Off grid hydrogen home in NJ - Page 4

 

Absolutely no idea.  A quick Google shows me that butyl alcohol now has a lobby
and a
corporate welfare conduit (http://www.butanol.com ).  In only one page they make
wild-assed claims about mileage improvements based on anecdotal "evidence" from a
single worn-out vehicle, make wild claims about emissions reductions, claim to
have
THE cure for global warming (sic), use the Grand Socialist "We", and brag about
sucking down federal corporate welfare in the form of SBIR "grants".  They have a
slogan and a patent.  Given all that, I suspect that butyl alcohol's intrinsic
merits
or demerits have become irrelevant.  Who blows whom and all that.

One comment about the patent and corporate welfare.  Let's strip away all the
fancy
verbiage and look at how the money flows.  Always follow the money.  What we have
here is a group of folks with inside influence* who have used money taken from
you
and me at the point of a gun (if you don't think guns are involved, just refuse
to
pay your taxes.) and used it for their personal enrichment and to acquire a
patent.
This patent gives them a monopoly on their process that, assuming the product
has any
market value, raises the cost to us all.  So we'll get soaked twice - once from
the
IRS and again compliments of the patent office.

*I played the SBIR game in my younger days.  One simply doesn't get a grant
without
an inside connection.  Like many other SBIR seekers, I took the easy path and
hired a
"consultant", a politically well-connected academian. Once his name was on the
proposal, the sailing suddenly became very smooth.

I do see one thing that flags my attention.  On that page they have a table of
fuel
characteristics.  Particularly the Reid Vapor Pressure spec.  RVP is a direct
indication of cold starting and running ability.  The lower the RVP the lower the
ability of the fuel to vaporize in cold weather and thus the more difficult it
is to
start an engine fueled with it.  Gasoline's RVP is trimmed seasonally with the
addition of butane and/or propane.

Look at butyl alcohol compared to gasoline.  Awful.  As bad as methanol (they
obviously slipped a decimal on the meth spec, as methanol is notorious for its
cold
starting problems.)  Anyone who's operated a methanol-fueled racing machine
knows the
problems.  If it wasn't summer time, I'd not even try to crank on meth.  I'd
start
the engine on gasoline and switch to meth after the engine warmed a bit.

John
--
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com  <-- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
I'm going crazy. Wanna come along?