schmorgas Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 S. S. B. B. Engine warm, bike on a stand, ready with a bowl. Slowly unscrewing the drain plug. Nearly there. Almost out, slowly turning now with your finger tips, a quarter turn at a time. Then, with a satisfying spurt of warm oil over your fingers, the oil change begins. Quickly feeling for the dropped drain plug in the warm oil, cursing your clumsiness. As the oil drains steadily, you set about cleaning the air filter and perhaps the chain. Giving it a good squirt of dry-lube spray. Sound familiar? Of course it does. And when the new oil and filters have gone in, chain tension checked and your hands wiped with an old rag. You can bask in the feeling of smug satisfaction at your efforts of a valuable and necessary job well done. All this after a trial or practice session. Or being the 21st century, you could just plug the bike in to the 13amp socket in your garage and go and put the kettle on……! We’ve been Sucking, Squeezing, Banging and Blowing in one form or another since the 1860’s. Technology that is tried and tested and continues to be developed to the ‘enth degree to this day. I know which I prefer. Meanwhile, back in the 21st century. You’ve un-plugged the electric trials iron and got it to the venue of your next trial, and the on switch is flicked. You’ve got 45 minutes of riding to enjoy and do your thing. The ten section four lap club trial with riding between sections, plus the five to ten minute warm up before the off, suddenly starts to look a bit of a stretch for the old battery. Though it will improve for sure. Imagine for a moment, standing at the bottom of Wilks’ field looking up at an entry of 50-60 or so riders all on electric Gassers, and all you can hear is Milkys dog barking! So before I depress myself any further (sorry Richard), let me give you the alternative. Gentleman (and ladies), I give you, the future: Audi and Joule pioneer sustainable alternatives to petrol and diesel using waste water Oct 3, 2012 Audi e-ethanol and Audi e-diesel are produced by combining salt or waste water with waste CO2, sunlight and special microorganisms New e-fuels developed by Audi and US-based fuels specialist Joule Produced using a remarkably simple, cost-effective and resource-sparing process in facilities that can even be located in the desert Genetically modified microorganisms suspended in pipes filled with brackish water react with waste CO2 and sunlight and secrete ethanol and diesel-range paraffinic alkanes – no biomass required Audi e-ethanol which can power petrol vehicles with only minor modification already being produced by facility in New Mexico Audi e-diesel capable of powering Audi TDI clean diesel models with no modification will enter production imminently Audi engineers have contributed to a breakthrough of almost miraculous proportions by helping to develop fuels for the TFSI and TDI engines of the very near future using nothing more than lengths of ordinary-looking pipe, waste CO2, sunlight and microscopic organisms suspended in waste water. The remarkable new ‘wonder-fuels’ have been developed by Audi and its US-based specialist fuels partner Joule. The ‘refineries’ responsible for them are the photosynthetic microorganisms injected into brackish water standing in the lengths of pipe. Measuring around three thousandths of a millimetre in diameter, these organisms have been genetically modified to prevent them from multiplying using the sunlight-aided photosynthesis process as they normally would. Instead, they are stimulated to use this process to convert the waste CO2 and the waste water into liquid fuels which they then secrete, and which can then be easily separated from the water and concentrated without the need for any further manufacturing steps. The unparalleled global viability of these new fuels lies not only in the exceptionally simple and relatively inexpensive process which creates them, but also in the fact that the ‘feedstock’ used to produce them is entirely renewable. The crop-based biomass that has traditionally been a key constituent of synthetic fuels, and that could often otherwise be used for human consumption, is not required here. This has the added advantage of removing the need to locate the fuel production facility near habitable or arable land – a remote desert facility is entirely feasible. Already a reality Proof of this fact can be found in an unfertile, sun-baked region of the US state of New Mexico, where Audi and Joule have commissioned a demonstration facility which is already producing sustainable e-ethanol. This has the same chemical properties as bioethanol, a fuel which is consistently gaining in popularity, but which has the disadvantage of being produced using biomass. It will be possible to blend up to 85 per cent ‘Audi e-ethanol’ with as little as 15% fossil-fuel petrol for use by vehicles capable of running on E85 fuel. Audi and Joule are also currently in the process of ramping up the same facility to produce a sustainable and exceptionally pure ‘Audi e-diesel’ fuel. In contrast to petroleum-based diesel, which is a mixture of a wide variety of organic compounds, this fuel is not only free of sulphur and aromatics, but is also easy to ignite thanks to its high cetane value, giving it exceptional performance credentials that promote outstanding engine operating efficiency. Audi e-diesel will work highly effectively with existing Audi TDI clean diesel systems without the need for modification. The partnership between Audi and Joule has been in place since 2011. Joule has protected its technology with patents for which Audi has acquired exclusive rights in the automotive field. Audi engineers with extensive know-how in the areas of fuel and engine testing are helping to further develop these remarkable fuels so that they can genuinely be brought to market. This plant is due to go into production in 2014. Projected cost per barrel the same as unleaded. I don't know about you, but I think my electricity bill is safe. Peter Coates Secretary, Bradford & DMC 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) Some clever people in this world.... Who also know how to make a few quid... The unparalleled global viability of these new fuels lies not only in the exceptionally simple and relatively inexpensive process which creates them, but also in the fact that the ‘feedstock’ used to produce them is entirely renewable. Yet the cost will still be equal to the cost of a barrel of unleaded. Just when you think a cheap fuel alternative is on the way... Edited December 29, 2012 by woody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greychapel Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 trouble is to produce these "biofuels" you have to sacrifice the production of food....its your choice...or is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laser1 Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 trouble is to produce these "biofuels" you have to sacrifice the production of food....its your choice...or is it? They claim no Bio-Mass required, so why would you need to sacrifice food production? Food is over rated anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greychapel Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 so what is the renewable feedstock that is not biomass?..just asking. food over rated? not if your starving....seriously i'm all for affordable renewable energy but what is" affordable"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0007 Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 I think the feedstock thing means they harvest cow poop But then again, I know little about bio fuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony27 Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 The way I read this is that the contaminants in the water are what is converted to fuel rather than corn/food, surely the biomass is the contaminants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laser1 Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 so what is the renewable feedstock that is not biomass?..just asking. food over rated? not if your starving....seriously i'm all for affordable renewable energy but what is" affordable"? CO2 and water(non potable) and sunlight are the active "feedstocks" that I can tell. They supposedly create a GM organism that synthesizes the components to bio fuels directly. The food being over rated was an attempt at humor. This being a Trials based site, I figured this was a way to keep thing lighthearted. I would be interested in how much BIO materials and Energy are needed to create these GMO's. Thats where you may be right - but the claims of the potentials are very impressive. Could be marketing. Audi would seemingly provide some decent due diligence - but it may be all about patent positions for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0007 Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Ok......now that you got the nerdy stuff over with... I think all Schmorgas wanted to know is, Can he change the oil on this theoretical machine What I want to know is, does it go vroom vroom or ring ding ding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Ok......now that you got the nerdy stuff over with... I think all Schmorgas wanted to know is, Can he change the oil on this theoretical machine What I want to know is, does it go vroom vroom or ring ding ding 1. Yes but he will have to switch over to mineral oil 2. neither, it will go BUZZZ POP POP POP BUZZZ POP POP POP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony27 Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 What I want to know is, does it go vroom vroom or ring ding ding Depends which sound map he selects Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmorgas Posted December 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Aah yes. The old Ring ding ding/Vroom vroom dilemma. Tried Ring ding ding. Hated it. Vroom Vroom Vroom is where it's at for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0007 Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well Ring ding ding is very trials centric, the old timers would not stand for anything else How do you feel about Voopah Voopah, I kinda like that LOL I read a while ago about a battery technology that used propane or butane, battery dies, you get your little can of butane out and give it a shot, maybe that's where we are headed I find it interesting to see what young people are into, in 25 years middle age guys will be talking about how great their turbocharged Honda civic or Subaru was, not GTO's or Mustang's people will be calling R6's and GSXR's classics, there's a generation that will never ride a 2 stroke Classic rock will be Iron maiden, Van Halen and Judas Priest (I'm that guy, Jimmy Hendrix? Really??) The future is a strange and mysterious place where at some point some people will have never ridden an internal combustion engine bike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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