks for sale in the US for over 20 years now.
The most efficient trucks here are probly the UD, Hino, Mitsu-Fuso, LCF Ford, and other small 2-axle drw cab-over commercial trucks with small diesels, mostly used as tow trucks, box trucks, flatbeds and refers. They have high GVWR's and good fuel mileage for their size, can turn on a dime and can be up-fit with whatever kind of work or recreational truck body needed. I don't care for cab-overs though cause the driver usually gets his legs crushed in a front-end collision. A trip to the commercial truck junk yard will open your eyes to this. In conventional trucks, the driver stand a better chance of walking away on his own legs.
I wouldn't mind using LPG, but it is almost as expensive as gasoline here and it's not readily available at filling stations either. It is available at some stations, but it is a hassle to get a station attendant to fill the tank for you. For the price per gallon, the lack of convenience, the cost of the conversion and the decrease in performance from using it, LPG is not worth converting my truck to use it, in my opinion.
* This post was
edited 05/04/08 11:31am by SoCalDesertRider *
I wouldn't mind using LPG, but it is almost as expensive as gasoline here and it's not readily available at filling stations either. It is available at some stations, but it is a hassle to get a station attendant to fill the tank for you. For the price per gallon, the lack of convenience, the cost of the conversion and the decrease in performance from using it, LPG is not worth converting my truck to use it, in my opinion.
Raften, do you have any pics of your 55 gallon reactor? I know I will not be buying one of the $3000 units, I've always been a do it yourself type. So any help is appreciated the more info I have the fewer mistakes I'll make.
Thanks,
Dave
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