Anhydrous Ethanol and the Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by DrPhlox, Jan 7, 2004.

  1. DrPhlox

    DrPhlox New Member

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    Hi all!

    Don't know if this should go here or not, but here goes anyway. I saw (in one of the Yahoo groups) a group known as "hybridcars". In it, there is a claim that one can distill their own anhydrous ethanol using some pretty typical appliances (rubber tubing, keg, etc). The quote from the home page is:

    "It [anhydrous ethanol] can produce all the fuel you need to drive a Hybrid Car for one week. The alternate fuel to power these new Hybrid cars is Anhydrous Ethanol. Hondas Insight and the Toyota Prius are the first hybrid cars to hit the market that can use this alternate fuel that can be made out of corn. Mr. Robert Lennon invented this distillation apparatus (please click Hybrid Cars)"

    Can anyone verify this claim? Can I just *get* (by hook or by crook) some a-h and put into the Prius' gas tank and zoom off? If so, this would be a great alternative to the gasoline pump.

    Thanks for any info!

    -= Dave =-
     
    #1 DrPhlox, Jan 7, 2004
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I'll be curioius to see the responses to this one....
    I don't know how you could produce anhydrous Ethanol (ETOH minus the "H"?), but it sounds more like someone's working on their alibi for why they've got a house full of anhydrous ammonia and pseudoephedrine to me! :D

    In any case, it does not sound like a 'great alternative' by any means. It must be extremely dangerous, labor intensive, and, I'd bet, more expensive in the long haul to make this stuff by hand. You'd have to have all kinds of permits, probably wouldn't be allowed wherever you live (unless on a remote farm), I'm sure it creates a stink, and, even if the purest stuff is safe in the Prius (which I doubt) all you'd need is a little bit of impurity and you'd have a destroyed hybrid car.

    I just don't see the benefit.

    p.s. Just for the uninitiated, anhydrous ammonia and pseudoephedrine are key ingredients for making methamphetamine--Crank.
     
    #2 efusco, Jan 7, 2004
  3. ammiels

    ammiels New Member

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    Don't know if it is still germane, but a while ago the statement was made that some of the plastic parts and gaskets were soluable in high % for at that time current cars.
     
    #3 ammiels, Jan 7, 2004
  4. DrPhlox

    DrPhlox New Member

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    "p.s. Just for the uninitiated, anhydrous ammonia and pseudoephedrine are key ingredients for making methamphetamine--Crank."

    Shows you how dumb *I* am! Maybe I should have researched this one a bit more! I wonder if that guy really is a "Doctor"? I know *I'm* not! :) I just think I play one on TV :)

    -= Dave =-
     
    #4 DrPhlox, Jan 7, 2004
  5. sandpiper

    sandpiper New Member

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    I don't know anything about how it might work in a Prius, but here's a little (nontechnical) article about ethanol as fuel...

    http://outside.away.com/outside/green_fuel...ls/ethonal.html

    After you read the article, you can scroll to the bottom for more related articles, none of which is very technical, but there's an interesting one about running diesel engines on used vegetable oil (gotten free from restaurants).

    Sandpiper
     
    #5 sandpiper, Jan 7, 2004
  6. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    This reminds me of another famous discussion:

    Marty McFly: So does it run on regular unleaded gasoline?
    Dr. Emmett Brown: Unfortunately no, it needs something with a little more kick - plutonium.
    Marty McFly: Plutonium... wait, are you telling me that this sucker is nuclear?
    Dr. Emmett Brown: No no no, this sucker's electrical, but it requires a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.
     
    #6 Danny, Jan 7, 2004
  7. cybele

    cybele New Member

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    This Doctor?
     
    #7 cybele, Jan 7, 2004
  8. DrPhlox

    DrPhlox New Member

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    Hey! That's him! :)

    Not me, but him!

    -= Dave =-
     
    #8 DrPhlox, Jan 8, 2004
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