This article compares the alternative fuels currently available for use in internal combustion engines, after conversion. Specific focus has been put on home production of the fuel and the amount of emissions.
ICE fuel | Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Energy output/m³ | Fabrication requirements | Difficulty to convert IC-engine to this fuel | Storability | Toxicity | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compressed air | Emissionless | ?W/m³ | no land required, only air and accessibility of energy needed | easy, only possible with certain IC engines such as quasiturbine. Other engines can (supposedly) not be converted | long storability | not toxic | Compressed air works more or less as a energy storage, meaning that you need a fair amount of power first to convert to compressed air. Best option if you have a quasiturbine-engine |
Pure Hydrogen | Water | ?W/m³ | no land required, accessibility of water and electricity (in higher quantities than what is obtained in hydrogen) required. No electricity required if produced by microorganisms.[1][2][3] | intermediate, depends on whether DIY or by kit | short storability; needs to be stored under pressure in tanks to increase gas amounts and thus energy output. This can be done by either carbon nanotube tanks or keratine-based tanks.[4] | not toxic | none |
Oxyhydrogen | Water | ?W/m³ | no land required, accessibility of water and electricity required. No electricity required if produced by microorganisms.[5][6][7] | intermediate, depends on whether DIY or by kit | ? | not toxic | none |
Liquid nitrogen | Emissionless | ?W/m³ | no land required, accessibility of water and electricity required. No electricity required if produced by microorganisms. | intermediate, depends on whether DIY or by kit | ? | not toxic | none |
Water | Emissionless | ?W/m³ | no land required, accessibility of water and energy needed | intermediate, depends on whether DIY or by kit | ? | not toxic | no official documents, could still be a hoax |
Hydrogen peroxide [8] | Emissionless | ?W/m³ | no land required, accessibility of water and energy needed | intermediate to hard, depends on whether DIY or by kit | ? | very toxic, make sure to eliminate potential skin contact | hydrogen peroxide may also be mixed with ethanol (ratio 68%-32%)[9][10] |
Hydrogen or oxyhydrogen-fossil fuel mixture[11] | Yes. ?co² | ?W/m³ | fossil fuels not producible at home, accessibility of water and energy needed | easy, by DIY method or by kit | relative long storage of fissil fuels (several months), hydrogen/oxyhydrogen is made just before use | toxic | Dough ICE conversion is easy and relatively cheap to do, the use of the fossil fuels still makes mixture non-self producible and still polluting. Therefore a full hydrogen/oxyhydrogen is always preferred. |
Ethanol, Biomethanol and Butanol fuel | Yes. ?co² | ?W/m³ | arable land required, planted with trees for fruit or wood (depending on whether its used to produce ethanol or methanol/butanol | intermediate to hard, depends on whether DIY or by kit | ? | dough ethanol is safe, methanol is very toxic, avoid inhalation, skin contact, ... | aldough ICE conversion is very easy, much work to produce base fuel itself. Perhaps usable for eco-projects as trees
may clear area of possible pollution and as emissions may be directed underground with stationary engines using Carbon capture and storage. Besides using trees, other crops as straw can also be used and converted using elephants yeast.[12][13] |
Gases as Syngas, Compressed natural gas (CNG) and HCNG | Yes. ?co² | ?W/m³ | access to gas supplies required | intermediate to hard, can be outsourced to professional | ? | ? | access to gas reserves are mostly not available, not worth the conversion due to still fair amounts of pollution |
Vegetable oils as Jatropha | Yes. ?co² | ?W/m³ | arable land required, planted with trees for wood | intermediate, somewhat harder than ethanol/methanol, ... as the engine needs to be preheated and is best a diesel | ? | not toxic | much work to produce base fuel itself. Perhaps usable for eco-projects as trees
may clear area of possible pollution and as emissions may be directed underground with stationary engines using Carbon capture and storage. Also usable for project combating desertification as japtropha can thrive in sandy/arid environments and as the emissions may again be directed underground (see above) |
Algae fuel (can be converted to biodiesel and vegetable oil) | Yes. ?co² | ?W/m³ | access to gas supplies required | intermediate, somewhat harder than ethanol/methanol, ... as the engine needs to be preheated and is best a diesel | ? | ? | probably much work to produce base fuel itself. Perhaps usable for eco-projects as algae
may clear a seawater area of possible pollution and as emissions may be directed underground with stationary engines using Carbon capture and storage. |
References
edit- ^ Synthetic biology and hydrogen
- ^ Synthetic biology to make hydrogen
- ^ Synthetic biology at Berkeley Lab
- ^ Increasing interior surface and thus hydrogen storage using keratine
- ^ Synthetic biology and hydrogen
- ^ Synthetic biology to make hydrogen
- ^ Synthetic biology at Berkeley Lab
- ^ Hydrogen peroxide in IC engines
- ^ RD-0120 rocket engine fuel by Energia-Buran described
- ^ Arcaspace's hydrogen peroxide-oxygen rocket engine fuel described
- ^ Hydrogen or oxyhydrogen/fossil fuel mix
- ^ Jack Pronk's elephant yeast
- ^ Straw to ethanol plant in Sas van Gent
See also
edit[[Category:Alternative propulsion]] [[Category:Green vehicles]] [[Category:Vehicle modification| ]]