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Make Fuel at Home With Portable DIY Refinery


  3. jcwelker
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People were making ethanol at home long before there were cars. They called it moonshine. With gas prices going through the roof and everyone worried about global warming, a California company is betting people will jump at the chance to use the same technology to turn sugar into fuel for less than a buck a gallon.

E-Fuel Corporation has unveiled its EFuel 100 MicroFueler, a device about the size of a stacking washer-dryer that uses sugar, yeast and water to make 100 percent ethanol at the push of a button.

"You just open it like a washing machine and dump in your sugar, close the door and push one button," company founder Tom Quinn told us. "A few days later, you've got ethanol."
jcwelker

2 responses // Make Fuel at Home With Portable DIY Refinery

  • Hmmm...
    "The sugar is where the math could break down - it currently sells for about 20 cents a pound in the United States, and you need 10 to 14 pounds of it to make a gallon of ethanol. Factor in the cost of electricty and water and you may not be coming out ahead. But Quinn says changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement allows the importation of inedible or "ethanol-grade" sugar from Mexico for as little as 2.5 cents a pound and E-Fuel is creating a distribution network to sell it to consumers."
    Elligirl
  • It seems like a legitimate short-term answer to the fuel issue.
    But as far as global warming goes, what about the oil that went into the machinery to make this and that produced the plastic to house this new-age moonshine maker?
    CapraRoyale

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