Which would make more sense? Converting diesel electric trains to biodiesel, or?

Question

creating steam turbines that can run on ANYTHING to power the electric generators in modern engines?

Answer 1

Bio fuels are a net energy loss, so converting to diesel would be a step backwards.

Even if you could create a steam engine that would run on anything, it would still require fuel.  And burning this fuel would create smoke.. AKA pollution.  To deal with this pollution you'd be required to put massive filter systems on the engines, which makes the engines much heavier which in turn makes them need more power and more fuel.

Neither is a good solution.

Answer 2

But what would you burn to generate the steam.

Answer 3

Converting to hydrogen-powered fuel cells really soon.

Answer 4

Neither.

Much of the bio diesel out there actually comes from Palm Oil

Hundreds of thousands of acres of environementally sensitive areas are being converted to plantations to make Palm oil for biodiesel.

This does much more harm to the environment than using diesel from fossil fuels.

Answer 5

Check the facts on bio diesel.  It is very close to the original fuel Diesel used to run his engine.

People think diesel is bad for the environment, but the facts are that it is a cleaner fuel than gas with the exceptions of the particle emissions, ie soot.

Diesel is the scum fuel or the first processing of crude oil to usable oil.   There are many diesel electric cars in Europe, which has tougher standards for most countries that in the US.

It boils down to political.  Big oil does not want you using a cheaper fuel so they can continue to make massive profits.

Bio on a train would be very useful, as well as bio for most of the big rigs.  Better fuel economy, power, and emissions.  But that means planting more for fuel than food, and that also is political as we sell to and feed most of the 3rd world.  

Sorry its a big political sham, that's why I am going bio this year and converting waste vegi oil.

Answer 6

So you people don't really read any of these postings do you?  How many times do we have to answer the same questions?

Bio diesel is not the way to replace fuel oil (diesel). There is not enough acreage in the USA to grow the amount of crops, any crops, to make bio fuels to power the existing fleet of vehicles much less the future fleet.

And carrying water on locomotives is very inefficient. Steam Engines (Sterling Engines) are a very efficient means of moving huge vehicles. That is why they use nuclear/steam to power air craft carriers but hauling water to make steam cuts the payload so much that it becomes unprofitable. Why would we want to go back in time and technology?

We can go to plug in electric powered vehicles that are charged by photovoltaic panels at your home or work. And, naysayers pay attention to this, Linear Electric Drive would power long distance and heavy hauling.

Answer 7

A diesel electric train will run on biodiesel with minor or NO modification.

By adding a steam turbine you will also need to add a steam boiler and all the associated plant. (and water). Then the inefficiency of transporting this weight, swings the balance back to the diesel electric.

The best option is to run a purely electric train and generate the power from stationary power station. If you use biodiesel or any other fuel to generate electricity. You don't need to transport the weight of the generator, can control fluid levels better (particularly steam) and you can use better (heavier) forms of pollution control.

This applies to cars also.