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When Alcohol And Airplanes Make A Good Mix

Posted by Hemos on from the better-then-the-airlines dept.

gilgsn writes "Both for the economy and the environment, as suggested in this Iwon Money article. The Brazilians use sugar cane alcohol to fuel their modification of a single engine crop duster called the "Ipanema." The company projects a 25 percent increase in revenue from the new alcohol planes and increased income to convert existing gasoline-fueled Ipanemas to alcohol. With the threat of war for the U.S. and a subsequent raise in oil prices, this might be of some interest for our general aviation."

4 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Cars? by zerblat · · Score: 5, Informative
    Actually, they already use alcohol to fuel cars in Brazil, they have been since the oil crisis in the 70's. However, then there was an alcohol crisis in 1989, so gasoline has been taking over again.

    The reason why the use alcohol as a fuel in Brazil is of course the large sugar cane production in the country.

    Use Google.

    --
    Please alter my pants as fashion dictates.
  2. Re:Economics will screw this up by Chicane-UK · · Score: 5, Informative

    Diesel cars used to be hot in the early 80's because diesel was so much cheaper than unleaded or regular. Economics screwed that up because diesel cars got to be big enough that regular gas stations (not just truck stops) started to carry diesel. That increased the gas stations cost, and thus raised the price of diesel to the same or higher levels compared to unleaded.

    Or in the case of the UK (where we are taxed 80% on our gasoline), our government made a big deal about getting people to switch to diesel as it was taxed considerably less than regular gasoline, and was cleaner for the environment. Then, as soon as a significant quantity of people had realised the money they could save by switching over, the government inflated the tax so that it now costs MORE per gallon than regular.

    I love this country!

    --
    "Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
  3. Re:Cars? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Brazil uses Ethanol as fuel ( the same alcohol used at homes, and found in drinks ).

    Race cars use Methanol, a poisonous alcohol that should not be drunk.

    Having said that, when there was an alcohol crisis in Brazil, we imported methanol as a replacement to ethanol and our cars ( and planes ) will run the same.

    Of course there were some guys who were puting fuel on beverages illegally ( because it is cheaper ) and had their clients killed ;-)

    Both methanol and ethanol have higher octane than standard gasoline, so the same engine will have more HP, and that is why it is used in race cars.

  4. Re:Fighting the Greenhouse Effect by mpe · · Score: 5, Informative

    it says that using sugar cane alcohol as a source of fuel also fights the greenhouse effect, because it doesn't produce C02 like regular fuel.

    It's not quite that simple, buring ethanol does produce carbon dioxide.
    But the important point is that the carbon released isn't "fossil carbon" which has been locked up in mineral deposits for a long time. Only a short time ago this carbon was previously in carbon dioxide which a sugar cane plant took in for photosynthesis.
    The next result of using biomass fuels is that the crabon dioxide content of the atmosphere stays much the same. On average for every carbon dioxide you put in from burning the fuel one will be taken out bu the next batch of your crop.