It's not the ethenol!!

[Smitty Smithsonite]

I do not know, but impression in first photo is steel gas tank/ piping rust; I have seen plenty of bad from ethanol, but nothing ever looked like that? I have found white crystals, white paste, had corrosion to aluminum bowl and had a bright, shiny new brass float turn black and sink after 90-days from a teaspoon of acidic water/ fuel remaining in a float bowl.

No steel in this system. Plastic tank, plastic petcock.

I've seen all different colors in carburetors with E10 left in them. Green or black goo, powder, white powder, opaque jello, etc.. That bowl in the 1st pic has a weird black "oatmeal" looking crap in it. I'd wager that was from an additive, like Sta-Bil or Star-Tron - when fuel goes bad with additives it turns all kinds of colors and textures that are unpredictable. I've seen all kinds of strange things over the years!

 

[Smitty Smithsonite]

Stewart’s and Sinclair both have non e fuel in my county (ulster) but you go to the southern counties neither sell it

Yeah it's funny how that works. Almost as if MA politicians have paid off those places to not carry it, so as to not lose tax revenue to the other states. Wouldn't shock me one bit if that was the truth. I usually have to go a ways into NH before I can find some. Although I remember filling up some barrels in or near Brattleboro, VT years back.

 

[SS396driver]

Yeah it's funny how that works. Almost as if MA politicians have paid off those places to not carry it, so as to not lose tax revenue to the other states. Wouldn't shock me one bit if that was the truth. I usually have to go a ways into NH before I can find some. Although I remember filling up some barrels in or near Brattleboro, VT years back.

Believe it’s more to the fact we’re outside the NYC zone . The lower counties always had more stringent emissions standards . When I lived in Westchester county they used to use a dyno and sniffer on cars but up here it was safety only

 

[Smitty Smithsonite]

In MA, we get screwed no matter what part of this cesspit we live in. It's all Boston - anything else is of no concern to the Beacon Hill swamp.

They think we still fight Indians and sh!t in outhouses out where I live ...

 

[capetrees]

Maybe try a small airport for non E fuel. Pretty sure they sell it to the public. If not, maybe connect with a private licenced pilot. Everyone seems to have their pilot license these days.

 

[Smitty Smithsonite]

Like I said earlier, 100LL is expensive, and has lead which can cause fouling, etc. if the engine is run in cooler temperatures. I just take a 55 gallon drum and head north, northwest, or west for a stockpile of E0. Lasts me a long, long time now that I'm not turning wrenches full time.

I don't have my pilot's license .. but I do fly.

 

[Hermio]

You can only feed cattle so much distillers as it causes issues with sulfur and phosphorus and starch is very beneficial for fattening cattle.
Corn production being dedicated to ethanol absolutely does increase food prices. There is a finite amount of farm land and without ethanol corn prices would fall for certain.

I have not checked, but it may be that some ethanol producers are working on a way to reduce sulfur. Cows don't really need the starch from corn for their carb content, as they can digest cellulose, so they get their carbs from grass. What grass/hay are lacking is protein, so they need to eat a lot of it, which also means a lot of manure. A year or two ago, I came across a study that showed that cows grow faster when supplemented with high-protein feed, and they eat less hay and produce less manure. That last factor alone actually saved a great deal of money, as it costs money to get rid of the manure, especially in a dairy farm where the cows spend much of their time indoors, so the manure has to be shoveled out. I am not sure, but I think the study I read may have been conducted by either the USDA or the University of Minnesota. In any case, I don't care enough to go looking for it.

 

[bwalker]

I have not checked, but it may be that some ethanol producers are working on a way to reduce sulfur. Cows don't really need the starch from corn for their carb content, as they can digest cellulose, so they get their carbs from grass. What grass/hay are lacking is protein, so they need to eat a lot of it, which also means a lot of manure. A year or two ago, I came across a study that showed that cows grow faster when supplemented with high-protein feed, and they eat less hay and produce less manure. That last factor alone actually saved a great deal of money, as it costs money to get rid of the manure, especially in a dairy farm where the cows spend much of their time indoors, so the manure has to be shoveled out. I am not sure, but I think the study I read may have been conducted by either the USDA or the University of Minnesota. In any case, I don't care enough to go looking for it.

We are talking about fattening cows on a feed lot for meat production. The starch is absolutely beneficial. Even when fed distillers grain they still get fed alot of corn as well.
The other thing to consider is a kernel of corn is 2/3 starch. So your essential getting 1/3 back in the form of distillers grain of which some of it isn't digestible.

 

[sean donato]

I have not checked, but it may be that some ethanol producers are working on a way to reduce sulfur. Cows don't really need the starch from corn for their carb content, as they can digest cellulose, so they get their carbs from grass. What grass/hay are lacking is protein, so they need to eat a lot of it, which also means a lot of manure. A year or two ago, I came across a study that showed that cows grow faster when supplemented with high-protein feed, and they eat less hay and produce less manure. That last factor alone actually saved a great deal of money, as it costs money to get rid of the manure, especially in a dairy farm where the cows spend much of their time indoors, so the manure has to be shoveled out. I am not sure, but I think the study I read may have been conducted by either the USDA or the University of Minnesota. In any case, I don't care enough to go looking for it.

We never really had to shovel shite on my cousins milk farm, the old tie stall barn had a small pit with a chain sraper, old free stall barn you used the skid loader, pushed it into the pit, and the new barn had slats with the pit under it. Basically all got spread on the fields.
Didn't shovel much if any on our farm either, the cattle wernt in the barn much and we used the skid loader when it was time to clean out. Biggest cost factor was running the equipment, but that was usually once or twice a year at most.

 

[Hermio]

We are talking about fattening cows on a feed lot for meat production. The starch is absolutely beneficial. Even when fed distillers grain they still get fed alot of corn as well.
The other thing to consider is a kernel of corn is 2/3 starch. So your essential getting 1/3 back in the form of distillers grain of which some of it isn't digestible.

I was not talking specifically about distiller's grains. That is one coproduct. But many ethanol producers are using a newer technology called dry fractionation, which increases the recovery of protein and oils and allows them to be separated to a degree. Feed made by that process has a higher protein content, and the protein is of a better quality than DDG, as it does not get denatured by heat or processing.

 

[bwalker]

I was not talking specifically about distiller's grains. That is one coproduct. But many ethanol producers are using a newer technology called dry fractionation, which increases the recovery of protein and oils and allows them to be separated to a degree. Feed made by that process has a higher protein content, and the protein is of a better quality than DDG, as it does not get denatured by heat or processing.

I can't speak to that as I have never heard of anyone using that product for a feed supplement.

 

[HansFranz]

Question for you farmers who use corn silage: I've heard that when you put green corn into a silo, it ferments and makes ethanol. So: Has anybody ever tried distilling the liquid slop that accumulates at the bottom of a silo? Also, do the livestock ever get drunk from the alcohol in the silage you feed them?

 

[Hermio]

Question for you farmers who use corn silage: I've heard that when you put green corn into a silo, it ferments and makes ethanol. So: Has anybody ever tried distilling the liquid slop that accumulates at the bottom of a silo? Also, do the livestock ever get drunk from the alcohol in the silage you feed them?

I am not a farmer (except for my tree farm) but I can tell you this: if air is present, you would get a lot of vinegar produced, not just ethanol. Not very palatable!

 

[thenne1713]

I am sure it was not all from dead dinosaurs. But they were around for more than 100 million years, amounting to trillions of tons of dead dinosaur mass, and we have been using petroleum for less than 200 years. I don't think we could have used all that up. In any case, we know that petroleum is still being made by natural microorganisms.

But we all know all dead things, including whales today, become food for other creatures; they do NOT just lay there and become a blob of..

 

[Oletrapper]

No steel in this system. Plastic tank, plastic petcock.

I've seen all different colors in carburetors with E10 left in them. Green or black goo, powder, white powder, opaque jello, etc.. That bowl in the 1st pic has a weird black "oatmeal" looking crap in it. I'd wager that was from an additive, like Sta-Bil or Star-Tron - when fuel goes bad with additives it turns all kinds of colors and textures that are unpredictable. I've seen all kinds of strange things over the years!

I have to totally agree with Smitty. I too have seen it all. Never had anything but varnish from bad/stale gas before ethanol. Rust sometimes from contaminated fuel cans. OT

 

[bwalker]

Question for you farmers who use corn silage: I've heard that when you put green corn into a silo, it ferments and makes ethanol. So: Has anybody ever tried distilling the liquid slop that accumulates at the bottom of a silo? Also, do the livestock ever get drunk from the alcohol in the silage you feed them?

Alcohol can be produced as can vinegar. What ensiling aims for is the production of lactic acid. When lactic acid fermentation occurs the feed value of the corn is only 5% less than what it is before ensiling, yet it can be stored for long periods of time.

 

[bwalker]

I am not a farmer (except for my tree farm) but I can tell you this: if air is present, you would get a lot of vinegar produced, not just ethanol. Not very palatable!

That's why sileage is packed very tightly.

 

[HansFranz]

Diatoms, not dinosaurs.

 

[smcowboy1974]

I get all that, but supply and demand is a thing. Wether the corn is exported or not matters little. Corn is a globally traded commodity like oil.
Let's say ethanol went away over night. What you would see is corn prices plummet, then stabilize. Wheat and soybean production would increase on acres formerly planted in corn, which would cause their prices to lower. Meat prices would then also go down. And so on.

I like the idea of meat prices going down.

 

[bwalker]

I like the idea of meat prices going down.

There are little problems with the meat industry besides feed prices.
Part of it is our regulatory agencies have allowed 4 companies to control the meat packing industry. 2 of them are Brazilian.