ethanol =/= diesel?

[Abaddon]

Bioethanol...Biodiesel.. i think i need some chemists on this one.

Brazil runs on bioethanol from sugar.. diststilled alcohol?

Biodiesel is OIL from plants.. seeds and such.

Are they similar chemically.. longer/shorter chains or someithng.. or are they completely different things?

 

[skadistic]

Completely different. They also have different burning qualities. Ethenol is for petrol engines and bio diesel is for diesel engines.

 

[Abaddon]

cheers.. perhaps i should stop thinking "out loud"..

 

[Stolen Rutters]

skadistic is correct. They are completely different.

Ethanol is the stuff you drink at a bar (normal people call it alcohol... ethanol is just the technical name). However, it is also an excellent fuel as fuels go. The drinkers might have problems knowing that they are burning it in the engine instead. I can't imagine it being cheap considering how much they charge at the bar for the stuff.

Diesel is a heavier petroleum fuel than gasoline. It gets pretty good gas mileage compared to gasoline. It is somewhat "dirtier" in sulfur, but "cleaner" in Carbon dioxide (though Europe forces refiners to remove most of the sulfur at the front end, so it's cleaner than the pre-2010 diesel grade in the US).

You can't drink gasoline or diesel. With additives they would want to add to ethanol to optimize it's use in car engines, I doubt you would want to drink the stuff out of the tank, so I guess they are similar in that respect. Don't drink the fuel.

Oh, if you really want to know the difference, use a search engine. The wikipedia probably has good descriptions too.

 

[emzie]

skadistic is correct. They are completely different.

Ethanol is the stuff you drink at a bar (normal people call it alcohol... ethanol is just the technical name). However, it is also an excellent fuel as fuels go. The drinkers might have problems knowing that they are burning it in the engine instead. I can't imagine it being cheap considering how much they charge at the bar for the stuff.

Diesel is a heavier petroleum fuel than gasoline. It gets pretty good gas mileage compared to gasoline. It is somewhat "dirtier" in sulfur, but "cleaner" in Carbon dioxide (though Europe forces refiners to remove most of the sulfur at the front end, so it's cleaner than the pre-2010 diesel grade in the US).

You can't drink gasoline or diesel. With additives they would want to add to ethanol to optimize it's use in car engines, I doubt you would want to drink the stuff out of the tank, so I guess they are similar in that respect. Don't drink the fuel.

Oh, if you really want to know the difference, use a search engine. The wikipedia probably has good descriptions too.

They add 1% gasoline to ethanol to keep people from drinking it.

 

[nonconformist]

Ethanol is CH2CH3OH, a quite small, fairly reative compound with a similarity to water obtained by fermentation, petrol and diesel are long hydrocarbon chains which have to be fractionally distilled from crude oil.

 

[Abaddon]

many thanks

 

[plarq]

Ethanol can't be used as fuels in those motors (gas or diesel) without modification.

 

[History_Buff]

They add 1% gasoline to ethanol to keep people from drinking it.

Solution: buy it from a chemical store, they'll sell it for various scientific uses. Then become good at mixing

Or just buy Everclear

 

[emzie]

Solution: buy it from a chemical store, they'll sell it for various scientific uses. Then become good at mixing

Or just buy Everclear

Actually, you can buy rubbing alcohol that's 'ethyl alcohol' without anything else added. That's just fancy talk for ethanol.

 

[nonconformist]

Actually, you can buy rubbing alcohol that's 'ethyl alcohol' without anything else added. That's just fancy talk for ethanol.

Except they stick a load of laxative/ipecac and stuff in there to discourage you from drinking it.
The real way to get cheap alcohol is to distill it from mouthwash.

 

[Abaddon]

i thought mouthwash was quite expencive?