Fuel Ghoul

Henry Ford endorsed ethanol

Henry Ford was indeed a man ahead of his time. Recognized as the grandfather of the American automobile and the great innovator of the automotive assembly line, few people know that Ford was also an outspoken proponent of alcohol-based fuels. But like most visionaries of his time, his foresight was negated by several historical forces that are increasingly relevant today.

In the early 1900s the world’s first automobile makers searched for efficient fuels to propel their new creations. Rudolph Diesel used peanut oil in the engine he debuted at the World’s Fair in Paris, while most early British car makers preferred kerosene. At that time, gasoline was an unpopular waste product that Rockefeller’s lamp oil refineries dumped straight into the Cleveland River.

Henry Ford, the son of a Michigan farmer, always advocated using ethanol as fuel for his automobile’s engines - he hoped to foster an industrial market for American farm crops. In 1925, Ford told a New York Times reporter that ethyl alcohol was "the fuel of the future", and that it would “come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust -- almost anything," he said. "There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented.”

And for Ford, who had a farm background and was supportive of agriculture, making what would today be known as biofuel had the potential to alleviate a mounting economic crisis for many mid-western farmers (that would intensify in the Great Depression five years later). Although the economics of American agriculture’s misery were indeed complex, one possible solution could have been the creation of a domestic fuel market from homegrown crops. Through Ford's own financial and political assistance, the idea of creating such a market for farm goods would translate into a broad movement for scientific research labeled "Farm Chemurgy", which also studied the economic viability of hemp and soybean plastic.

In the end, gasoline won out over ethanol even though Henry Ford actually designed the 1908 engine of his famous Model T to burn a mixture of these two propellants. Three factors led to gasoline’s emergence as the dominant transportation fuel ­­-- the ease of operation of gas powered engines, a growing supply of cheaper petroleum from oil field discoveries, and intense lobbying by petroleum companies to maintain steep alcohol taxes. Remember alcohol had a very bad reputation in the United States during the Prohibition Era of 1920-1933.

It wasn’t that gasoline was considered a miracle fuel; it had a bad reputation too. Gasoline had a lower octane rating than ethanol, was far more toxic, and generally more hazardous. Early refineries were dangerous places - gasoline was famous for spontaneous ignition and catastrophic explosions. Gasoline combustion produced more air pollution and was much more physically and chemically complex than ethanol, necessitating intensive refining procedures to ensure a consistent gasoline product.

Two key reasons have pushed petroleum fuels to forefront of automobile transportation. First, cost per mile of travel is virtually the sole selection criteria at the gas pump, and secondly, large investments made by the oil refining industry in physical capital, human skills and technology made the entry of a new cost-competitive fuel difficult in the existing marketplace.

Unfortunately Ford’s vision was lost to political and economic forces he couldn’t control. In fact, throughout American history any legislation proposing a ‘national energy program’ to employ agricultural resources for fuel production has been extinguished by well funded public relations campaigns launched by petroleum interest groups. One noteworthy claim forwarded by petrol companies in 1928 was that the U.S. government planned to fleece taxpayers to make farmers rich.

If you read some of the websites and blogs on ethanol today you’ll hear the same thing. A common misconception is that large agribusinesses control the ethanol industry. Its a fact however, that over half of the ethanol plants in the United States are owned by local farmers working together in cooperatives or limited liability companies.

The largest producer of ethanol in Canada, GreenField Ethanol works closely with farmers in rural Ontario and Quebec to create jobs and new forms of revenue in these communities.

Henry Ford, long regarded as a genius for mass producing the automobile, also saw the future; ethanol has now arrived at many gas stations all over North America. Mr. Ford would likely feel a sense of vindication to see GreenField Ethanol helping agricultural communities by buying corn directly from Canadian farmers. His vision would be validated by the fact that over 70 percent of the revenue generated by ethanol producers is spent within a 150 miles of the plant. Already ethanol production in Canada has grown from zero litres a year in the early 1980s, to almost 238 million litres a year in 2006. According to the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association Canada’s ethanol production is expected to triple in the next four years and reach a total of 650 million litres by 2010.

 
Just like Henry Ford’s 1908 Model T, most vehicles manufactured after 1980 will tolerate up to 10 per cent ethanol, known as E-10, which is the most common blend in Canada. Some newer vehicles however can tolerate E-85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline. In Brazil, a country rich in sugar cane, the automotive industry supports one hundred percent pure ethanol fuel. If the price of oil and gas continues to rise in North America, 100% pure ethyl alcohol could be our future as well.

Blogarama Blog Directory

Fight Spam! Click Here!

Whatever happened to whale oil?

When people say they’re ‘burning the midnight oil’ they probably don’t realize they’re referencing whale oil. In the first half of the 19^th century large fleets of whaling ships departed North American seaports like Nantucket, New Bedford, Portsmouth and Halifax in search of sperm whales or right whales to harpoon and harvest for their blubber. Bright honey yellow to brown oil was rendered from the mammals’ fatty tissue right on the boats. This precious commodity would be stored in wooden barrels below deck until the cargo hold was full. Then, and only then, would the whaler head back for  its home port. Some voyages lasted over three years. From 1820 to 1855 this combustible animal product was bottled and sold at a good profit; demand increased as the world’s whale population was steadily reduced.

Whale oil was consumed in ornate brass and porcelain lamps for light. It was also used as candle wax, and it was sometimes employed to treat raw wool before the fiber was combed and woven into thread. This substance was the first animal oil to achieve commercial viability. But what happened? As whales became less abundant the cost of this commodity climbed until it was priced out of reach of the average consumer - alternatives had to be found. Does this scenario sound familiar? Could this planet’s crude oil reserves soon become as scarce as its whales?

 
At a meeting of the American Petroleum Institute in 1956 a man named King Hubbert referenced whale oil when he made his now famous prediction that global petroleum production would peak in the early 1970s. He became an industry celebrity when his forecast came true. Crude oil prices did rise sharply in March 1973 when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ceased shipments to the United States, causing what’s now commonly known as the 1973 energy crisis. Consumers have been searching for alternatives ever since. Solar power, wind turbines and alcohol distilleries wait on the sidelines to replace crude oil as civilization’s prime energy source. But will these substitutes be enough to fill the void?

Lets look at the whales again... Sperm whale oil sold for $200 a barrel in 1823 (equivalent price by 2003 standards*), but by 1855 this animal product was fetching more than seven times that amount. When a whaling ship named Triton arrived back in Portsmouth in 1833 it boasted a cargo of five hundred barrels of high quality oil which sold for almost half a million dollars*. Every sailor on the manifest was a rich man, and captain Charles Cushing was able to buy his own boat Plato. But the golden age of commercial whaling was coming to a close; years later, peak prices crashed the market as consumers sought and developed cheaper substitutes. Kerosene was introduced in the 1860’s and the electric light bulb was born in 1874.

 
With crude oil valued at just under sixty dollars a barrel, are we experiencing King Hubbert’s peak oil right now?  How much longer before gasoline is hunted and quarried to extinction?  If we follow Hubbert’s model, petroleum prices will begin to drop as the market shifts to cheaper alternatives… but why are these replacements so slow coming to market? Critics will tell you that green energy is still years away from commercial viability – don’t listen to them. Green energy is here and ready to be utilized today.

Energy conscious Canadians can find a myriad of options all over the internet: Electric cars can be ordered online here. Solar panels are available here . Windmills are available at Canadian Tire , and Canada’s largest ethyl alcohol producer, GreenField Ethanol buys corn directly from Canadian farmers for the express purpose of making automotive fuel to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and negate OPEC’s control over the global energy market.

One hundred and fifty years ago humanity shifted its energy appetite away from whale oil as that commodity's supply and demand curve peaked. In the age of peak oil, our energy inclinations must change again. Mankind must wean itself off mineral fuel and onto vegetable fuel as we mature into a more efficient, environmentally conscious species.

‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.’

Buckminster Fuller, Critical Path 1982

 

Blogarama Blog Directory

Fight Spam! Click Here!

Ethanol is rocket fuel

Ethanol is not a fad, nor a flash in the pan fuel that some Johnny-come-lately scientist dreamed up to save humanity from the oil companies. Distillers all over the world have been making this go-juice for a long time. In Canada, GreenField Ethanol  produces 100% ethyl alcohol using corn, the same organic material that Kentucky moonshiners have been mashing for over one hundred and fifty years. Ethyl alcohol is a colourless, pleasant smelling substance that has been lighting lamps all over America since the 1850s, and the infant automobile industry suckled on this vegetable matter in the early 1900’s before it grew into the petroleum fed monster it has since become.

Would it surprise you to know that pure ethyl alcohol was in fact mankind’s first liquid rocket fuel? It’s true – Nazi Germany refined ethanol from sugar beets and used its energy to propel their dreaded V2 rockets towards England in the darkest days of World War II.

Rockets move forward by expelling mass backwards (Newton's Third Law ). The early visionaries, Robert Goddard in the United States, and Werner Von Braun in  Germany both identified pure hydrogen as the best possible fuel for their first hobby rockets. But hydrogen gas was really expensive in 1937, and the Hindenburg Disaster scared everyone away from using this volatile element. German scientists working on their ‘vengeance weapon’ on the Isle of Peenemunde chose ethanol as its primary fuel source because it was good, fast and cheap. 

Remember the Germans had a fuel shortage in the 1940s. The Allies blockaded German ports and cut off all crude oil imports to restrict Hitler’s ability to conduct mobile warfare. It might have worked except that two decades earlier, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch pioneered a method for making diesel fuel from coal gas, and the Ruhr valley had lots of coal. 

The Fischer Tropsch process still gets a lot of attention today - some people think it’s a viable solution to America’s emerging energy crises. It isn’t. The hydrogenation of coal is neither efficient nor environmentally friendly. This was something the Germans had to do, and hopefully something North Americans can avoid.

Propelled by a mixture of ethanol and liquid oxygen, the V-2 rocket was the fastest weapon in the Nazi arsenal and could carry a thousand kilogram warhead over three hundred kilometers. The turbo fuel pumps inside the fuselage were driven by hydrogen peroxide. The ethanol was kept in an aluminum tank to save weight. Making that tank further drained the German war economy as this exotic metal was both rare and valuable.

An ingenious design, ethanol was pumped through the walls of the main burner to simultaneously preheat the fuel and cool the combustion apparatus. The propellant was then pumped down into the main reaction chamber through several nozzles which assured the correct mixture of alcohol and liquid oxygen at all times.

At the end of World War II, the most valuable treasure taken from Germany was the rocket scientists themselves. These men gave the USA a real advantage over the Soviet Union in the Cold War that followed. It’s therefore not surprising that America’s first Redstone rockets also used ethanol combined with liquid oxygen as fuel. In fact it wasn’t until 1956 that other more exotic propellants were developed. Today the US Space Shuttle’s liquid fueled rocket engines burn hydrogen – just as Robert Goddard and Werner von Braun had anticipated. But at the dawn of rocketry, ethanol was the fuel of choice - just as it was at the beginning of the Automobile Age.

I laugh at those critics that claim ethanol is weaker than gasoline, and I challenge those who believe their cars will have less power on the road. Try ethanol and you will discover it’s just not true. Yes, mileage per liter is slightly reduced, but alcohol burns cleaner and hotter than gasoline, and delivers just as much power. Heck, ethanol is rocket fuel!