to: fanglers@xephic.dynip.com
subject: alternative fuels III

 We've covered the gas producer and the Fuelizer.  Now we drag the 
gasocrap thread back up, complete with axe and hockey mask - it's 
BAAAACK!

 If you'll look back at Part I, you'll see that one feature of the 
producer is that it would burn almost anything.  All the producers 
I'm aware of burn solid fuels in a reducing atmosphere.

 We're not necessarily limited to solid fuels... we can combine the 
producer and Fuelizer concepts.

 Used motor oil and fryer grease are available for free if you scout 
around.  Waste oil furnaces are an established technology.  They're 
not set up for a reducing atmosphere, and that might be a trick, but 
if you can do it with solid fuel, you can do it with liquid fuel if 
you fangle it right.

 Waste oil beats firewood all to hell.  Just pour it in the tank and 
run it.  You don't have to clean the clinkers and ashes out of the 
producer.  (well, yes, but rarely), and the producer can now be very 
small - maybe no larger than a 5-gallon bucket.  Maybe not much 
bigger than a coffee can?  A waste oil burner would be very nearly an 
instant-on, instant-off device compared to lighting charcoal.  And 
you could probably dispense with the filtration system entirely. 

 With cheap modern digital process control technology, you could 
control the output on the fly; you wouldn't be limited to reacting to 
engine air flow.  You wouldn't necessarily be limited to running just 
on producer gas; you could add it to the intake air of a closed-loop 
engine just like the propane and CNG enrichment systems do, and the 
ECM will simply shorten the injector pulsewidth to reduce gasoline 
flow as the O2 sensor provides feedback.  Theoretically, anyway.

 Trying to burn waste oil directly in a gasoline engine is not good; 
many of the oil additives are pro-detonants and it doesn't take a 
whole lot of oil to gum up a combustion chamber.  Fryer grease is 
much better if you're burning directly.  But you either have to mix 
the stuff with gasoline and heat it to get much atomization, or you 
have to use a Diesel pump. 

 If you can find room, feeding your gasocrap to the producer solves 
all kinds of difficulties.  

 Dang.  Almost makes me want to weld some spikes to the front bumper 
and mount some spearguns on my truck.

 Unleaded regular was $1.53 per gallon yesterday.

 Hmm.