Home Brew for the Car, Not the Beer Cup

[Fledermaus]

WHAT if you could make fuel for your car in your backyard for less than you pay at the pump? Would you?

The first question has driven Floyd S. Butterfield for more than two decades. Mr. Butterfield, 52, is something of a legend for people who make their own ethanol. In 1982, he won a California Department of Food and Agriculture contest for best design of an ethanol still, albeit one that he could not market profitably at the time.

Now he thinks that he can, thanks to his partnership with the Silicon Valley entrepreneur Thomas J. Quinn. The two have started the E-Fuel Corporation, which soon will announce its home ethanol system, the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler. It will be about as large as a stackable washer-dryer, sell for $9,995 and ship before year-end.

The net cost to consumers could drop by half after government incentives for alternate fuels, like tax credits, are applied.

Ethanol has long had home brewers, and permits are available through the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. (You must be a property owner and agree to make your ethanol outdoors.) But there are plenty of reasons to question whether personal fueling systems will become the fuel industry’s version of the personal computer.

For starters, sugar-based ethanol doesn’t look much cheaper than gas. It takes 10 to 14 pounds of sugar to make a gallon of ethanol, and raw sugar sells in the United States for about 20 cents a pound, says Michael E. Salassi, a professor in the department of agricultural economics at Louisiana State University. But Mr. Quinn says that as of January this year, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, he can buy inedible sugar from Mexico for as little as 2.5 cents a pound, which puts the math in his favor. While this type of sugar has not been sold to consumers, E-Fuel says it is developing a distribution network for it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/technology/27proto.html?ref=business

[liberal N proud]

1. I imagine most municipalities would prohibit this

If I live in a rural area, it would sure help.

[MercutioATC]

2. I believe most states' alcohol laws would prohibit it...it's essentially moonshine.

[Rhansen]

4. Must denature

the ethanol. http://www.ttb.gov/pdf/authorized_denaturants_fuel_alcohol.pdf
I wonder why it is illegal to operate a vehicle on 100% ethanol? I also wonder why the insistence on drying the ethanol beforehand? http://www.ethanolproducer.com/article.jsp?article_id=3981&q=&page=1
http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=2793
Still a long way to go before ethanol production becomes efficient, but it could certainly be done better (less energy intensive) than it is now.

[Fledermaus]

3. Federal Laws and Regulations

The law states that alcohol produced at an Alcohol Fuel Plant (AFP) is restricted to be “exclusively for fuel use.” The law, however, does not contain a definition of “fuel use.” TTB interprets the term to mean only the use of alcohol in motor fuel products that decrease the U.S. reliance on petroleum. Read more.

http://www.ttb.gov/industrial/alcohol_fuel.shtml

[IDemo]

5. Home-made biodiesel is another option

http://www.homebiodiesel.com/