This week’s article is about E85 fuel, another intermediate solution before drivers stop using petrol all together. E85, I believe is an intermediate solution because it still uses petrol as a base. E85 is a mix of ethanol and petrol – 85% ethanol and 15% petrol, so it helps to reduce the consumption of crude oil, however it increases the plant based ethanol production that … [Read more...]
Ethanol (Sugar v Corn)
There is a lot of talk these days of bio fuels and other non petroleum fuels – indeed it has been possible to buy fuels with a mix of petrol and ethanol – typically called E85 (with 15% ethanol added) for years. However, there are two types of ethanol used in vehicles, sugar cane based as used in Brazil and other countries, and corn based as used by the USA amongst … [Read more...]
Algae as a Fuel Source
Over the years of producing podcasts and writing articles, I have talked many times about algae and its benefits as a fuel source. The most commonly discussed biofuel in the media is ethanol produced from corn because of the dilemma of using lots of water to turn a food source into a fuel to power vehicles, causing much debate. One other source of biofuel is algae. This … [Read more...]
Biofuels – Two new plants are under research
Biofuels have been around for decades if not centuries as humans use waste to provide heat or to cook food. Waste cooking oil has been used for years as a diesel substitute and several companies in the US and Europe have specialised in converting diesel cars to use it. In recent years biofuels have been associated with corn based ethanol that has not only taken away a staple … [Read more...]
