Gizmodo
E-Fuel's MicroFueler, the home-based ethanol production system that makes gas from sugar or stale beer, was unveiled for the first time today in New York. E-Fuel says it will now take preorders for the $10,000 system, and will ship it by the end of the year. As you can see, it's not the smallest thing—no wonder the original image of it only showed a corner. Given its bulk and its price, what makes investing in this particular ethanol machine really worth it?
The system takes feedstock (a combination of sugar and yeast) or discarded alcohol, and combines it with water to distill 100% pure ethanol. Turning sugar into gas may sound like the work of mad scientists, but according to CEO Tom Quinn, home ethanol production was advocated and used by Henry Ford when he created the Model T. I imagine that home-made ethanol wasn't as easy to make back then, because if it was, we probably wouldn't have switched to gasoline in the first place.
The MicroFueler produces ethanol using membrane distillation. Sugar, yeast and water are blended together to create the chemical reaction that produces ethanol. After two days, the fermented sugar water is turned into vapor, and the ethanol is separated from the water. By the end of the week, the MicroFueler reservoir will hold 35 gallons of pure ethanol, enough to fill at least two cars. This is a lot like Dean Kamen's water purifier, except in reverse. In fact, creator Floyd Butterfield says the water by-product is clean enough to drink.
The most astounding part is that a car doesn't require pure ethanol to run, due to its higher-than-gasoline octane content. E-Fuel says you can fill up your tank with 75% ethanol and 25% water and your car will run fine.
The price tag may seem steep, but federal, state and local tax credits can bring the price as low as $5000—average cost with credits is more like $7000. The creators say an average home will save around $4200 on gas each year, and the machine will pay for itself in about a year and a half.
That said, people have been doing this on their own for a while. Plans available online estimate a true DIY machine costs about $500 to build, but for those who don't want to run the risk of spontaneous combustion (like me), the MicroFueler seems like a wise alternative. [E-Fuel]
Comments
YES!! (butt/fart joke opportunity)
"the home-based ethanol production system that makes gas from sugar or stale beer"
Just like me!!
What does Universal not allow people to use "Mr. Fusion"? Well, I guess it would be inaccurate if there isn't some kind of fusion going on in there =/
I dunno, I would have something of value to say.
But I'm totally distracted by Ashton Kutcher on the home page.
If my options are Fermentation, Flush, Status, Pump, or DUI...
I'm gonna have to go with DUI.
Wow, Granny Clampett's still has come a long way... all we need for accessories is a brown clay jug with "XXX" painted on the side...
Wish they had something like this for biodiesel. The kits they make for BD are bulky and still somewhat dangerous. Methanol is not something easy to deal with...
I wonder how profitable it would be to get one of these for your small business. I could imagine trendy coffee shop types would love to have their car filled with "earth-friendly bio-fuel" while they're taking their coffee break.
Where does one get the feedstock? I don't think many households have enough spare sugar/yeast/alcohol to produce 35 gallons of ethanol a week. Also, most mainstream vehicles that can use ethanol are designed to be able to use gasoline or E85, not pure ethanol.
ethanol that can run my car from sugar?! Sign me up. I believe this might actually be the right direction... FINALLY.
Good gravy! That thing is like four times the mass of a commercial gas pump! Better get it into a Wii Fit regimen...
@jarque:
feedstock available at your local stein's garden and gifts... and your local Walbog
It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure about the practicality of it. Sort of like home brewing, you don't really get a cost advantage over just buying it from a company that can benefit from economies of scale and advanced technology. Unlike home brewing, there's nothing unique about making your ethanol at home. Unless you generate a lot of sugar waste somehow, like if you're a confectioner with a lot of unsold rock-candy sitting around, I'm not sure this is going to be a cost-saving or environmentally friendly way to produce fuel.
how much are the inputs? you still have to pay for the sugar/yeast/beer
no playing with the matches.
wow. at $50 a week on gas now, it'll only take 3.84 years to break even, minus altering my car to run on ethanol and acquiring material and maintaining this friggin thing.
$5k and you've got a deal.
@weatherman: As a homebrewer, those were my thoughts exactly. I don't want to know how much it would cost to produce a gallon of ethanol with that beast.
@TheTooth: Actually, I lied. I do want to know. Anyone know how many pounds of sugar you'd have to feed the Ethanol monster to get a gallon of ethanol?
@elephantattack:
"ethanol that can run my car from sugar?! Sign me up. I believe this might actually be the right direction... FINALLY."
hint: check the price of sugar.
Home ethanol production devices have existed for a long time -- it's called a "still". Ethanol is the same alcohol in beer and wine. This is just a machine for making your own everclear at home!
Even though early cars used ethanol, it provides less energy per volume than gasoline. Also, ethanol absorbs water easily, ruining it for use in a car engine. Gasoline doesn't have this problem, making it a more ideal fuel for cars (pollution and geopolitical concerns aside).
@TheTooth: And I found it after some digging...
"It will take between 10lbs to 14lbs of sugar to produce 1 gallon of ethanol."
Add to that the cost of the yeast and you'll be around the cost of gas anyway... and ethanol doesn't run as efficiently as gasoline, so you'll burn more of it for the same power.
@AtomikB: True. What's funny to me is that it is illegal for me to distill alcohol at home (say if I wanted to make apple jack from cider) without special licenses, taxes, and fees... yet, apparently the government will give me a tax rebate to buy this still to produce ethanol?
As everyone has noted the feedstock and sugar, beer waste (where does one get THAT exactly) all point to the same place a lot of alternative fuel point, which is, no petrol, but depletion of other resources...
The idea of using corn cobs and grass clipping (a la Coskata), seems to me, like the only non-damaging option once the factories can reach a point of sustaining themselves with their own product...
@nutbastard: Ah yes, the price of refined sugar may not be cost effective, but these dudes make their stock and are planning distribution of... inedible sugar from Mexico! And no, I don't find anything fishy with that.
Lots of info on the EFuel site.
"The cost for processing discarded liquor can run as low as $0.10 per gallon of ethanol produced. A typical bar or restaurant discards thousands of gallons of alcohol annually! Beer and wine beverages can yield between 5 to 20 percent ethanol and distilled drinks upwards of 40% ethanol for liquor. Even greater benefit may be seen by wineries, breweries and distilled spirits refineries where it is not uncommon to discard over a million gallons of alcohol per year."
@Benny Goldman:
And if you're NOT using refined sugar but instead raw materials like say, sugar cane, there's the issue of cost with transporting it and later disposing of it.
The sheer overpriced markup for ethanol is what is hindering the acceptance/adoption by the public. When E-85 was first marketed, the price was about the same as a gallon of 87 octane. Our Yukon accepts both, but research showed that I would get half the mileage with the E-85 and the closest station was 15 miles away (2 gallons of E-85 round trip). This would ultimately cost me twice as much. E-85 needs to cost about $1.00/gallon for me to think about switching.
Purchasing this unit makes no sense financially. It would take years for it to pay for itself.
Where's the machine that stills Ethanol from bald eagle blood?
Seriously, this could be huge for a company with one of the feedstock as it's biproduct. For instance, farmers could use them to fuel their tractors.
Finally, another energy-negative solution to fix our energy crisis. The only way to save oil is to use more making a less efficient product. Where do I sign up?
"Sugar, yeast, and water are blended together to create the chemical reaction that produces ethanol."
I'd call it a biological reaction. Yeast isn't an ingredient here, it's the agent.
I hadn't previously taken into consideration that there would have to be energy used to distill/produce the ethanol. In this case, it seems to be an additional .10/gallon as the conversion simply requires heat. That .10/gallon would be an estimate based on what energy (I assume electricity) costs in your area.
This .10/gallon will be necessary on top of the sugar/yeast material costs for any ethanol made that doesn't originate from alcohol originally as well as from pre-existing alcohol.
@bms: I'm not sure that this would ever pay for itself. I'm guessing gas would have to be $8/gallon before you'd break even... with the mileage loss of using ethanol and the costs of raw materials and power needed to make the ethanol.
@Atticka: So what your saying is, expect "Sutter Home Loaf n Jug" Filling stations!
@nutbastard: Alls I knows is the guy said he could get me inedible Mexican sugar for $.03/lb., and he could get it for me fast, I just can't ask any questions.
P.S. Nice job on the Explains piece.
Well, I suppose it's perfect for wineries and distilleries looking to expand.
"Fill 'er up! And I'll also take two jugs of your best ripple!"
So, for $10k you're going to sell me a machine that will make 35 gallons of moonshine every week?
That thing will pay for itself in no time!
@Benny Goldman:
re: the explains piece - second draft coming soon, it needs just a *bit* of work.
I have a great spot for this right between my rum factory and my sugarcane fields. Wait, I dont have either of those.
Per the site, a gallon of ethanol requites 10-14 lbs of sugar.
Inedible or not, you won't find sugar for the $.20 a lb that this thing requires to make sense.
And if you magically do, a person will have to dump a 50 lb bag into this thing every day of the week to hit that 34 gallon mark.
If ethanol doesn't make economic sense when made in quantity, how will it ever make sense in tiny batches?
@MrBlahBlah: If you buy sugar fresh from the store, then yes. It won't cost you any less than what you are paying for gas now.
However, if you buy 'raw' and 'unfit for consumption' sugar, then you save a bunch of money.
"E-Fuel says you can fill up your tank with 75% ethanol and 25% water and your car will run fine."
Please tell me this is a cut-n-paste error of some sort. Are they really trying to imply that an internal combustion engine will run on 25% water?
They said the same about a lot of technology. It will get smaller and more sensible.
@TheTooth: OK, its time for me to be a huge dork. You can make all the AppleJack you want at home from cider. There's nothing illegal about doing that. The reason is AppleJack is made by cold distilling, i.e. getting the cider just below the freezing point of water, then removing the ice. Traditionally, cider barrels left out in the snow were scooped regularly, producing fine AppleJack. Hot distilling of cider, using a still, produces Apple Brandy.
The difference between AppleJack and Apple Brandy is because cold distilling removes the water and a little flavor, leaving the alcohol and most of the flavor. Hot distilling removes the alcohol and a little flavor, leaving the water with most of the flavor. Personally, I'd rather have the flavor with my alcohol, so give me AppleJack anyday.
Yep, I'm a total dork.
Lessee... "inputs." Feedstock, water, ELECTRICITY. The power runs the agitator motor, pump, heater, little computer system. It's got a 100V 2A power supply. Oh, and when you're done, you have to dispose of the waste by-products...
Point: how much electricity will this thing consume to produce ethanol?
In the broad scope, we again affirm: there are no panaceas when it comes to energy. Pay now, or pay later.
@dphagan: Cool... good to know. I had read that cold distilling was illegal as well (in the US at least). If not, I might have to try making some AppleJack sometime.
@TheTooth:
i really wouldn't worry about being busted for distilling... honestly, i can't see that being actively enforced.
@nutbastard: I agree. I am more interested in how this device gets around home distillation laws. I'm thinking the ATF would start getting testy if a lot of people started putting these in their back yards.
interesting:
"...alcohol releases as much or more carbon dioxide than its gasoline counterpart (though this carbon dioxide has previously been drawn from the air in biologically-produced ethanol, so if any petroleum burned to produce the ethanol is ignored, there is no net modern release, as there is for fossil fuels)."
When you heat up sugar it'll caramelize and you can dispose of it by spreading it on apples and eating it. Now if you can incorporate that caramel apple idea into a car, you'll make millions... Who doesn't like caramel apples?