- Dec 21, 2005
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http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pu...t_20080606_005036.html
Excerpt:
1) What do you guys know about Swiftfuel, or other ethanol derivatives?
2) How difficult would it be to grow Sorghum in large amounts here in the U.S.?
3) Is this truly a viable alternative for cars as well, or is there a difference in the distribution, storage, or combustion process that would prevent that?
I need to read up on more alternatives... I'm tired of the silence.
EDIT: Maybe we can use this a starting point for an Unofficial Alternative Fuels Thread... just a thought.
Excerpt:
I find it very disturbing that in this day an age, innovators STILL feel threatened by Big Oil -- to the point where viable alternatives are not openly discussed or offered up to the whole public.Enter SwiftFuel, the Splenda of motor fuels because it is made from ethanol yet contains no ethanol. SwiftFuel is the invention of John and Mary Rusek from Swift Enterprises in Indiana. To your airplane SwiftFuel looks and tastes just like gasoline. It has an octane rating of 104 (higher than the 100 octane fuel it replaces) yet contains no lead or ethanol. SwiftFuel mixes with gasoline, can be stored in the same tanks as gasoline, and be shipped in the same pipelines as gasoline. It is made entirely from biomass, which means it has a net zero carbon footprint and does nothing to increase global warming. Its emission of other polluting byproducts of burning gasoline are significantly lower, too. SwiftFuel has more energy per gallon than gasoline so your airplane (or your car) will go 15-20 percent further on each gallon.
Oh, and based on an average $1.42 per gallon wholesale cost for the ethanol used as its feedstock, SwiftFuel costs $1.80 per gallon to produce, meaning that it ought to be able to sell for $3 per gallon or less no matter what happens in the Middle East.
Heck of a deal.
The ethanol used to make SwiftFuel can be any type, according to Mary Rusek, president of Swift Enterprises. The pilot plant they are building in Indiana will, interestingly, make ethanol from sorghum, not corn. The Ruseks claim that sorghum, which isn't a typical U.S. crop, can produce six times the ethanol per acre of corn, turning on its head the argument that ethanol production consumes more energy than it produces. China, the third largest producer of ethanol after Brazil and the U.S., is switching entirely to sorghum for its ethanol production.
The FAA is already testing SwiftFuel with the goal of approving it for use without modification in all aircraft, leaving the platform unchanged while improving its impact on almost any scale. Hopefully by the 2010 cutoff for tetraethyl lead SwiftFuel will replace the 1.8 million gallons of 100LL aviation fuel used every day.
"But what about cars?" I asked Mary Rusek. "We don't say much about that," she replied. "The aviation fuel market is tiny and has a real need we can fulfill so everyone wants us to succeed. Cars are different and we don't want to make any enemies."
I hope that SwiftFuel is a success. I hope it fulfills all Mary Rusek's claims. But if SwiftFuel doesn't succeed, I also hope that isn't because entrenched oil interests kill it. Yet I don't think many of us would be surprised if that is exactly what happens.
1) What do you guys know about Swiftfuel, or other ethanol derivatives?
2) How difficult would it be to grow Sorghum in large amounts here in the U.S.?
3) Is this truly a viable alternative for cars as well, or is there a difference in the distribution, storage, or combustion process that would prevent that?
I need to read up on more alternatives... I'm tired of the silence.
EDIT: Maybe we can use this a starting point for an Unofficial Alternative Fuels Thread... just a thought.