a new use for Bio

[tillyfromparadise Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tillyfromparadise]

Re: a new use for Bio

Hi gsmiley,
just to sort out a few of your statements,

I never heard of ethanol from woodchips either

Have a look here Treethanol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

but there are reasons we don't make biofuel from ethanol. Firstly ethanol has more value for human consumption than say 25 cents/litre.

25 cents/litre? What is the 25 cents /litre referring to? Methanol costs around $1.50 a litre if you buy it in a 200 litre drum.

Secondly the boiling point is around 87 degrees C

Ethanol boils at 78.4 C

as opposed to methanol at 58 or thereabouts

Methanol boils at 64.7 C

and you cannot get dry ethanol from a still,(about 20% water, 160 proof)

Ethanol forms an azeotrope with water which results in about 95.6% ethanol and 4.4% water.

and you can expect not even a re-circulating one which gets you up into the 90% range and you would have to use chemical means to dry it first.

All the ethanol used in commercial automobile fuel is produced to a standard that contains no water. Have you heard of a molecular sieve?

Even if you can make it out of reject potatoes or whatever.

You seem to be thinking about Russian Vodka or perhaps WWII German torpedo fuel..