Why can't we run our cars on peanuts?

Question

Or, in other words, what do Porcupines eat?

Answer 1

Well said.

Answer 2

The first tractors were designed to run on peanut oil.

There are so many engine designs and fuel types available, we just need to reconsider them.

Take the sterling engine for example - it runs on temperature diference - and is quite capable of providing enough energy to run a desk fan from a candle !

- Or the carbon engine - basically an engine running on coal dust, that powers it's own grinder - and supplies a powerful output.

How about running your car on scrap ? Sounds like Back to the future, but I've designed a unit that will run your car safely on junk.



The problem is energy density. If we are goingto burn a fuel in air, it needs a lot of material that will oxidise exothermically. Any long chain carbonacous material will do.

To increase the effectiveness - we can liquify the oxygen too, or incorporate it as hydrogen peroxide - so you could easily have an engine running on peanut butter and liquid oxygen.

The Porcupines? - Let them eat cake.

Answer 3

remember man, from peanuts they came, to oil it shall never be.

Answer 4

and, what if you're allergic to peanuts?  could be deadly, lol.

Answer 5

You actually can run a diesel engine on Peanut Oil...

So, people who have diesel cars, a large amount of peanuts, and a good method of crushing them to extract the oil really can run their cars on peanuts.

"A related historical note: at the request of the French Government the Otto company demonstrated a diesel engine at the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) which used peanut oil (see biodiesel). The French government were at the time exploring the possibility of using peanut oil as a locally produced fuel in their African colonies. Diesel himself later tested extensively the use of plant oils in his engine and began to actively promote the use of these fuels."

Answer 6

Why can't we run our cars on porcupines?

Answer 7

We can.  But remember...

1. Fuels based on bio-mass require land, water, labor, fertilizer, and storage.

2. Burning bio-mass fuels generates heat and some not-so-good by products.

3. In most cases, the energy to volume and energy to mass ratios are not as good as with oil -- which is really too bad.

4. We still do not have infrastructure to generate, store, and transport many bio-mass fuels (We don't have alcohol pipe-lines and you can't put alcohol in a gasoline or oil pipeline, which is another problem.

5. Jimmy Carter, God bless his soul, is no longer president.  

6. And I hate to say this, but peanuts don't grow on trees.  They grow in the dirt, under Bushes.  (Sorry, I'm ashamed of myself for saying that.)