What's the thoughts on this. I am more than capeable of making 95% pure ethanol in bulk at a cost of nothing more than the materials to make the still. Grass clippings, leaves, oranic trashes, wood chips, all can be ferminted and distilled into what is 90-95% Ethanol 1-3% methanol and the rest water. If one could produce 2 gallons a week with gas at $3 a gallon if i spent $210 on the still it owuld pay for itself in just under 35 weeks. If gas continues to rise it will make itsself even more profitable. If you sold it for $1 a gallon it would pay for itself in under 25 weeks.

For thoes that dont know alot of vehicles can already run on an 85% mixture of ethanol with the other 14-15% being gasoline or any mixture below that. My truck can and most cars that cant is is generally just a matter of a new fule system. I beleive GM is switting all of their engines to flexi fule and ford already has alot out. Though ethanol has less joules per gram than gasoline most reportings say ethanol showed little or no difference in fule economy and little difference in power output. Also, with vairable timing an ethanol gasoline mixture would allow the engine to run with more advanced timing and/or higher compression...increasing thermal efficency.

I just want to know what are the thoughts on home distilling legally for fule use only.

Driver's point of view? I'm all for it, it's a good idea and will save a lot down the road (pun intended).

From the government's point of view however, they don't want to have it done for the same reasons it was outlawed before - people drinking it, and all the problems that go with that.

It might be possible to secure a permit for nonpotable alcohol production. Hmmm...

As far as I know home distilling is legal as long as the finished product is not for human consumption. Which means you have to label as such and possibly add something to it. Usually you can purchase home distilleries from any major home brew magazine or supply house.

I know in canada it's legal to distill your own alcohol but you need to have it denatured, which means you need to make it unsafe for human consumption, or you need to pay taxes.

Check the ATF site. I know you can legally do it with a permit (and as long as you don't make over like 10,000 gallons a year).

I know in canada it's legal to distill your own alcohol but you need to have it denatured, which means you need to make it unsafe for human consumption, or you need to pay taxes.

yeah thats what I was trying to say but couldn't think of the word (denatured)

What's the thoughts on this. I am more than capeable of making 95% pure ethanol in bulk at a cost of nothing more than the materials to make the still. Grass clippings, leaves, oranic trashes, wood chips, all can be ferminted and distilled into what is 90-95% Ethanol 1-3% methanol and the rest water. If one could produce 2 gallons a week with gas at $3 a gallon if i spent $210 on the still it owuld pay for itself in just under 35 weeks. If gas continues to rise it will make itsself even more profitable. If you sold it for $1 a gallon it would pay for itself in under 25 weeks.

For thoes that dont know alot of vehicles can already run on an 85% mixture of ethanol with the other 14-15% being gasoline or any mixture below that. My truck can and most cars that cant is is generally just a matter of a new fule system. I beleive GM is switting all of their engines to flexi fuel and ford already has alot out. Though ethanol has less joules per gram than gasoline most reportings say ethanol showed little or no difference in fule economy and little difference in power output. Also, with vairable timing an ethanol gasoline mixture would allow the engine to run with more advanced timing and/or higher compression...increasing thermal efficency.

I just want to know what are the thoughts on home distilling legally for fule use only.

First off, few cars can run on gasoline containing more than 10% ethanol. Cars that can run on anything from gasoline to gasoline containing 85% etanol are modified, modifications include: software, fuel tank, fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, valve seats, inlet valves and hoses.

In order to use ethanol in a mix with gasoline it must be more than 99% pure. In ethanol production you have something like three distillation steps and a final "cleaning" step to reach this level of purity. This is nothing you can do at home without big investments in equipment. If you run on ethanol without gasoline you can use ethanol with a little water in it, but this requires the vehicle to be modified. If it gets cold where you live you will also have problems with cold starting running on pure ethanol.

A simple destillation equipment is not that efficient, this means that it will consume large amounts of energy, for example electricity in order to destillate ethanol. With an inefficient destillation equipment this will eat up all your savings. If you add the cost of equipment and modifications to you car you can conclude that this is not worth doing.

Here is a link that tells you how to convert car car with a fully mechical engine (mechanical distributor and carbeurator) over to alcohol. It also talks about how to make you own and file for a permit: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_drane.html

Carburated engines take more to run on e-85 than fule injected.

1.) im talking about adding to your fule tank a gallon or two a month, while still buying gasoline as normal.

2.) Moonshine is normally around 190 proof or 95% ethanol. Modle engine fule has about the same water content. Water gets in your gasoline that you pump into your engine all the time, a little water (very little) is no big deal.

3.) You dont need valve seats and all that other bull replaced. Fule system only. Ethanol causes tarnish/corrosion on steel fule fititngs, brass must be used. That is ALL. Anyone who has been around racing gokarts knows that is all you have to do (besides changing fule jets) to a gasoline engine to let it run on an ethanol mix.

Carburated engines take more to run on e-85 than fule injected.

1.) im talking about adding to your fule tank a gallon or two a month, while still buying gasoline as normal.

2.) Moonshine is normally around 190 proof or 95% ethanol. Modle engine fule has about the same water content. Water gets in your gasoline that you pump into your engine all the time, a little water (very little) is no big deal.

3.) You dont need valve seats and all that other bull replaced. Fule system only. Ethanol causes tarnish/corrosion on steel fule fititngs, brass must be used. That is ALL. Anyone who has been around racing gokarts knows that is all you have to do (besides changing fule jets) to a gasoline engine to let it run on an ethanol mix.

1. You would still end up paying more for your own ethanol than what you pay for gasoline.

2. Ethanol as used in ethanol-gasoline blends are usually around 99.5% pure. A little more water can be tolerated but not that much. A high water content would not only result in increased corrosion but it can also cause separation of the fuel into different phases in the tank. Moonshine is maximum 95% pure ethanol, usually less, 95% isn't good enough for gasoline-ethanol fuel. A mixture of 95% ethanol and 5% water has a lower boiling point than pure ethanol, hence the limit of fractional distillation.

3. Saab added harder valve seats to its BioPower engines aswell as new stainless inlet valves. A higher wear rate of valves/seats could also be noted with an ethanol converted Cosworth engine. Ethanol attacks several metals and polymer materials. This include brass, aluminum, zinc and lead. Anyone who has read the reports on this subject would know this, research have been done by for example General Motors. Recommended metallic materials for fuel systems that are supposed to be used with high ethanol blends include anodized aluminum and stainless steel. Several rubbers that work well with gasohol (E5, E10) also won't work with high ethanol blends, a suitable replacement is for example Viton. Natural rubber works with pure ethanol but not with gasoline blends, NR is used in racing fuel tank bladders for alcohol fuels.