May 11th, 2008
Make it Yourself Ethanol
The home-brewed ethanol maker is the brain child of entrepreneur Tom Quinn and ethanol scientist Floyd Butterfield. They unveiled the machine at a press event Thursday in New York. Quinn says the device, which is about the size of a refrigerator, is so simple to use that anyone can do it. “You just open it like a washing machine and dump in your sugar, close the door and push one button,” he says. “A few days later, you’ve got ethanol.”
Quinn claims his invention will create a paradigm shift similar to the personal computer. “Just as the PC brought desktop computing to the home, E-Fuel will bring the filling station to the home.”
Besides the $10,000 to buy the Micro-Fueler, a consumer will also need a permit from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms to make ethanol legally. In addition, the ethanol will have to be mixed with gasoline even for flex-fuel vehicles so the company recommends putting in a few gallons of regular gasoline and then topping off with the home-made brew.
The Micro-Fueler could also be eligible for federal tax credits that can bring the price down by about $3000 and the company is creating a distribution network for “ethanol-grade” sugar from Mexico that could cost as little as 3 cents a pound, compared to 20 cents for regular sugar. They claim the machine can make ethanol for as little as $1 a gallon and could pay for itself in less than two years.
Yeah, this should work if you don’t mind waiting a week to fill your tank with the one or two gallons of ethanol it would produce in that time. It;s basically just a gimmick. Save yourself $9,700 and just buy a regular still column off ebay, a used 16 gallon beer keg, a cheap propane burner and a couple bags of “Turboyeast.” You too can do the same thing. That is if you can also get all the water out which is a whole other process in itself.
Tags: fuel, micro
8 Responses to “Make it Yourself Ethanol”
Plus grass is a perenial. it comes back year after year, unlike corn which has to be replanted every year. They just cut the top of the grass off after it goes dormant so all the nutrients it needs to regrow next year are back in the roots. My brother is working on some PhD research for how to make the cellulose extraction more efficient so switchgrass will be even more viable as a biofuel.
Yes, but grass can be grown much more passively (relatively speaking), so the overhead costs should be lower.
All gas in Illinois is already mixed with up to 10% ethanol
Here in Connecticutt we are in the top 5 for the most expensive gas prices toppnig a bit over $3.10!
Upmodded for the same reason.
trust me you don’t want to know people like that. INSANELY ‘useful’? more like unbearable pest who’s FULL of themselves.
Tastes like SHIT, though. I’ll stick to whiskey, thanks.