Perhaps the comparison test was about performance.  I'll wait and
    see what
    he says.   AGE-85 is formulated with aircraft in mind, using
many of the
    performance enhancing additives that gasoline normally has
including
    a wee
    bit of biodiesel, whereas Baylor's E-95 (at this point) is just
    denatured
    ethanol.  Don't race cars run on methanol?

    Doug Fir

Doug,
 Yes racecars usually run Methanol, which is even worse energy wise.
Simple fact is gasoline comes in at 115,000 BTU/gal and ethanol at
84,000 BTU/gal, or about 73% the energy available in a gallon of
gasoline. Gas is hard to beat. Some of the effects of burning
ethanol
may help bring it closer to gasoline. Tolerance of higher
compression
without detonation or per-ignition, and less thermal energy wasted
to
cooling do help, but ethanol comes in with a large gap relative to
gasoline. It's a cleaner burning fuel but you can't make the physics
change much. The rotaries tolerance for a wide range of fuels is
useful,
but spark ignition bio-diesel might do you better for milage.
Bill Jepson

Spark ignition bio-diesel is a new one on me. Please explain. Do you
mix it with gasoline, and if so in what ratio?

#2 diesel has much more energy than gasoline. The biodiesel I am
familiar with has slightly less, but still more than gasoline.

Doc Custer
Retired software engineer and sometime Audiologist
Building RV9-A. Fuselage

CW and perhaps John
The Wankel will run on direct injection diesel fuel
as long as you fire it with a spark plug.

CW and perhaps John Deere were running the engine on heavy fuel
years ago. there are many SAE and other tech papers on the subject.

Wankel Gmbh demonstrated such a turbo charged engine at OSH
several years ago. Here are some pictures from the factory
in Korf Germany

Mistral in Geneva Switzerland is/was also working on a
NA such engine. Here are some pictures of the engine
on the Mistral dyno in Geneva.


Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

Wow!

I have trouble seeing biodiesel as an aircraft fuel for the same
reasons #2 diesel is not suitable: the tendency to gel and/or solidify
at the low temperatures commonly encountered at high altitudes. JetA
would probably be more suitable, particularly if it were heated. The
heat would have to be controlled somehow. Biodiesel, if made from the
right vegetable oil stock, might also be suitable if heated.

The other problems I can see right off the top of my head are that of
low vapor pressure and higher viscosity. If the fuel was sprayed
directly on hot metal, the low vapor pressure might not be a factor,
particularly if special injectors were used. Maybe. The higher
viscosity would require a modified fuel system including injectors.
And probably the fuel map would have to be made temperature aware as
the viscosity of some of these fuels change dramatically with changing
temperature. On the plus side, a lower volume of fuel would have to be
dealt with per cycle for the same power/energy; and range would be
improved.

Looks like a major development effort to me.

Doc Custer
Retired software engineer and sometime Audiologist
Building RV9-A. Fuselage


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