> >> 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
>
>
I've been running waste vegetable oil in my '85 benz for 12 months now.
The secret is in the filtering and preheating.
Although I would not recommend waste veggie oil for aircraft
applications,
you could try new canola
oil as long as it is preheated to @ 170 F through an electric inline
heater,
then through the coolant heat exchanger.
The heat exchanger is @ 8 -10 pounds. The inline electric is 4
ounces, but
draws 20 - 30 amps.
Mike Arndt
I agree with Mike that heating vegetable oil for use as diesel fuel is
important, I made a simple heat exchanger out of 1/2" and 3/4' plumbing
fittings, running coolant through the 3/4" fittings.
Another worthwhile trick for our mild winters is to add about 5%
unleaded - the lower the octane the better. This raises the cetane
rating ( the opposite of octane rating ) so cold starts are easier. It
also lowers the viscosity at low temps so it will go through fuel filters
We have a lot of vehicles in Oz running on LPG, a variation of this is
to inject it into diesels to improve their economy and power. In this
case the amount of LPG injected would have to be kept down so the
mixture was too lean to detonate at diesel compression ratios.
I prefer to run on the waste vegetable oil rather than "biodiesel" - the
conversion using caustic soda and methanol is too expensive and messy.
Why throw away those 3 carbon atoms in the glycerine part anyway, I'd
rather burn them!
John Evans
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