Fuel Ghoul

Bluechem Engine System Cleaners, Chemically Advanced Automotive Engine Cleaning Solutions

Bluechem Group is an automotive lubricants manufacturer based in Europe. They make and sell over four thousand different chemical products, in just about every country, all over the world.

In recent years, this corporation has been developing a lot of products for well-known automakers that contacted them because of their increasingly high tech demands. After comprehensive testing in their labs, Bluechem research scientists modify the right effectiveness and compatibility to the vehicle maker's specific parts. The CTP GmbH uses state-of-the-art lab facilities in Germany to do research on fuel cleaners using gas chromatography, material testing, emission measurement and oil or water analysis. The short distances between production, laboratory and technical decision-makers enable more effective work and research processes.

In 2006 the CTP GmbH was nominated for the Innovation Award of Thuringia for the joint project with the Fraunhofer Institute "Method and apparatus for removal of deposits in internal combustion engines"  won a second prize. 

On their website, Bluechem describes themselves as a medium-sized enterprise that's aware of their social responsibility.  They write, "...we manufacture in Germany, fulfill our tax obligation and re-invest our company profits into research and development as well as into the expansion of our company sites. By supporting national and international charity projects we would like to make a contribution to make the world a better place."

Bluechem Canada is the exclusive dealer portal for Bluechem brand products in this nation. They have a unique challenge today here in North America to try and build presence in this crowded marketplace that's already full of legacy brands, dominated by big box retailers and existing automotive dealerships relationships.

Oil System Cleaners Extend Automotive Engine Life

Europeans better understand that simply changing the oil in your automobile is not a complete cleanse. It's a fact that a few hundred milliliters of used oil and sludge may remain in your engine after a traditional oil change. This sludge often has the worst and heaviest contaminants that could lead to mechanical breakdowns, premature engine failure, and costly repairs.

On Saturday, Fuel Ghoul traveled to North York Ontario to watch Ryan Wilford perform a product demonstration for Bluechem Oil System Cleaner.

Ryan tested a four cylinder direct injection engine, before and after adding the Bluechem oil system cleaner product. I added more details and photos from the demonstration to this product review thread on Smart Canucks.

Independent auto mechanic Chris Ko gave up his Saturday and his 2010 Honda Civic to Ryan Wilford for a few hours to run his compression tests - these were done before and after adding the Bleuchem product.

As detailed in Arob12 Canada Blog, Chris got a free oil change and 300ml of Oil System Cleaner in exchange for his time and trouble, but considering he helped Ryan remove the spark plugs and disconnect the engine's electrical system, twice, this wasn't really much of a bargain. 

After dissembling the engine (twice), Chris and Ryan executed the compression tests using an analog Moto-meter test device. I wrote up the whole story of Ryan Wilford's product demo on Digital Journal, Bluechem brings engine Oil System Cleaner to Canada.

The two compression tests showed the powerful cleaning agent in the used motor oil has a 'healing' effect on the engine.

Before the additive, the number two and number four cylinders were doing one full bar less work, and after the product was added all cylinders can been seen doing almost one full bar more work! This reduces the discrepancies between cylinder strengths that can lead to engine shake and that peculiar wobble which is so common in older model cars and trucks.  

Clean Automotive Fuel Systems Improve Fuel Flow

When a driver depresses the gas pedal in a modern automobile, they expect a peppy response; the pedal controls how much fuel and oxygen the engine receives and when depressed the driver expects immediate vehicular acceleration. But over time, carbon deposits can form in critical areas inside the fuel system, resulting in reduced fuel economy, and loss of power.

Periodic fuel system cleaning can help maintain optimal engine performance. The spray from the fuel injectors needs to be wide and fine for the spark to ignite it. Think of the way you want the nozzle of an aerosol spray can or hairspray to come out of the can — an even, fine mist. If the tiny nozzles on the fuel injectors get clogged, you get a gloppy stream instead. Engine performance is affected by everything from carbon deposits and corrosion to heat and friction.

There's advanced chemistry automotive engine cleaning products available to consumers that are not manufactured by major oil companies, or automakers, and as such they struggle for market share in a big box dominated auto parts aftermarket retail world.

Bluechem was recently included in a popular Hubpage that showcased five of the most advanced fuel system cleaners on the market here in Canada, and was this page and Bluechem Fuel System Cleaners in particular was discussed in detail on Canadian Content forums last month.

Bluechem-Canada Ryan Wilford - Fuel System Cleaner

Direct injection fuel delivery systems are two decades old design innovations that are now almost universally embraced by automakers because of how injectors maximize engine performance, reduce fuel consumption and lower exhaust emissions.

Direct injection fuel deliver systems insert liquid and oxygen directly into the combustion chamber at a very high pressure, low volume and for very short period of time. A computer controls the intricacies and enables the engine to make significantly more power with reduced fuel consumption and less carbon emissions.

But a major downside is that direct injection engines are prone to carbon accumulation on the injectors that can significantly impact performance and fuel economy and nobody tells consumers. That story is only starting to come out now..

The January 1015 AutoGuide has a story, Is Carbon a Problem with Direct Injection Engines? in which the author Gregg Cole writes, “We’ve heard rumblings that blackened buildup on the backsides of intake valves is a major problem and something that could be disastrous for motorists in the coming years.”

This idea that Europeans know fuel system cleaners better than Canadians was hotly contested on Red Flag Deals in Feb 2015.

Bluechem Fuel System Cleaner also removes carbon, gum, varnish, and other operationally caused contamination from the entire fuel system. It provides clean and powerful combustion reducing emissions. It binds water and moisture in the fuel system creating a stable combustible emulsion.. It lubricates and protects the entire fuel system. It wont harm senors opr impair the functionality of fuel filters.

You Don't Need To Be A Mechanic To Use Bluechem Fuel System Cleaner

Every 300ml bottle comes with a tiny red plastic funnel spout. With this in mind you might believe this handy Fuel System Cleaner dispenser is specially designed for home enthusiasts.

Bluechem Fuel System Cleaner Instructions: Use every 30,000kms service and oil change. Add to the fuel system. 300 ml (1 can) treats up to 80 litres (21 gallons) of gasoline.

The result is more power to the automobile, reduced emissions, and improved gas mileage. Chris Ko reported an immediate improvement in engine handling and performance.

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Science of How To Make Black Roses with Flat Roofing Bitumar

Fuel Ghoul loves chemistry in action! And we love to see new twists on tired 'civic cliches' that impose social expectations on young people. Take for example the ridiculose idea they need to give their lovers a dozen red roses on Valentine's Day, and turn it on its head.

This year SMOJoe worked alongside Dan Sheridan of ToughRoof flat roofing repair company in Toronto to make tar covered black roses for folks to give away, which really started the ball rolling and brought a lot of interest to this otherwise tired holiday subject. Eligible Magazine is featuring a story on Black Roses on Valentines Day this year. Turns out there's a lot of people sick and tired of giving red roses on that special day.

Enter Matthew Robert White and his Pop-Up Retail vision for selling black roses on Valentine's Day but that's another aspect of this story and this Fuel Ghoul entry focuses more on the science of the subject.

I wrote about how I made Black Roses for Valentines on Smart Canucks and this left this piece on D.I.Y bitumen covered black roses on Medium after photographing and comprehensively documenting a visit to a flat roofer's tarpots which are known in the industry as ‘tar boilers’, but which are in fact filled with 500 degrees bubbling hot petroleum bitumen.

The act of coating objects with bitumen, especially wooden baskets, bowls, and boats, and even people in hot pitch (with a side order of chicken feathers) is thousands of years old. The word comes from 15th century Middle English bithumen meaning a mineral pitch, from Latin bitumin-, bitumen. This was used all over the country, and in the Royal Navy as watersealing agent and probably used for building projects and roofing jobs too.

Most people think flat roofing tar is made from coal tar, and there was a time when this was indeed the case. And if you ask them today, those same ill informed people think 'pitch' is made from pine tar, but these days its all made from petroleum bituman. Even with low oil prices the tar sands in Alberta is spewing out so much bitumen as a petroleum refining biproduct, it makes economic sense that this material be repurposed for other industries.

Websters Dictionary defines bitumen as 'a mixture of tarlike hydrocarbons derived from petroleum. Black or brown, it varies from viscous to solid; the solid form is usually called asphalt. Bitumen occurs in nearly every part of the world and in nearly the whole range of geologic strata. The term may also refer to synthetic hydrocarbon compounds'.

Bitumar comes in 20lb blocks and is heated to liquid in giant propane boilers that are towed behind vehicles. 

The liquid petroleum bitumen is pumped to the roof direct from the boiler.

Behold a beautiful black rose that has been dipped in Petroleum bitumen is difficult to photograph because its so shiny and reflective.

This is how commercial roofers fix leaks and resurface flat roofs in Toronto, which is a cold weather climate with lots of rainfall that gets real hot in the summer. Its a challenging arena for roofers.  Many roofs are made of a bitumen substructure thats covered with either tar paper or gravel. Liquid hot bitumen is sticky and makes excellent roofing tar that can be used to fix leaks in existing roofs or used as an adhesive to bond other material to fix a leaky roof. Since formulations for roofing tar vary by brand and type, it’s important to pick the right product.

Roofing tar is sensitive to temperature; temperatures lower than 70F means the substance will take a long time to set. However, in extremely high temperatures, roofing tar will turn into a liquid. Roofing tar’s unique liquid/solid properties make it ideal for flat and low slope roofs, where it can be self healing and fix leaks. However, roofing tar should not be used on high slope roofs, since it will turn liquid at high temperatures and drip off. Also, roofing tars should not be used on asphalt products or thinned with water or other solvents.

Dave from ToughRoof gave me lots of good information and was very accommodating as we delved even deeper in the art and science of black roses.

Roofing 'Bitumar' comes in solid ten pound blocks at room temperature. It gets delivered to the job as a black solid block that when heated to 500 degrees becomes an oily liquid used on flat roofs to fix leaks. It is made from coal tar and petroleum byproducts. Coal tar is a deep brown or black residue, which is made during coal production process. Coal tar must be refined and processed to meet standards for roofing use.

ToughRoof can make white roofs. Bitumar is black as molasses, but modern science is such that the colour can be altered in stages. The liquid material goes on hot and seals, bonds and repairs areas on the roof that damaged or are slowly deteriorating and then colour has options like white coating under white gravel or flagstones. Newer formulations of roofing tar are asbestos free, but may contain solvents, surface adherents, plastics and mineral fillers/fibers. Coal tar roof cement by contrast must be applied by trowel, while other types of roofing tars are applied like paint or caulk.

Some manufacturers have created silver and white products by which builders can deliver on a promise to make white roofs which have proven efficiencies. Some brands of roofing tar can be painted when dry to match the roof’s original color scheme. Roofing tar stains and drips and ugly mistrowels can be removed by using a tar remover, but be warned such removers may cause damage to paint and other membranes.

Roofing tar is solid at room temperature. It gets delivered to the job as a black solid block that when heated to 500 degrees becomes an oily liquid used on flat roofs to fix leaks. It is made from coal tar and petroleum byproducts. Coal tar is a deep brown or black residue, which is made during coal production process. Coal tar must be refined and processed to meet standards for roofing use.

ToughRoof seals, bonds or repair areas on the roof that damaged or are slowly deteriorating. Newer formulations of roofing tar are asbestos free, but may contain solvents, surface adherents, plastics and mineral fillers/fibers. Coal tar roof cement is applied by trowel, while other types of roofing tars are applied like paint or caulk.

Most roofing tar formulas are black in color, but some manufacturers have also created versions in lighter colors like silver and white. Some brands of roofing tar can be painted when dry to match the roof’s original color scheme. Roofing tar can be removed by using a tar remover, but removers may cause damage to certain roofing surfaces.

These black roses are certainly beautiful, and have inspired both pop-up holiday retailers and copy cats.

Matthew Robert White is also experimenting with wax roses and waterproof roses, or what were once red roses that have been dipped in a waterproofing compound that can be any colour. I've decided to do an entire write-up on that subject next week, closers to valentines Day as the waterproofing compound in another whooly original product of modern science.

People get pretty excited when i show them my photos of Black Rose Valentines, and I think Matt will have lots of success selling them in Toronto. Here's what folks were saying about Black Rose Valentines on Erotic Canada forums and even more chimed in on Black Rose Valentines on Just Put discussion forums.

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Getting an Oil Change at Jiffy Lube Beside the In Out Car Wash in Brampton

The In & Out Car Wash in Brampton is a spa for automobiles of every description and offers all manner of services beyond the traditional offerings you might expect at a first class urban facility. This place is an absolute bastion of car waxes, air fresheners and tropical scented detergents. Proud car owners parade through a glass tube watching their vehicles get dried, waxed and thouroughly cleaned.

The main building offers custom waxes and auto detailing, but look here at the bottom of the list and see Oil Changes, Rustproofing and Emissions Tests? Huh .. At the car wash? Not quite. This sign refers to services offered at the adjoining Jiffy Lube.

A Jiffy Lube Signature Service^® Oil Change is more than an oil change. It's a preventive maintenance program that enhances the reliability and longevity of your vehicle. It all starts when you drive your car or truck into authorized Jiffy Lube location. Here's an account of my experience on Friday Dec 19th 2014 getting an oil change in Brampton Jiffy Lube.

There is no appointment necessary at Jiffy Lube. Customers simply show up and wait for the work to be done, in a jiffy. They mindlessly surrender their keys to staff and then sit in a warm waiting room sipping free coffee, reading magazines and watching CP24 on a huge flat screen. They can always peer through the windows behind the counter and see their car being serviced in the garage, if so inclined. 

At Jiffy Lube the cars come in the bay with warm engines, and that's good because the sludge will move out from around the working parts easier when the metal is hot. The car is driven into the bay by a staff member with another mechanic watching the tires and guiding the vehicle over the pit in the floor of the garage. Once the vehicle is parked, the emergency brake is applied and the front hood release is 'popped' open. Now the work begins.

The vehicle is identified, or registered into the Jiffy Lube database if its a first time customer. The staff member records the owner's name, address, license plate, and mileage information. They know what type of oil works best for every vehicle and stock all manner of fluids for cars. After the car has sat for a few minutes, the worker above checks the oil and records its levels and colour. At Jiffy Lube there is a basement pit and the workers down there are called 'pit jockeys' and they do the dirty work but have the brightest smiles. With the car parked above, the pit jockey uses a crescent wrench to loosen the oil plug He wears thick rubber gloves because that oil could be scalding hot. With a sheet of folded tin to catch the fluid over sliding tray with a mesh screen.

The main function of engine oil is to reduce wear on moving parts; they also clean, inhibit corrosion, improve sealing, and cool the engine by carrying heat away from moving parts. Motor oils are derived from petroleum-based and non-petroleum-synthesized chemical compounds. Motor oils today are mainly blended by using base oils composed of hydrocarbons, polyalphaolefins (PAO), and polyinternal olefins (PIO), thus organic compounds consisting entirely of carbon and hydrogen. The base oils of some high-performance motor oils however contain up to 20% by weight of esters.drains it from below The worker below removes the oil plug and the old oil drains away into a recycling tank below. In engines, there is some exposure of the oil to products of internal combustion, and microscopic coke particles from black soot accumulate in the oil during operation. Also the rubbing of metal engine parts produces some microscopic metallic particles from the wearing of the surfaces. Such particles could circulate in the oil and grind against the part surfaces causing wear.

The oil filter removes many of the particles and sludge, but eventually the oil filter can become clogged, if used for extremely long periods. They place a pan or container underneath the oil drain plug, loosen its bolt with your standard wrench, and remove the plug, being careful to keep your hands and other vitals out of the way of the stream of hot oil. It should take no more than ten minutes to drain the old oil completely, and when the dripping stops the pit jockey replaced the oil plug on the bottom of the car.

You can count on Jiffy Lube to use the recommended weight and amount of oil for your model of car. Change the oil with up to six (6) quarts of quality motor oil  Double check on the oil change. Replace the cap, and in a few minutes, check to make sure your oil level falls between the low and full marks on the dipstick. Jiffy Lube will also replace the oil filter Here is the pit jockey applying a wrench to a Coke can-sized object found beneath the car. 

The worker loosens and removes the air filter with the proper size oil-filter wrench, being careful not to drip oil on himself. He replaces the attachment, making sure to rub the new filter’s seal with a little oil and making sure its on tight (but NOT wrench tight). 

The Jiffy Lube oil change specialists visually inspect the vehicle's antifreeze / coolant reservoir levels and engine air filter. They check the condition of the serpentine belts, the wiper blades and exterior lights. They also check brake fluid levels in their transparent reservoirs.        

At Jiffy Lube the oil change technicians will also vacuum the interior floors of the vehicle. Clean exterior of windows Lubricate the chassis (when applicable)

The staff checks tire pressure and then checks and tops up the following fluids: - transmission/transaxle fluids - Differential/Transfer Case fluid - power steering fluid - windshield washer fluid - battery water (excluding sealed batteries) Bonus! You will also receive free top-offs on motor oil and any or all of these five vital fluids between service visits for up to 5,000 km.

Additionally, Jiffy Lube will perform a service review, which includes a visual inspection of the engine air filtration and the vehicle manufacturer's severe service* recommendations based upon the vehicle's current mileage.  Not many people know there is a Jiffy Lube on the east side. back in the car wash.

In all automotive engines there is some exposure of the oil to products of internal combustion, and microscopic coke particles from black soot accumulate in the oil during operation. Also the rubbing of metal engine parts produces some microscopic metallic particles from the wearing of the surfaces. Such particles could circulate in the oil and grind against the part surfaces causing wear. The oil filter removes many of the particles and sludge, but eventually the oil filter can become clogged, if used for extremely long periods.

Oil changes are part of life, and now the In and Out Carwash facility in Brampton really is an all-in-stop full care automotive vehicle maitenance destination.

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Greenmoxie Builds a Tiny House in Toronto

Although many people are watching this amazing homemade design & build project, Fuel Ghoul may be the first to report on how Greenmoxie magazine builds a Tiny House in Toronto.

Greenmoxie is a green lifestyle web magazine that is growing incredibly popular in Canada and beyond. The staff is finding its green legs and starting to do remarkable things offline - like building tiny houses. These are more sustainable shortterm accomodation but also permanent dwellings for tourists and backpackers.  Greenmoxie journalist Cornelius Quiring pledges to keep the world updated on the team construction challenges and developments as the cabin is constructed. Readers can follow along via email newletters and get constant updates on the progress of the Tiny House which will, upon completion, be available for rent. Another interesting part of the Tiny House project story is its 'birth place' location in Rouge Park more on that later.

David Shephard is seen above outlining the dimensions of the bed and bathroom including a hot shower. One of the differences in his tiny house design over competitors more low-tech solutiona (as per downlaod schematics) is the solar power technology that he and his half brother Dan Shephard bring to the projact. They also have the best batteries in the business. And the best insulation solutions, rain water filtration technology, and hyper modulation of space for storage capability.

All over the world, the tiny house concept is exploding as people opt for more sustainable, and more affordable housing options. That's why the act of making the cabin and recording the step by step challenges involved, capturing the information rich minutia of the experience, will be valuable for others on the same journey or simply researching the cabin before renting it for a weekend in the park.

Rouge Park

Photo Credit: Rouge Park

The cabin is on wheels but when completed it will be situated somewhere in the woods around the Rouge River.   Rouge Park is a natural wilderness inside the city of Toronto. The park offers great hiking trails, wildlife and Biodiversity and is close to the Toronto Zoo and Rouge Beach.

The GreenMoxie Cabin project is being constructed on a farm near Rouge Park, an urban wilderness park in Toronto . Here David points out the barn swallows that have nested in the stables below his century old workshop. Nobody is allowed to go into the stables unless absoluteley necessary so as not to distuirb these birds, twhich are now on the threatened list of species. They are disappearing because their natural habitat in old barns like this are disappearing. The swallows eat flies and insects that are abudant near cattle but these days the creatures have to fly some distance to find a herd of cattle near an old barn. 

Blueprints for Greenmoxie's Tiny House will be made available for a free download - link to follow.

David has cobbled together a crew of volunteers, skilled and handsome builders, enthusiasts and eco-friendly folks who'll work together to create a tiny home for readers and followers of Greenmoxie to marvel at and perhaps rent for a week and occupy its tiny dimensions on future occassions.

Greenmoxie Cabin Creation Ensemble

• David Shephard

  Greenmoxie Co-Founder

  

  David Shephard runs an advertising agency in Toronto by day and is the captain of this ship at night on weekends. He's a veteran serial entreprenuer that values efficiency and eloquent design. He is a builder of starnge things and businessman who respects someone who can do more with less stuff. His vision of the Tiny House became a rallying point to which the other artists and engineers gathered with their knowledge and reources. David's vision of the Tiny House to come inspired the other members of the team. .

• Ian Fotheringham

  

  Green building consultant

  As an advocate for green building, Ian will be designing the house, drafting the plans, and making it as eco-friendly as possible while maximizing theproject's limited resources. Ian recycles materials for the windows and doors

• Cornelius Quiring

  Storyteller & helping hand

  Cornelius can be found on site twice a month taking pictures and making notes and documenting the entire build process. He's recording the obstacles and challenges as they present themsleves,and remembering exactly how the team overcame their adverse challenges of making a tiny house. He hopes to update the journal atleast thirty times over the course of summer leaving out no new information or details regarding how the team incorporated high technology into the tiny wood frame house.

• Dan Shephard

  Solar Energy Consultant

  Dan is a certified solar energy system designer with dozens of grid-tied and off-grid projects to his credit. Dan will assist with the build, design, and installation of our off-grid energy system.

• Mike Seyffert

  Builder

  Mike was heard saying "We plan to build this home to code, well as close to code as a tiny house can get."  And Mike knows best. Mike brings over 10 years of home building experience to the project; he's expected to provide leadership and ingenuity and think through every tiny detail which will no doubt mean measuring twice and cutting once.

David Shephard took time out of building the Tiny House to set up the Bird Photo Booth which he hosted on the property,

It was in the middle of June when the fields were lush and the hay needed to be cut that the Toronto Bird Photo Booth Business Challenge came to the farm.

In Toronto Bird Photo Booth Business Challenge, the host business positions the booth and picks the birdseed and or other bird photo strategies which could include a

Birds are abundant here and I will update this post with pictures in keeping with the storytelling done around the Birds of Toronto initiative.

More to follow

Post by Robert Campbell on July 3, 2013

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Best Natural Snow Removal Solution Mixes Beetroot Juice And Brine

Dan Shephard runs The Snowmen snow removal service, and is a wrench welding tinkerer that owns and operates at least two other green businesses near Pickering Ontario. I say 'at least' because its hard to keep track of Dan's many projects and patents pending...

Mr. Shephard is a self proclaimed Green Dabbler, which means he'll never stop messing around with green machines and mixtures. Other business interests include a sustainable grass cutting service called Ecotcut fueled by solar power. Dan is an expert in solar panels and batteries and he pioneers design in a portable solar power generator custom build shop in Oshawa Ontario.

Dan is famous all over Eastern Ontario for a few different things, and now he's making headlines again by being among the first proprietors in the province to use a new all-natural deicer called GeoMelt. This reddish brown substance is almost pure beetroot juice. Dan mixes the solution with rocksalt and water to make a brown slush with a very low freezing temperature.

A recent article on Bizcovering entitled Snow Removal Service Uses Beetroot Juice as Natural Deicer reminds us that using the red liquid as a natural deicer is not altogether a totally new idea. This article claims it was a pig farmer that first noticed his vegetable mash pig feed didn't freeze when it was mixed with beetroot juice, but another account of the discovery myth claims a farmer dumped rotten beets into a nearby pond and was perplexed when the waterscape never froze in the wintertime. Regardless of its origins, the low freezing temperature makes the juice an attractive vegetable extract with many industrial uses. Listed among its many scientific properties is the fact that fresh squeezed beetroot juice freezes at about minus 30°Celsius.

Chemistry of Beetroot Juice

Red beets are a rich source of the element boron. Their unique chemical composition makes them great antioxidants for human bodies and consumption is rising every year in North America. They are also gaining prominence as a cash crop with Ontario farmers in part because they are an efficient crop rotation alternative to corn and soybeans. 

Betanin is probably the most valuable substnace found in red beet juice. The extract is obtained from the bulbous roots, and is, among other things, the world's most popular red food colorant. Because this inexpensive all-natural edible red dye is quite safe for human consumption, it's added to a great many processed foods to improve their colour and flavour. Concentrated doses are used in tomato paste, and canned spaghetti sauce. Betanin is used to make red coloured jams and jellies, ice cream, and sweets. Its found in red cake icing and all the red fruit loops in that best selling brand of breakfast cereal.

When red beet juice is added to rock salt water it lowers the mixture's freezing temperature, and makes a sticky compound that keeps cement wet and warm on cold  weather days. Drivers who live in areas where highway maintenance crews spray this beet juice compound should experience fewer delays behind salt trucks and snow plows. Ideally, the de-icing effect may melt enough snow that it saves the snow plows from making any plowing runs.

Beet juice could prove to be the best natural deicer for asphalt.

Spraying salt brine and beetroot juice on asphalt and concrete surfaces like sidewalks, driveways and streets will make them safer by melting slippery snow and ice, but also the watery runoff should be safer for the ecology of the immediate area. Once a roadway or parking lot has been treated with this molasses smelling mixture, the falling snow and ice should melt on contact with the 'wet' surface.The frozen water particles are excited by the mixture, on a molecular level, and do not freeze into slippery ice patches.

Why Salt Sucks For Snow Removal?

Road salt is toxic stuff. The NaCl compound poisons the environment beside the traveled areas and beyond. Salt water run off negatively affects freshwater fish, and retards the growth of their food sources which in turn starves aquatic creatures out of their natural habitats and turns our rivers and lakes into lifeless bodies of water.

On land, sodium chloride molecules are very corrosive and road salt damages concrete and rusts most metals. Every knows that antique car bodies in the southern United States always age better in the absence of road salt.

The United States and China continue to dominate the world's salt production, and together account for over 40% of the quarter billion tons mined each year. Over half of all salt mined in the United States is used as a deicer. The high levels of salt on roads in 'lake affect' weather areas can negatively impact agriculture.

Fruit growers in Ontario's Niagara region have observed, after three years of using sugar beet juice with brine that sensitive vines and trees close to roads have less salt damage in the spring. Experts predict that a reduction in the total salt on the roads in northern climate areas might lead to a delay in rust damage to cars.

Environmental groups are expected to observe and measure the toxicity levels of creeks collecting the spring run off to see how beetroot juice impacts the ecosystem.

GeoMelt is a Canadian company and although their beetroot juice deicer solution is produced locally, the substance is still a rather expensive liquid to be spraying away just to melt frozen ground. But because preliminary testing shows that using the application means using 33% less rock salt, most snow plow operators with salters behind their plows believe using GeoMelt will save money in the long run.

For all the right reasons, Dan Shephard has commited The Snowmen to trying the innovative new deicer solution this upcoming winter season, and he pledges to make his observtions and the data regarding the impact of beetroot juice on the environment public on the company website next year - Fuel Ghoul will be waiting with beeted breath.

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Alfredo Malanca Details Plan Nord in the Province of Quebec

Unveiled in May 2011, Québec premier Jean Charest called Plan Nord “the project of a generation”, and its no secret that he fixed his hopes of re election to its success. Plan Nord is the centerpiece of Charest's political legacy, such as it is, now that he has been defeated at the polls, in no small measure by thousands of university students protesting tuition hikes.

The 'Northern Plan' is a twenty five year, $88 billion dollar scheme for developing the economic and social future of a region rich in natural resources.

Northern Quebec comprises the 72% of the province which lies north of the 49th parallel. It’s home to 120,000 people, including 33,000 indigenous people living within four Aboriginal nations. Mining, energy production, and logging are the three main industries which the government is seeking to develop in Northern Quebec.

Alfredo Malanca describes Plan Nord as a forward looking stimulus to foster over C$80 billion in energy, mining, and forestry investments and create or consolidate 20,000 jobs a year, for twenty five years. 

According to Malanca, when it was first announced, Plan Nord received the full support of the mining industry, the Crees and Inuit representatives were also onboard, but Innus and most environmentalists were not thrilled to see the plans or any development of the 'natural resources extraction sector' in the part of Quebec north of the 49th parallel.

Plan Nord is, more than anything else, a giant appeal for corporate investment. It has been on the drawing board since the previous Quebec election. There are no guarantees that it will work.

Other highlights of the project include,
•    3,500 megawatts of renewable energy: 3,000MW of hydroelectricity, 300MW of wind power; 200MW from underwater generators.
•    11 new mining projects and more than $8.24 billion in private mining investment.
•    The network of protected areas will be completed by 2015 to encompass 12 percent of the territory that the Plan Nord covers. New provincial parks will be constructed.
•    Hydro-Québec will also contribute $10 million a year to fund social projects.
•    Facilitate the development of agricultural production, processing and distribution of food in order to offer local supplies. Develop a diversified, much sought-after bio-food industry (blueberries, cloudberries, northern marine species, etc.)
•    Build 840 new housing units will be built in Nunavik, including 300 public housing units, and renovate 482 by 2014.
•    Develop access and transportation and communications infrastructure.

INVESTING
The provincial government has been using a few different mechanisms to encourage international companies to invest in Quebec. They have charged Investissement Québec to promote Plan Nord in its foreign investment prospecting activities in the US, China and Japan and Europe.

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MICROMINE will Exhibit at Quebec Mines, 26-29 November 2012

Stornoway, Quebec resolve mine road impasse

Marois tells Americans she hopes Quebec will be sovereign one day

Umer Farooq, Super Magnet is Pure Gold for Green Energy

You have to respect the hard working people in Pakistan for constantly surprising the world with ingenious new inventions. They are particularly strong in electrical engineering.  One inventor Umer Farooq, the author of ‘Limitlessness’, now claims to have invented a super efficient permanent magnet which, if scientifically explored could tranform electrical engineering and seriously boost the green energy revolution. Indeed it would help all mankind the world over by lowering energy consumption in almost all new electrical motors. 

Umer Farooq is no dummy. He received a B.E in Electrical Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Pakistan in 2004, the M.Sc degree from Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, France in 2007. He completed his PhD from System on Chip (SoC) department of Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris6 (LIP6), Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris France in july 2011. During his PhD, he worked on the exploration and optimization of application specific heterogeneous tree-based FPGA Architectures.

Mr Farooq is now gaining world attention with his claims... but are they true? Has he indeed come up with a breakthrough in the form of a highly efficient new magnet?  One that is designed especially for electric motors? And one which Farooq claims, can do a lot of work with a much lower consumption of energy because of a new type of magnetic interaction?

A new type of magnetic interaction?

According to Farooq, modern electric motors use about ten horsepower worth of electric energy for yield a mechanical output of about nine horsepower worth of work, while electric motors built with his new super efficient permanent magnet will need only five horsepower input of electricity, while the mechanical output of this motors will remain nine horsepower. This is a bold claim in our energy based economy - this could really help Pakistan and the entire world.

Dr. Muhammad Kamran has also handled responsibility evaluating Laboratories in other universities. He is supervising 4 PhD students working on advanced compression techniques and interharmonics evaluation. He says the magnet shows a lot of promise in early testing but more experimentation is required to prove the merets of this magnetic innovation.

Dr. Muhammad Kamran joined University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore in February 1994 as Lecturer. After getting PhD in July 2007 from Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, he is appointed as Professor and Chairman of Electrical Engineering Department, UET, Lahore, KSK Campus. Dr. Kamran taught course at undergraduate and graduate levels of the curriculum in Electrical Power and Computer Engineering.

ORIGINAL VIDEO SHOWS IT WORKING

Talking about the newly developed magnet, Farooq said that the breakthrough uses super efficient magnetic interaction. ‘It provides far more repulsion force than ordinary permanent magnet,’ he observed. ‘In totality, that is why it provides more than 100 per cent additional mechanical output force than that of the electromagnet,’ he added.

Super magnets are used in engines and many other devices. All applications where permanent magnet motors are used would be affected by this invention, including elevators, electrical scooters, air crafts, hobby crafts, textiles, CNC machines, industrial power tools, printers, etc.

Vancouver Gold Buyer uses super strong magnet to assay gold jewelry

Gold buyers use magnets to determine the quality of the metal being offered for purchase. Magnets are part of the advanced assaying process detailed. Vancouver gold buyer with super strong magnet writes on his website, ...the first thing we do is sort out items that are clearly not gold or silver. To do this we use a super strong Earth Magnet. This is not a refrigerator magnet, but an incredibly powerful permanent magnet made from alloys of rare earth elements. The reason we use this is because gold and silver are not magnetic. This helps us quickly sort out some imposters...

 

Bill Watson Remote Controlled Helicopter Cameraman

The Fuel Ghoul has a friend named Bill Watson who goes by the nickname ve3bnw, and who runs RC Perspective, a remote controlled helicopter camera / aerial video company in the Hamilton / Niagara region of Ontario.

Bill will take pictures (or videos) of your house or business from the air, and he offers clients a fresh 'remote controlled' aeriel perspective on their property.

Recently Bill Watson drove out to Whitby Ontario and did some work for a solar power company specializing in the Ontario MicroFit program, putting solar panels on environmentally friendly peoples' homes. The property seen below was recently featured in a local green investing TV show. Bill's footage to be used behind a voice track of Calum Ross Toronto mortgage broker detailing exactly how participating in the Ontario MicroFit program and adding solar panels to your investment property can improve resale prices. Homeowners should be aware, this is something they can do to dramatically heighten the value and interest of property buyers without a lot of time and money and mess and inconvienence. Modern solar panels are lightweight and durable and you can add them the roofs of new and old houses - consider this another option in your list of possible ideas for value added improvements. They look great too, and even better when photographed from above!

The house looks spectacular as solar panels are very in suburbia now.

Bill's helicopter is also electric. This sophisticated camera platform is possible today because of the battery powered motor capable of producing 2 HP , flight time of 6 mins. and capable of lifting gross weight of 14 lbs.  Bill works the remote controls of the helicopter, while his wife Debbie operates the pan and tilt and zoom and focus on the remote controlled camera mounted on the underside of the vehicle. It also has a video down link so the pair can see exactly what the camera sees.

And the video is majestic - this is how you show a potential investor what he's getting when he buys into the program. Yes there's a certain amount of prestige that comes with being the greenest house on the block, and this video captures that magnificence as it soars over solar install.

Untitled from Willyflyboy on Vimeo.

Its good to back here on Fuel Ghoul. Please comment of you remember my blog from three years ago and are surprised or delighted to see me back here writing content again.

Big Agriculture versus Big Oil

Newspaper reporters use the term ‘supermajor’ to properly categorize any of the six largest energy companies on planet Earth. Trading under various names all around the world, they are considered to be (in order of magnitude):

ExxonMobil (XOM)

BP (BP)

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS)

Total S.A. (TOT)

Chevron Corporation (CVX)

            ConocoPhillips (COP) 

The supermajors began to appear in the late 1990's as large petroleum companies began to merge, often in an effort to improve economies of scale, hedge against oil price volatility, and reduce large cash reserves through reinvestment. These monsters are driven by profit, and their hunger for a positive return on investment will certainly be the largest contributing factor to the costly development of any future fuels.

Big Agriculture is chipping away at Big Oil's fuel market share by growing a domestic ethanol / biodiesel industry (which is still very much it its infancy). Agriculture commodity companies like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Noble, and Cargill are investing heavily in these new 'green energy' industries, and so too are those companies that specialize in the sugar trade, palm oil, and, to a lesser extent, forestry.

Small family farms hate big agriculture - The growing defiance from small farmers illustrates their increasing frustration with rules that they say penalize them in favor of the industrial producers, who were the source of headline-grabbing disease outbreaks such as the E.coli-infected spinach that killed three people last year and last month's recall of 21.7 million pounds of E.coli-infected ground beef.

"Raising Less Corn, More Hell" is written by George Pyle and dedicated to the memory of his father, who was raised on a Kansas farm.  What the agricultural economy needs, he argues, is a truly free market -- not one kept afloat by federal subsidies and unaccounted environmental damage. The root cause of hunger, he claims, is usually a lack of money. Yet the fear of not having enough food has driven the rise of chemical fertilizers, massive machinery, genetically modified seed, and whatever else will help squeeze greater yields out of every acre.

 
Fuel Ghoul has friends in unusual places, including America’s corn fields. Recently a nice lady from the NCGA (National Corn Growers Association) wrote the Ghoul a friendly personal email wherein she asked him to investigate an interesting domain built to promote the salt of the earth – America’s corn farmers.

Farmer’s Matter is all earth tones, and has lots of pictures of kids in corn fields and it seems to be a friendly green, environmentally safe virtual world… but Fuel Ghoul isn’t fooled.   Big Agriculture is ugly too, and companies like Monsanto, and Archers Daniels Midland and Cargill are just as evil as the oil companies, Exxon Mobile and Royal Dutch Shell. Given the choice, Fuel Ghoul would encourage Big Ag and Big Oil to fight it out for

North America’s energy market - and of course Fuel Ghoul would root for Big Agriculture over Big Oil.

Our nation's corn growers have been hard at work this year. In the USA alone, farmers planted over 93 million acres of corn in 2007, and right now they are busy harvesting the largest corn crop in history.

 

These farmers have stepped up production to help ensure consumers will have enough corn to provide food for their families, feed for their livestock, and fuel for their automobiles. Advances in farming practices have increased the number of people a farmer feeds from just 19 in 1940, to 144 people today. They've been able to accomplish this while lessening their environmental footprint through smart sustainability practices – do they lessen our dependence on foreign petroleum? YES to some extent, through ethanol (corn alcohol) production and biodiesel (corn oil).

 

Filmmakers – A Thanksgiving Farm Contest

*** A VIDEO PRODUCTION CONTEST ***
Produce a creative video telling the NCGA what ‘are the most significant contributions made by our nation's corn growers? And thank a farmer!’ Submit your videos to www.votigo.com/thankafarmer Videos should be one to two minutes long

 
To find out more about corn growers contributions, and other interesting farming facts, visit the interactive timeline and fun facts section. (This will also give you some good information for your video production).

Fuel Ghoul believes there are a lot of good reasons for Canadians to move to biofuels: We can grow the feedstock locally and process it on site. In Canada, companies such as IOGEN are developing portable systems that can use switch grass, a plant that grows wild on the prairies, or use waste material from the forestry industry. It looks like everyone wins in that scenario, since we have a lot of plant material and new technology for processing it.

 

Future in a Fuel Cell

In the age of climate change, everyone is keen to help promote an alternative future for automotive transportation.  The Oil Age may soon be over, and the time of cheap oil has definitely come to a close. Innovation demands a new source of power for humanity’s cars and trucks. Biodiesel, ethanol, solar electric, compressed air and even steam powered systems are being rushed into development as the world consumes 85 million barrels of crude oil everyday.

 
Fuel Ghoul believes that mankind’s next energy source will be wonderfully simple and infinitely practical, totally green and one hundred percent renewable. Hydrogen fuel cells might form half of the solution – extracting the hydrogen (to power the fuel cells) is the other half of the equation.

 
When Fuel Ghoul asks scientists 'What is the perfect automotive energy source?’ they inevitably answer, ‘hydrogen’. And when Fuel Ghoul asks them how they would turn that element into energy they simply reply ‘fuel cells’, even though the science isn’t one hundred percent obvious yet, and the process of securing the hydrogen has yet to become cost effective.

 
Today, fuel cells are often mentioned in the news. Some say hydrogen fuel cells will be the most widely used. Others say methanol or ethanol would be more appropriate for the transportation sector. And there are even some visionaries who believe mankind will be refining gasoline for a long time yet, and that fossil fuels will only be eclipsed by the dawn of fusion power.

 
With an eye on the future, Fuel Ghoul took the time to read up on fuel cells. These handy devices are designed similar to batteries except they don’t store energy – they convert the chemical energy of the input material directly into electricity. The principle of the fuel cell was developed by William Grove in 1839.  

What is a hydrogen fuel cell?

 
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as its by-product.  As long as fuel is supplied, the fuel cell will continue to generate power. Various types of fuel cells exist, but the one automakers are primarily focusing on for fuel cell cars is one that relies on a proton-exchange membrane, or PEM.

 
A simple hydrogen fuel cell consists of two conductors (an anode and a cathode) separated by an ionic conductor – an electrolyte (eg, a salt solution). Hydrogen is pumped to the anode, and oxygen to the cathode. Hydrogen reacts with charged particles (ions) in the electrolyte, producing water and electrons. The electrons leave the fuel cell along wires; this is the DC electricity generated by the cell.

 
The electrons return to the fuel cell cathode where they combine with oxygen and water to form ions which replace those consumed at the anode. And so the cycle continues, with hydrogen and oxygen being turned into water while generating electricity.

 
Fuel cells in space

One hydrogen fuel cell can generate up to 1.2 volts of DC electricity. Individual cells can be wired together to produce greater voltages or higher current. The space shuttle has 96 individual cells arranged in three stacks. When hydrogen and oxygen are pumped into the shuttle's fuel cells, they generate 28 volts of direct current as well as heat and water. The heat is put to good use, vaporizing the liquid fuels before they reach the fuel cells. Water flows into storage containers for drinking and other uses.
 

Fuel Cells: Chapter Two

 
Today, hydrogen and oxygen are commonly used as the fuel and oxidant. The electrodes are made of porous carbon plates which are laced with a catalyst (a substance that accelerates chemical reactions). The electrolyte is usually potassium hydroxide. At the anode, the hydrogen gas combines with hydroxide ions to produce water vapor. This reaction results in some left over electrons. These excess electrons are forced out of the anode and produce DC electric current. At the cathode, oxygen and water plus returning electrons from the circuit form hydroxide ions which are again recycled back to the anode. The basic core of the fuel cell consisting of the manifolds, anode, cathode and electrolyte is generally called the stack.

 
There are three types of fuel cells that appear to be the most promising. The Solid Oxide Fuel Cell or SOFC is the most likely contender for both large and small electric power plants. The Direct Alcohol Fuel Cell or DAFC appears to be the most promising as a battery replacement for portable applications such as cellular phones and laptop computers. The Alkaline Fuel Cell AFC has been used in space applications where hydrogen and oxygen are available.

 
Its easy to see why scientists love fuel cells – they have a lot of obvious advantages. Firstly, fuel cells produce almost no emissions at the tailpipe (securing the hydrogen could be messy though) and secondly the technology is safe and reliable, modular, lightweight and quiet. Fuel Cells really are tomorrow’s perfect power plants.