I remember in the 70. fuel crisis that Californians distilled alcohol out of fruit .enough to drive to work .?

Question

why dont we do it today ??, maybe the motivation of the hippy culture is gone .

Answer 1

When I have fruit, I like to put it in my mouth-hole. I think it's good that all the hippies died. I like to think they're all ghosts, driving around on a school bus, following the Grateful Dead.

Answer 2

In the warmer climate states things like alcohol and filtered used frying oils work especially used oils that are already available and would be thrown out anyway. The problem with distilling alcohol is it takes more energy to make than you get back

Answer 3

There is a big business in used fryer oil from restaurants.

properly filtered to remove the food crumbs and treated, fryer oil is a great and CHEAP substitute for diesel fuel.

There is no real difference between petrol diesel and fryer oil as far as performance.  The fun thing is the exhaust smells like French fries.

Answer 4

If you distill alcohol from fruit, then ethanol is the type of alcohol you get.  There are a number of distilleries producing alcohol already in California, and I believe ethanol is already supplying about 5% by volume of the state gasoline supply.

It might indeed be possible to distill enough alcohol at home to run a car.  However, before making the attempt, you should be aware:

1) Only a few currently produced automobiles are designed to run on 100% alcohol fuel.   The exhaust gas sensors, fuel/air ratios, etc. have to be specially calibrated to burn ethanol.  There are several types of cars designated as "Flex Fuel" which will run on a blend named "E-85", which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. However,  most common cars will require a blend of not more than 20% ethanol and 80% gasoline.

2)  The Government, at both the State and Federal level, closely regulates the production of alcohol.  At least in part, this is because they expect the producer to pay stiff "beverage alcohol" taxes.  Other taxes are also due on anything used as highway fuel.  So, if you try to make your own alcohol, expect a visit from the "Department of Revenue" to collect taxes.  They may also try to enforce regulations regarding odor, fire safety, waste disposal, etc.

3.  Most home-brew alcohol is going to contain water as an unavoidable contaminant.  The water causes rust in your fuel tank and can possibly freeze up your fuel lines in cold weather.  At the commercial distilleries, they use special procedures to remove the last 10% or so of the water, and these special procedures are difficult to perform with "home brew" equipment.  So, expect that "home brew" alcohol is going to be damaging to you car in the long run.