Gasifier Experimenters Kit

Biomass Energy Foundation: Liquid FuelsBecome aMemberof theBiomassEnergyFoundationIn 1973 (the year of the first OPEC Fuel Crisis) I begantesting methanol as an alternative fuel with great successin 10% blends with gasoline in 10 cars. I wrote an articlefor the journal Science "Methanol: A Versatile Fuel forImmediate Use" (Vol. 182, pp 1299, 1973) showing thatmethanol was the easiest alternative fuel to make bygasification and one of the best for engines and fuel cells.That article changed my life from being a material scientistat MIT to a fuel scientist at NREL, the Colorado School ofMines and now the Biomass Energy Foundation. Inaddition to methanol there are groups that promote"ecalene", a mixture of many alcohols that have moreenergy than pure methanol and are more compatible withgasoline.I have operated my own personal cars on mixtures of 10%methanol and pure methanol. Methanol is a componenttoday in making biodiesel which we also developed at theColorado School of Mines in 1990.OTHER ALCOHOLSEthanol is currently the favored alcohol fuel in the US(from corn) and Brazil (sugar cane). But there are otheralcohol choices on this page.BIODIESELBiodiesel is another alternate fuel, though it is not madeby gasification.HYDROGENHydrogen as a fuel has been much in the news lately.http://www.woodgas.com/liquidfuels.htm (2 of 3) [10/9/2008 08:22:54]