Why alcohols will replace gasoline and diesel fuel to be the fuels of the future?
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Robert Falco, PhD Professor of Mechanical Engineering Director of the Institute for Energy Resourcefulness President, Solar Clean Fuels, LLC Why alcohols will replace gasoline and diesel to be the fuels of the future?
Why alcohols will replace gasoline and diesel fuel to be the fuels of the future?
Gasoline is not only expensive, it is harmful to you health. We review the effects of lead, and MTBE additives that were in gasoline. Both harmful to your health. Currently, gasoline, now called reformulated gasoline, contains 1 percent benzene. Chronic exposure to relatively low levels of benzene significantly increases your chances of getting leukemia.Your exposure comes in three ways: when you are filling up, through the build up of emissions from engine combustion, and through the additional emissions created by the three-way catalytic converter. We show the way to get off gasoline and diesel. The answer, the only answer, is to run our cars on alcohols. Don't get hung up on the corn ethanol/food/water issues. It only one of a number of possible alcohol choices, and ethanol can be made in other ways -- as we discuss. But the real answer is to use methanol with some ethanol. The majority of methanol will initially be made from natural gas, and then we will move to organic wastes, and then to farm grown algae. We are the Saudi Arabia of wastes. Methanol can also be made 30% more efficiently using the sun and CO2. We go over these options. You will be wealthier, healthier, independent of OPEC, and you will have more fun driving. Make you voice known.
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Why alcohols will replace gasoline and diesel to be the fuels
of the future? Robert Falco, PhD Professor of Mechanical
Engineering Director of the Institute for Energy Resourcefulness
President, Solar Clean Fuels, LLC
Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.
Winston Churchill
Why we want to get off gasoline and diesel Supply Health
Environment Economy Security Overview of the alternatives 1.
Electric cars 2. Cost of CNG/LNG from natural gas 3. Ethanol
Economy 4. Methanol Economy Future Directions
Alaska GulfOn-shore
Demand growth fromChina is much greater than 7%from the US
Twice our carbon footprint by 2015 8.3% -- 2009 United China 10.9%
-- 2010 States
Number of cars will increase by 4 times in 40 years
Average Best & Average WorstVisibility Impairment in the
Phoenix Area Figure 9. ADEQ Air Quality Annual Report 2008
The correlation of oil prices and unemployment over 45 years
1965 2015
Rapid Societal DeathOur commerce, and American life as we know
it, would stop on the dime, if OPEC wanted it to.
Gasoline additives and our health During WWI, it was discovered
that you can add a chemical called tetraethyl lead to gasoline and
significantly improve its octane rating. Low level exposure to
children: Lowered IQ, reading and learning disabilities, impaired
hearing, hyperactivity, impaired growth. Acute exposure in adults:
Blindness, brain damage, kidney disease, cancers, death Prohibited
because it destroyed catalytic converters!
MTBE replaced lead in so called Reformulated Gasoline (RFG)
MTBE has been used in U.S. gasoline at low levels since 1979 to
replace TEL to increase its octane rating and help prevent engine
knocking. It was used in combination with aromatics like benzene
and toluene. Gasoline can contain as much as 10 percent to 15
percent MTBE. Gasoline may contain up to 50% aromatics The main
problem with MTBE is that it is thought to be carcinogenic and it
mixes easily with water.
Benzene: It gets to you in more thanthe fumes you breath when
you fill up We all know about the filler cap regulations, but, the
benzene emissions that result from the catalytic converter acting
on the emissions is 2 orders of magnitude worse when the car is
either cold or is accelerating. At the minimum turn your head away
from the pump.
Benzine risk for Leukemia WHO: 1 part in a million is
considered acceptable. In 2001 EPA estimated that we had 10 X this
limit in the US. 2005 Swiss study calculated that 100x is emitted
from the tailpipe of an accelerating vehicle.
What did we replace the MTBE with - Ethanol Ethanol is OK
health wise Ethanol made from corn has many problems Ethanol can be
made from other sources Other alcohols can supplement it. Methanol.
BIGGEST problem: vehicles are designed with gasoline as the
standard, making alcohols poor substitutes
We must get rid of legacy practices and procedures In moving
forward sensibly we must have a plan for the future In moving
forward we can wean ourselves from oil gently, but with the full
intent to wean ourselves For all of the reasons given, we must make
gasoline and diesel less and less of the fuel mix we use. So in our
transition we must focus on oil in the future as an additive, NOT
as the standard we are modifying.
Outline Why we want to get of gasoline and diesel Health
Environment Economy Security Supply Overview of the alternatives 1.
Electric cars 2. Cost of CNG/LNG from natural gas 3. Ethanol
Economy 4. Methanol Economy Future Directions
Electric Cars Excessive costs High CO2 limited range WTW GHG
worse than gasoline ---- coal Nuclear not happening in the next few
decades Natural gas burned to make electricity vs. used directly or
converted to a liquid (methanol/ethanol) 60% loss at power plant +
7-10% in transmission Battery costs Range Durability Safety Every
decade a 10% improvement is made in batteries
Fuel cells PEM -- very high costs, but can work with methanol
DMFC even higher costs methanol fuel SOFC lowest costs lowest
reliability can use methanol Bottom line: 2 decades for SOFC,and
discovery for the PEM and DMFC
CNG/LNG
CNG proponents sloganClean, Abundant and American -- YES
Affordable -- NO.
Storage tanks in a CNG automobile $7,500 - $12,000 additional
costs
24 / 7 CNG self serve pump for cars on the UCLA campus $300,000
to $500,000per dispenser to install
Costs to US to replace gasoline with CHG/LNG It cost about 100x
as much to convert to CNG/LNG as it does to make a Flex Fueled car
that can use any combination of gasoline, ethanol and/or methanol.
Our gross national debt is ~ $14 T, our gross national product is ~
$14T, CNC/LNG would cost ~$3T, or, 21.5% of GNP The interstate Hwy
system cost 1.4% of GNP in 1958 Peak WWII spending was 44% of our
GNP CNG/LNG is NOT a societal solution
What CAN we do?
Drop-in liquid fuels are the way to go If drop-in is not
feasible, then liquid fuels that need a minimal modification GM has
produced four million of the eleven million flexfuel cars now on
American roads. GMs Vice Chairman Tom Stephens says it adds "as
much as $70 to the production cost" of a car to make it a flexfuel
car. Thursday May 26, 2011Institute for Energy Resourcefulness
5/30/12
Why not Alcohol? Henry Ford made the Model T both alcohol and
gasoline compatible for 2 decades.Until (Rockefeller supported)
Prohibition
Ethanol Economy Strong proponents Water usage Corn States
Brazilian sugarcane industry Fertilizers Equatorial belt countries
Biomass limit Sources: Wheel to well CO2 Sugarcane and starch
(corn) Cellulose Overall economy Natural gas Feedstock is 80%
Performance Tail pipe emissions ICE and Diesel Toxicity and
Flammability Fuel Cells DistributionThe Biomass limit means that
ethanol made from crops can only meet 20-30% of our needs
Ethanol/Gasoline Vehicles that getMORE power and BETTER
mileage
Proof of the pudding ICEs can run better on alcohols Saab
Biopower line By reprogramming the on-board computer By using a
turbocharger to increase the CR of the engine By changing the fuel
system components to handle alcohols Saab increased the HP of their
2liter, 150HP engine, to 180HP At the same time they increased the
torque by 40Nm
Saab performance curvesRON research octane no.
A further example The Dutch Koenigsegg CCXR gets 1/3 more power
running on E85 over its gasoline model.
Saab demonstration of what is possible with alcohols
Saab President talking about the future of cars running on
alcohols
A big step further E100 Saab E100 Using 100% ethanol, and
optimizing the engine for it, Saab took a 2 liter 150 HP engine and
had it output 300 HP. EPA showed that a VW TDI diesel engine could
run more efficiently on 100% methanol or 100% ethanol. Could
manufacture engines more cheaply than diesels MIT pointed out that
a 15 liter engine could be replaced with a 7 liter engine.
Ethanol can give engines diesel engine efficiencieswithout the
need for high pressure injection systems and either DPF or Urea NOx
reducing exhaust treatment. Diesel Spark ignited E100 We can
replace diesel engines with equally efficient alcohol run spark
ignition engines, and not need the particulates, NOx or
bio-diesel.
At E30 the mileage in an optimizedengine is better than with
gasoline alone Combined with an optimized conventional drivetrain,
the efficiency gain shown in the previous slide for E30 should
yield an estimated 10% - 12% gain in fuel economy. Thus it more
than compensates for the approximately 8% loss in fuel energy
density of E30 vs. straight gasoline. EPA
Swedish diesel busesrunning on 95% bio-ethanol has been running
for 15 years
Ethanol has 2/3 the energy per unit volume of gasoline
Progression of E85 fuel economy in US cars Because ethanol
contains less energy than gasoline, fuel economy is reduced for
most 2002 and earlier American FFVs by about 30%. Most after 2003
lose only 15-17% or less. Some of he newest American vehicles
achieve only a 5-15% loss.
Are we being manipulated by business directed engineering? In
one test, a Chevy Tahoe flex-fuel vehicle averaged 18 MPG [U.S.
gallons] for gasoline and 13 MPG for E85, or 28% fewer MPG than
gasoline. In another test, however, a fleet of Ford Tauruses
averaged only about 6% fewer miles per gallon in the ethanol-based
vehicles as compared to traditional, gas-powered Tauruses. The
Honda Civic FFV, in Brazil, when running on E100, generates 140HP
at 6,200 rpm and 174 Nm of torque at 4,300 rpm. Fill it with an E22
mix and those numbers only drop to 138 HP and 172 Nm (this torque
peak arrives at 5,000 rpm). With the Honda Fit FFV, in Brazil, on
E100, it makes 83 HP at 5,700 rpm and 119Nm of torque at 2,800 rpm.
On E22, it drops to 80 HP and 116 Nm at identical engine speeds.
The aforementioned facts leads some to believe that the FFV engine
is more of an infant technology rather than fully mature. Others,
believe we are being manipulated!
Solar Methanol will use no water
Non-Corn Ethanol Sugarcane The entire equatorial belt + others
(i.e., Hawaii etc.) Sugar beet temperate zone climates The Celanese
process: ethanol from natural gas Cellulosic ethanol Joule process:
ethanol from waste water, CO2 and sunlight 1 Coskata, Dupont
Danisco, Fulcrum Bio -- corn cobs , switchgrass 2 Mascoma, Range
Fuels, Dyadic enzymes wood, etc. 3 POET, Iogen, Abengoa wheat
straw, corn cobs Research Institute of Innovative Technology and
Honda
The Methanol Economy Broad range of sources: Higher octane
Methane, bio-methane, organic wastes Burns cooler Useable in both
Spark Higher Flash point Ignition Engines and Diesels Burns cleaner
Emissions Can be mixed with ethanol and gasoline Fuel for furnaces,
turbines Fuel for fuel cells.The cheapest liquid fuel, with the
largest number of non-food sources
EPA Brake Thermal Efficiency Comparison same engine run in its
nativeengine fueled on 100% methanol diesel mode (1.9L VW TDI in
spark ignition mode diesel) Typical 1.9L gasoline engine has 22-25%
BTE
What Can This Mean for Fleet Economics? Reduce engine system
costs (engine plus exhaust treatment) by $10,000 - $15,000 MIT
study. The engines cost less (diesels are more expensive) No need
for either the Diesel Particulate Filter or the Urea Filter (NOx)
Reduced maintenance Fuel costs less Better mileage up to 5% better
fuel economy The Saab 9-5 gets 15% better fuel economy with a
turbocharger
Even Ethanol/Gasoline mixtures as low asE30 can give engine
efficiencies close to that of a diesel. EPA resultsWe can replace
diesel engineswith equally efficient alcohol run spark ignition
engines,and not need the particulates, NOx or bio-diesel.
Enables operation with power densities up to three times that
which can be provided by diesel engines . This makes possible
highly downsized alcohol engines (e.g. a 15 liter diesel engine
could potentially be replaced by an SI engine with a displacement
of 7 liters or less).
Methanol has the energy per unit volume of gasoline
WTW GHG Emissions of methanol production Gasoline WTW GHG
Sweden, Germany
Safety GASOLINE METHANOL In the California test (15 years),
with over 200 million miles of methanoldriving, there was not a
single case of accidental methanol poisoning. For M100 a 90%
reduction in fuel related automotive fires is projected. P. A.
Machiele, Summary Of The Fire Safety Impacts of Methanol as a
Transportation Fuel, SAE International paper 901113
Bio-Methanol Processes Schwarze Pumpe 100,000 tons from sewage
sludge/industrial wastes BioMCN methanol from glycerin
Haldor-Topsoe black liquor; Sweden, Michigan Landfill gas methanol
from biogas - AD Human wastes methanol from biogas AD From wood
waste pyrolysis
A GEM of an idea.To enable us to move to high %methanol use
before cellulosic ethanol comes along
The GEM Idea Find the blend of Gasoline, Ethanol and Methanol
that: The 11,000,000 existing US FFVs can use now Make the octane
rating exactly the same across a range of GEM mixtures The
volumetric energy content constant across the blends The latent
heat constant across the blends Thus the driver and the sensors do
NOT know anything has changed, but INSTANTY, 11 million vehicles
can use up to 50% methanol.
GEM (gasoline, ethanol, methanol) mixtures.How to use current
cars to move to methanol NOW!Blends at any position along the
x-axis will give the same performance; goingfrom 55% methanol and
45% gasoline (0% ethanol) to 85% ethanol and 15% ethanol.
Alcohol Cars/EnginesSaab Aero X200HP 400 HPBrazilian 4 fuels
Fiat Lotus Exige 270E EPA Alcohol Test Engine
Alcohol Cars E20-E100 Honda in Brazil introduced in 2006With
its flexible-fuel system, Honda believesthat it has essentially
conquered all theknown drawbacks of using ethanol: problems with
cold starts variations in fuel economy and emissions are all
addressed with the new system.Designed to operate on fuel grades
rangingfrom E20 all the way up to E100.The result, according to
Honda, is that itsFFVs will have performance and fueleconomy ratios
that nearly equal those oftheir gasoline-only engines.
An adjustable blend fuel pump in South Dakota Walmart is
talking about adding 9000 more We need dispensers that can dispense
what you need on demand. Just like this one.There are 2900 E85
filling stations in the US
Costs of equivalent amount of energy. Methanol is cheaper than
either gasoline or ethanol Gasoline = $3.90 Ethanol = $3.44*1.25 =
$4.30 Methanol (estimate) = $3.00
Furthermore, contract pricing issubstantially less than market
prices. California methanol costs: The price of methanol today is
$1.30 gal
Grams CO2 equivalent vs fuels
Outline Why we want to get of gasoline and diesel Health
Environment Economy Security Supply Overview of the alternatives 1.
Electric cars 2. Cost of CNG/LNG from natural gas 3. Ethanol
Economy 4. Methanol Economy Future Directions
Future Trends Alcohol ICE Engines Ethanol or Methanol engines
with high efficiency (>40% peak) Lends itself to exhaust thermal
energy recovery in the form of chemical and mechanical energy.
Combined Alcohol + heat recovery system approach fuel cell
efficiencies (>55% peak) at a significantly lower cost. Hybrids
with tiny alcohol ICE Methanol reforming hydrogen for PEM fuel
cells Anaerobic digestion of organic wastes alcohols Pyrolysis of
organic wastes alcohols Direct enzyme solar transformation to
ethanol - Joule Solar dry reforming of methane to methanol Direct
methanol fuel cells
Hybrid-ethanol or methanol vehicle can run at maximum
efficiency ALL the time. Hydraulic US EPA Study Hybrid Operating
Line Methanol would create a 43% efficiency range for the hydrid
operation
Biomass to MethanolPyrolysis is a thermochemicaldecomposition
of organic material atelevatedtemperatureswithout
theparticipationof oxygen.
COWS------ > BIOGAS----- > GASIFIER -- > METHANOL----
> VEHICLES Landfill NET EFFICIENCY = .70*.85 = 59.5%Institute
for Energy Resourcefulness 65 5/30/12
Methanol from CO2 and hydrogen
CH4 + CO2 2H2 +2CO; CH3OH H =-90.6kJmol Maximum theoretical
efficiency = 1.3*.85 = 1.10%Institute for Energy Resourcefulness 67
5/30/12
Main Takeaway Do not be hung up with our problems with corn
ethanol alcohols are in your future: both ethanol and methanol from
non-food origins. These will be cheaper, not vie for land or water
or fertilizer Alcohols are the ONLY replacement for oil in Internal
Combustion Engines. Alcohols are the best fuel for fuel cells
Do we needto bring outthe cavalryto move thisforward?
Sustainable oil replacement 10% oil100%today
What We Must Do Now Encourage auto companies to come clean
about fuel capabilities of current cars, both Flex Fueled and
gasoline. Marshall our national desire to be independent of the
noose around our necks that gasoline dependence is. Think about
what you can do to get this on the national political stage.
Prepare for alcohols by: 1) Having the auto companies make vehicles
that can use them. 2) Telling your representatives that you see
them as a solution 3) Tell your local government to investigate
them. If we get no response ask congress to pass the fuel neutral
Open Fuels Standard Act. Remember ethyl lead! You wont miss your
daily dose of benzene!
Conclusions We can continuously wind down our use of oil, while
at the same time improving performance, reducing pollution and
costs. Mixed alcohols are our future fuel for both ICE and Fuel
Cells. They are in our system already, and their use can be
increased rapidly. They will be made from corn and natural gas
first Then they will be made from organic wastes, and algae, and
processed cleanly using solar, nuclear and wind energy. We will be
healthier, greener, and self sufficient. We will ultimately run
very efficient cars, with tiny engines and/or methanol fuel cells
that are CO2 neutral and with have very low emissions.
For more information Contact Bob Falco Institute for Energy
Resourcefulness