Paul, was sent an email about the Open Fuel Standard Act, basically they
outline how to get gasoline prices back to $2 a gallon, by requiring
all new cars to run equally well on gasoline, ethanol, and most
importantly -- methanol.  Methanol is made from coal, and we have
the worlds largest supply of coal, estimated at 1,000 years supply,
along with many of our closest allies.

http://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/learn/email-archives/2461-2-
per-gallon-gas

Question is has any work been done running Methanol in a Wankel
Engine?  As stated they say that methanol has 1/2 the energy per
gallon of gasoline, but is 105 octane, they imply that is can burn
more efficiently.

The Open Fuel Standard Act plan is intended to break the OPEC Oil Cartel's
hold on world wide energy.  Sounds good basically, and if it works
to reduce exhaust emissions that would place the Rotary Engine back
in the race, right???

GFCurtis Jar.

Plenty of drag racers run methanol.

The price of gasoline will drop a dollar a gallon
Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 10PM eastern standard time.

Paul Lamar

The problem(s) with methanol;

1: you need much more for proper fuel ratio. This can wash the
cylinders   or in a rotary, take all the lube off the housings which
results in short engine life.

2: Heat of vapourization takes the heat out of the air and the
methanol does not vapourize for cold starts. Summer is not much
problem, but winter starting can be difficult. Then the oil gets
washed and compression drops making things worse.

Best leave it for race cars.

Dale Davies
--
Not if you mix the oil with the fuel. One ounce per gallon as we do with
aircraft.

Paul Lamar


The next problem involves the fuel economy due to the requirement to use
50%
more. A fellow I worked with years ago had a Dodge truck on propane. He
built
the engine for dedicated propane use and had 13:1 compression ratio. He
said
he got the same MPG as he got with gasoline previously in the stock
engine.
With methanol, you could use 15 or 16:1 compression or turbocharge to get
an
effective compression equivalent to that. That would regain some of the
economy lost. M85 in that situation could be a viable AC fuel. The small
amount of gasoline lets a flame be visible should that mishap occur.
Freezing
would not be a problem.


Dale Davies

Dale, Paul...

My apologies to all, I failed to state M85 (Methanol) in my question for
use
in Wankel Rotary Engines versus E85 (Ethanol) in a 15% mixture.

Paul, was just thinking last night that I had not mentioned mixing oil in
the fuel, especially for aviation usage, good catch, (one ounce per gallon
with methanol M85 and ethanol E85 ? ) and as Dale Davies said would damage
the Wankel Engine without a correct mixture.

1) Paul states that on Nov. 6th 2012 price of gasoline will drop after the
election, perhaps so, but would it not be an advantage to Wankel Rotary
Engine users to stick with M85 even with an oil mixture if it could reduce
emissions?

2) Question two what amount of Methanol mix (50/50, 60/40, 75/25
Gasoline/Methanol) with oil added, would it meet EPA emissions, and make
the
Wankel Rotary Engine not only a winner in the aviation arena, but also
hold
its own against future car fuel economy standards coming down the road?

3) Another question as stated compression/turbocharging may be necessary
to
use those various mix ratio's 50/50, 60/40, 75/25 to ensure cold starts
and
economy of performance?

4) Paul have any tests been run using Methanol mixtures by Mazda or other
organizations?

5) I was reading about aviation diesel engines and one method they use in
two cycle diesel designs is to heat the fuel to avoid icing before their
filter and injection cycle, then return excess heated fuel to the fuel
tank.  Question would this solve water build up in Ethanol E85 usage and
Methanol M85 fuels?

6) Can a dual fuel feed system be built to use a mixture gasoline and
methanol if you can not purchase M85 (M50, M60, M75 Gasoline/Methanol) at
the pump?

GFCurtis Jr.


Heating the fuel might be a good idea. Depends on the boiling temperature
of
ethanol. Sort of distillation to get rid of the ethanol which is death on
composite fuel tanks. Can you drink ethanol ? :) Is it the same as
moonshine?
It usually takes over a gallon of gas to make a gallon of ethanol so it
is a really
stupid policy of the water melons to mandate it in auto fuel.


http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/question707.
htm

"Gasoline is more efficient than ethanol. One gallon of gasoline is equal
to 1.5 gallons
of ethanol. This means that same 30 MPG Camry would only get about 20
miles to the
gallon if it were running on ethanol.

Through research performed at Cornell University, we know that 1 acre of
land can
yield about 7,110 pounds (3,225 kg) of corn, which can be processed into
328
gallons (1240.61 liters) of ethanol. That is about 26.1 pounds (11.84 kg)
of
corn per 6.6 pound ethanol gallon.

According to the research from Cornell, you need about 140 gallons (530
liters)
of fossil fuel to plant, grow and harvest an acre of corn. So, even
before the
corn is converted to ethanol, you're spending about $1.05 per gallon.

The energy economics get worse at the processing plants, where the grain
is
crushed and fermented," reads the Cornell report. The corn has to be
processed
with various enzymes; yeast is added to the mixture to ferment it and make
alcohol; the alcohol is then distilled to fuel-grade ethanol that is 85-
to
95-percent pure. To produce ethanol that can be used as fuel, it also has
to
be denatured with a small amount of gasoline.

The final cost of the fuel-grade ethanol is about $1.74 per gallon. (Of
course,
a lot of variables go into that number.)"


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--

Subsidizing any of this stuff with tax payer money is also really stupid
because
we are broke as a nation and in 14,000 BILLION dollars in debt.

If we found 1000 billionaires and took from them one billion dollars each
(at the
point of a gun) each we would only pay off 1/14 th  of the debt.

Paul Lamar

Paul,  I love your blog.  I have attached all one ever needs to know about
Methanol.  I hope one of your disciples can apply it to Rotary Engines.
What I need is a couple of Aircraft Rated Rotary engines to replace the
two
Lycoming 320's in my Piper Apache, PA30-150.  It is a 19587 model with
2000+
hours on the engines.  Also, I would like to eliminate the props and go to
another form of propulsion.  Anyone have any ideas???


Regards,



Bobby J. Summerville, PE

You will have a lot of trouble with the FAA :) They don't take kindly to
non certified engines in certified aircraft.

Paul Lamar


Hi, until the alternative fuels are available at a reasonable price at
airports they are interesting to talk about but useless to aviation now.
Alcohol can be converted into hydrocarbon fuel by getting rid of the O.
Swift fuels has done an early test of their fuel in a R-2800 at high boost.
So far so good.


Murry I Rozansky