Why doesn't every farmer have a still to make thier own ethanol?

Question

It seems to me that there are farmers all around the world who could benefit from having thier own stills to produce ethanol for thier trucks and tractors/machinery.

Answer 1

It is not an easy and cheap process. There would be extra money needed to make the still. They would have to have to have an extra truck to carry the corn as the ethanol would corrode pipes. Farmers have low pay and probably can't afford it.

It is legal if they are using it for the purpose of "saving the fuel economy". They would just have to have a permit or a license first of all. The permit is rather easy to abtain as the government wants to lower gas prices.

Answer 2

'cause them Revenooers 'ill come an' tear my still down ag'in

Answer 3

Funny, but this (kind of) was Henry Ford's original idea.

His first automobiles were designed to run on alcohol which could be produced at home. There were no 'gas stations' on every street corner as there are today.

Ethanol is a form of alcohol. It is 'brewed' much like beer is brewed. (see slide show on ethanol production, link below)

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/05/...

Most Farmers probably do not have equipment that can run on ethanol. Not to mention the cost of the equipment needed to turn their 'produce' into fuel. And then there's the ATF laws.

The availability of ethanol fuel is booming here in th Midwest, where I live. & where much of the U.S. ethanol supply comes from...so those farmers who have ethanol capable vehicles also have the (readily) availability of the fuel. So producing their own is not necessary.

Answer 4

farmers have come up with a way to use corn as an alternative for fuel. it may be what it in our future. natural resources for fuel will be a lot cheaper than what is being used today.

Answer 5

Because biodiesel is much much easier to make, accomplishes the same purpose...

... and most of their equipment is diesel.

Dr. Rudolf Diesel invented his engine to make farmers self sufficient.  Finally, it can happen.

Answer 6

you have to have a special license to produce ethanol.  you gotta think here, ethanol is well alchohol (the stuff you get drunk off of and do stupid stuff on) and it is essentially pure alchohol.  so you could make your own alchohol and sell it to whoever you want.  this is why you need a licence and this is also why all farmers dont make it.

Answer 7

As the technology improves, especially around cellusosic biofuels, something similar could be a reality in the future.

I have heard that production could be done as a co-op, with several farms contributing to a local biofuel producer in the area.

Answer 8

easier said than done. Its not a walk in the park. take plenty of work, and they dont have the time, they are busy making corn.

Answer 9

illegal difficult dangerous inefficient and products hard to predict. However, farmers could grow sunflowers and press the oil for use in diesel machines. Distillates from a still can also be used in heating funrnces.

Answer 10

The permits are not hard to get.  The reason for the permit is that in effect, you are holding up your right hand and saying that you are making alcohol for fuel and you are not selling booze, and so that the government is aware of this in case you do decide to start selling moonshine.

The more people become aware of this and realize some benefits, the more people will do it. Unfortunately nobody has mass-produced such stills and created an organization to promote their use.

If someone would step up and do this, and teach farmers how to make such a thing pay off, then I imagine it would work. Certainly there are plenty of people in Kansas who would be happy to throw corn cobs in a still and then get free home heating or tractor fuel out of it. Or perhaps someone could create a network of coops that take in waste and produce fuel for sale, but it seems like transporting waste would just burn fuel.  I do think that the solution is to have a still on each farm.  It could be as simple as a plastic silo with a filter and a tap from what I can tell.

Show people how to make money from it and make it worth their time, generate a reputation of successful implementation, and they will do it.

Answer 11

Sounds like a question from a true city dweller who has NO idea how much time is involved in running a farm--not to mention how much time would be involved in running a still of any type.  Perhaps SOME farmers could manage but most would not find enough extra hours in a day that already runs from can to can't and often beyond.

Answer 12

It is a complex matter to turn corn into ethanol.

Sugar cane as in Brazil is much easier to breakdown chemically into ethanol. It takes a vast amount of energy

to do this.

Answer 13

Well, in the US it's illegal to distill alcohol... Licensing is just a small aspect of this. While you could get licensed, you'd have to have a large source of startup capital, and the cost of operating a still would be high also. I think in most cases with the current technology it would be cost prohibitive for most farmers. In order to provide a monetary benefit, they have to distill very large quantities of ethanol.

Answer 14

Making fuel grade ethanol is a little more complicated than making booze.  Simple distillation will not give you the purity you need.