11-04-2007, 11:17 AM
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While the large scale use of biofuels is pretty hard to support in a world facing food shortages--ethanol in Hawaii could make a good deal of sense. It's easily done on a homestead level as well. A good reflux still will turn 5 gallons of guava mash(14% sugar content?) into about a liter and a half of 94% ethanol.
It makes a fine cooking fuel as well, and may provide an alternative to gas.
High pectin content fruits produce a higher amount of methanol than grain fermentation processes, and if to be used for purposes "other" than fuel the yield will be slightly less as the "heads" need to be discarded.
This looks like it could be something interesting to try. If one doesn't use the results in a vehicle or fuel for a cookstove, some sort of new version of Okolehau comes to mind.
What does one use to run the still with? Wood? Maybe a solar cooker of some sort? Should we all start planting guavas? They will grow without a lot of mechanical aid and if they were planted on a hillside with some sort of chute to catch the fruit even harvesting could be done with not much machinery.A lot of folks are running diesel engines off of reclaimed cooking oil after they do some sort of process to it. It may be that buying cooking oil at Costco will be cheaper than buying gasoline. At least for a little while, though.
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Why is oil the sacred commodity? It's an important part of our lives to be sure, but so is food and good single malt scotch.
Brad, Oil IS food! Farmers can't farm the amount they do without oil to run the tractors. Also a lot of the fertilizers are oil based. Then, as farmers start growing crops for fuel instead of food there will be less food. The Mexican government is already subsidizing the price of corn so folks can afford tacos. That is because the price of corn has skyrocketed because it is being burned as fuel in cars instead of fed to people.
Kurt Wilson