Fueling your Car
A Wee Dram For Your Car
Ok, so it’s St Patrick’s Day, so I’ll put this post in green text and will kick off with a wee story…
Two nuns were driving along a remote rural road in County Mayo in northeastern Ireland when they ran out of fuel. They walked to a nearby farmhouse and explained their plight to the farmer. “To be sure, sisters, I can give you a bit of petrol so it’s off on your good works you can be driving. But I’ve only the one jerry can, so the only thing I can give you to carry it back to your car in is this old whiskey bottle.” “Bless you, Patrick, and thank you,” said the nuns. They walked back to their car clutching their whisky bottle full of petrol. As they were pouring the petrol from the whisky bottle into the fuel tank, Sean O’Reilly drove by. Spotting the whiskey bottle, Sean shook his head and stared. “Begorrah, that’s what I call faith!” he said.
We chuckle about that one (or the alternative version where the farmer lends them a chamber pot) but the story can be killed stone dead if one remembers that alcohol is indeed one of the more common alternative fuels is alcohol – ethanol, methanol, butanol and propanol are good fuels. You’d never bother setting that story about the nuns in Brazil – over there, they have cars (often the locally produced VWs) that are designed for flex fuel – they run on petrol, alcohol or a mixture of the above. And we’re not too bad for the old ethanol in Australia ourselves.
And now the UK and Ireland are getting in on the act. A whisky distillery in Edinburgh, Scotland, has just announced that they have successfully produced a butanol blend that can be used on its own or blended with diesel or (better still from a sustainability perspective) biodiesel. They use waste products from the process of distilling whisky – an industry that’s quite large in Scotland, as you might imagine.
The waste products in question go by names that are anything but long bits of Latin and Greek: draff and pot ale. Draff is the malted barley left over after the initial brewing process (lovers of craft beer and home brewers of beer will know what I’m talking about here). Pot ale, on the other hand, is the leftover liquid after the whisky has been distilled out of the original brew of fermented grain (something that resembles beer or ale but without the hops). These two products are mixed to create a blend given the traditional name “broth” (isn’t it nice to see a scientific product that doesn’t feel compelled to use long and complicated names but just uses something with Anglo-Saxon or Celtic origins?). This broth goes through its own distilling process to produce the biobutanol.
The plant, which has hefty backing from the Scottish government and the UK government (let’s just not go into the politics of Scotland here, OK?), hopes to be up and running fully in 2016. Because butanol delivers plenty of oomph, there’s a chance that it won’t be appearing at British bowsers at this stage: as it’s suitable as jet fuel, the aviation market might snap plenty of it up. However, the potential is there to produce lots of biobutanol, as the UK doesn’t just have whisky distilleries to draw on as a source of draff and pot ale: there’s the beer brewing industry and other sorts of distillery to draw on as well.
Lastly, for the clever readers who’ve spotted the two different spellings of whisky/whiskey: “whiskey” is for the Irish version; “whisky” is the Scottish variety).
Safe and happy driving as well as happy St Patrick’s Day,
Megan
The Biofuel Dilemma
The push for more sustainable sources of energy for our cars is intensifying. Biodiesel and ethanol are getting more and more common. Slurping through large amounts of fossil fuel is considered irresponsible, as is belching out a lot of greenhouse gases. In this sort of climate (both the metaphorical climate of opinion and the actual one, which is supposed to be changing), biofuels are looking like a very sexy option.
However, there is a bit of a problem when it comes to biofuels. You see, while it seems like a great idea to grow a crop that can be turned into fuel, there are a few snags. All commercially grown crops take up land, and they require nutrients and water. This means that they’re competing with other crops – like the ones that you and I eat. And this is where the problem lies: if we’re going to do away with world hunger, the people who are currently starving are going to have to eat something. And that something will have to grow somewhere.
They tell us that it’s going to become more difficult to find enough land and other resources to feed the world. This means that even if biofuels don’t increase, there’s going to be issues with growing enough food to feed us all. On the one hand, we want to get from A to B more sustainably. On the other hand, we don’t want people to die from malnutrition. So what’s the answer? Biofuel or not biofuel? Should corn go to feeding people or to making oil to power vehicles? (Let’s not even start on the feeding people versus feeding cattle debate.) Which is the best option for the thinking person who cares for the planet and other human beings?
The answer is to keep on thinking and to look at the wider issue. First of all, the food problem. It might not be as difficult to produce enough food to feed everybody on the planet as you think. For a start off, a large chunk of us (especially in the Western world) could probably eat less and be better off for it. Secondly, an awful lot of the food grown in the world today ends up going to waste. Some is damaged by pests and rotten weather while it’s in the field. Some doesn’t make it onto the market courtesy of bureaucracy, food regulations and other rhubarb like that – things like the European Union’s standards that state the colour, shape and size of vegetables that are permitted on the market, even though wonky carrots and cucumbers with more than a certain amount of curvature. A lot of perfectly edible gets dumped along the food pathway – things that are still good but are past their sell-by date, for example. Thirdly, we can all have a go at growing our own fruit and veg. We can feed a hungry world, people, if we really try!
One has to wonder why all this dumped and wasted food doesn’t end up being turned into biofuels. It certainly is possible. One wonders why this hasn’t been tried yet. Which brings me neatly to the next part of tackling the food vs biofuel dilemma. Often, biofuels such as ethanol can be made from waste products of the food industry. Take sugarcane – which is where most of Australia’s ethanol comes from. The juice gets extracted and taken to the refinery to be turned into what goes into our morning coffee, plus other goodies such as golden syrup and molasses (used as a dietary supplement for dairy cows). The leftover bits of cane are broken down to make ethanol. The only snag here is that the leftovers are often quite woody, which means that it’s harder to break down and turn into ethanol. In the world of biofuels, finding bacteria that are capable of breaking down tough woody stuff is a very hot topic. We might snigger at research papers that rave about the potential of some bacteria strain found in panda poop (actual example) but these bacteria might be the best way of turning, say, sawdust into what you put in your Toyota Corolla.
The third option for solving the dilemma is to find sources of biofuel that don’t compete with food crops for resources. Things that grow on bad soil or on bad water are particularly popular. This is where things like jatropha comes in. Jatropha grows like a weed on bad soil… and it produces oil-bearing seeds that make great biodiesel. To give you an idea of how well it can grow on marginal land, a close relative of the species that produces the best oil has been banned in Western Australia as an invasive weed. The other biggie is algae. Algae can be grown on sewage (something we’re not exactly going to run out of) and some strains produce a good dollop of oil that can be turned into biodiesel. The hunt is on to find the best types of algae that produce the most bang for the buck. Again, it doesn’t pay to snigger about research papers that rave about things that grow on sewage.
So what is the average Aussie driver to do in the attempt to “think globally and act locally” when it comes to the biofuel dilemma?
- As always, conserve fuel when driving (better for your wallet, too).
- Avoid wasting food, as this means that there’ll be less chance of fuel crops having to compete with food crops (also better for your wallet).
- Grow your own food. You might not be able to grow your own biodiesel crop but you can grow your own tomatoes and lettuces. Every little bit helps. If we all grew our own, a few more farmers could concentrate on growing biofuel instead.
- Use biofuels in your vehicle as often as possible – if we keep up the demand, the producers will know to keep up the supply.
Turning Plastic Back Into Oil?
International experts in the area of renewable technology believe that when a society reaches a certain level of affluence, they start to demand better and more technologies that are sustainable and/or renewable. We’ve seen this over the years in the automotive industry. About ten years ago, hardly any car companies had hybrid vehicle and all the really upmarket vehicles were all about power and big gas-guzzling engines. Today, however, nearly every manufacturer has at least one hybrid in the lineup – and these hybrids aren’t snail-paced little dinkies. To take one example, Audi has added the e-tron plug-in hybrid to its already popular luxury A3 line. This hybrid certainly isn’t a slug!
Cars that use little or no fuel (if the electricity was generated using a renewable source like hydro) are one part of the sustainable motoring equation. Finding alternative sources of fuel that don’t rely on crude oil that (a) is going to run out eventually and (b) comes from politically volatile nations is the other. We’ve discussed a few of these in the past – algae biodiesel, ethanol, jatropha and the like – and we’ve now found another great development.
The stuff we put in our cars so they chug along from A to B isn’t the only thing that comes from crude oil. The other major use is plastic. Now, plastic was developed at about the same time as the internal combustion engine (Bakelite was invented in the 1850s) and really took off in about the 1950s. And we all know how it’s taken over since then and we’re forever tripping over the ruddy stuff on the beach, etc. etc. I could easily go off into a rant about plastic shopping bags and how we need to go back to paper bags instead but I’d better stay on topic.
Plastic is made from oil. Theoretically, then, it should be possible to “unrefine” it and turn it back into oil. This is exactly what one Japanese inventor has managed to do. Akinori Ito, founder of a company called Blest, has come up with a machine that will do exactly that. This machine isn’t some massive monster of a factory plant, either. It’s small enough to fit into the average garage and can convert polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene back into crude gas. This gas can’t be poured straight into your vehicle’s fuel tank (although it can be used in some generators), as it needs further refining before it’s OK for that.
It’s pretty efficient, too. It can take 1 kg of plastic and turn it into about 1 litre of crude. The machine is powered by electricity and the process of turning the kilo of plastic into the litre of crude takes 1 kW/h of electricity. It does produce some residue that is, according to (a) the manufacturers and (b) Japanese regulations, burnable. The process also produces a few greenhouse gases (methane, ethane, propane and butane) but the latest refinements contain a gas filter that breaks these gases down into CO2 and water.
The real beauty about this machine is that although it doesn’t convert all plastics to oil, it does deal with some of the most common ones – the sort of thing that most of us have sitting in our rubbish or recycling bins. Here’s a little exercise that you can try once you’ve finished reading this: Go to your rubbish bin and/or recycling crate and pick out the polypropylene, the polyethylene and the polystyrene. Weigh it. Every kilo adds up to a litre of fuel.
- Polystyrene: disposable cups and other tableware, those trays from supermarket-packed meat, CD cases, packaging, disposable razors, anything stamped with the recycling number 6.
- Polyethylene: plastic shopping bags, plastic toys, clingfilm, bubble wrap, buckets, lids, pipes, lids, some bottles, anything stamped with PE inside the recycling triangle symbol.
- Polypropylene: thermal clothing, ropes, carpets, packaging of some sorts, lids, drinking straws, disposable nappies, feminine hygiene products, anything stamped with recycling number 5.
Feeling like you’re sitting on a potential oil well? Starting to wonder why we’re just burying this stuff in the ground if we can make petrol out of it? You won’t be the only one!
At the moment, the machines are a little on the expensive side, costing US$12,700 at the moment. Blest mostly produces the larger machines, but I’m sure it would be possible for communities or local councils to get hold of these and collect material from householders and businesses and start some drop-off-your-plastic-and-get-cheaper-petrol scheme up. Or some company could look into and find a way to turn office waste into fuel for the company fleet.
Those who want to know more can check out the official promo video
Alternatively, take a look at the Blest website.
I don’t know about you, but I’d certainly like one of these for Christmas!
Safe and happy motoring,
Megan
Hydrogen Fuel Cells and How They Work
Hydrogen fuel cells are the new player in the area of alternative fuel and sustainable motoring. At the time of writing, there aren’t any production cars fitted with hydrogen fuel cell technology but there are a number of manufacturers that have plans to launch them at some point in the near future; Toyota , Honda and Mercedes are the most talked-about names in this department. All the same, there are a few vehicles already out there that have been rigged out with fuel cell technology, mostly as demo or concept vehicles.
The Toyota FCV concept at the 2013 Tokyo motor show: a fuel cell vehicle that we could see on the roads some day.
This is not to say that fuel cell technology hasn’t been tried and tested. It got its real launch (literally) back in the 1980s when NASA fitted them onto the Space Shuttle and the Apollo projects before that, as their space- and fuel-saving ability were very attractive for outer space missions. In fact, they were invented back in the early 1800s when scientists were starting to tinker around with electricity (cue conspiracy theories now).
OK, so how do hydrogen fuel cells work and how practical are they for the everyday motorist?
In a nutshell, a fuel cell is kind of like a battery. A fuel cell generates electricity, which can be used for whatever you fancy, including getting the engine and the other bits and pieces working inside a car. It generates electricity by the way the chemicals provided by the fuel interact with each other, again similar to what a battery does. However, unlike a battery, it only does this reaction when oxygen is fed to the system, meaning you can switch the process on and off.
A fuel cell consists of three main parts: the anode (the bit where the electrons that create the charge flow out of), the cathode (the bit where the electrons flow to) and an electrolyte for the charge to move through. Fans of sports drinks may recognise the term “electrolyte”. This is because you have dozens of electrochemical connections that are rather similar to a fuel cell in your body’s nervous system (they’re at work while you’re reading this) and an electrolyte is anything that creates positive or negative charge when added to water. There’s usually some way of getting the air to the system to get the reaction started.
A car fitted with hydrogen fuel cell technology is more or less an electric car, although the fuel cell needs to be topped up from time to time with hydrogen. The oxygen is supplied by the air we all breathe, so that’s not a problem.
You may wonder where they hydrogen goes if it needs constantly topping up. Is this creating some sort of exhaust? Technically speaking, it is producing a “waste” product that is a compound consisting of two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule: H2O or good old water.
There are, however, a few downsides to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The first one is the lack of bowsers that dispense hydrogen. They do exist in some parts of the US so far, but they are rather rare. This is the biggest problem with the potential uptake of vehicles using this technology. Not only would you have to develop bowsers for dispensing hydrogen gas but you’d also have to find some way of getting the hydrogen gas from where it’s been manufactured to the pump, which would mean a whole new industry (come to think of it, this probably isn’t a bad thing – it’s getting started that’s the problem). This would mean a few logistics and health and safety issues, too: hydrogen is really, really explosive (ever heard of the Hindenburg disaster?).
The problem with setting up a whole new infrastructure for hydrogen technology contrasts with the situation with plug-in electric vehicles. We’ve already got the electrical network in place, so it’s a simple case of putting in a few more places to plug in, plus a few more sources of electricity if needed.
Hydrogen production isn’t an issue, though. At the moment, hydrogen gas is a by-product of quite a few industries, especially those to do with ammonia and methanol – and that’s just a few of them. Often, the process of turning the really nasty carbon monoxide into CO2 (which does have its good side) involves water donating an oxygen molecule to the pollutant CO, leaving hydrogen gas behind. You can also get hydrogen from ordinary water and from sea water (or waste water), so there are a lot of juicy possibilities for the future.
So what should the typical Aussie driver of today think about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles? At the moment, you’d probably do better with an electric or hybrid vehicle, as there aren’t too many places where you can grab hydrogen at this stage. However, when things get off the ground (and I mean “when” rather than “if”), they will be a good way of powering our cars as we go from A to B. I’m looking forward to it!
More information about hydrogen fuel cell technology and progress can be found at the following links:
- http://www.hydrogenaustralia.org/
- http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Energy/Gas-Processing-Conversion-Fuel-Future/Project—Hydrogen-and-synthetic-fuel-production.aspx
Happy driving,
Megan
Level 2, 9 Help Street