GENERATION Biofuels: Alcohol, the fuel of the future? – Part 4 by Chris Meyer, technical journalist

Just after World War 1, it was thought that oil supplies in America would become exhausted in about twenty-five years. The idea of importing oil from the Middle East, then from Persia, or Russia, was considered positively dangerous. And the explosive growth in the number of people buying cars meant that known reserves would be depleted even sooner. Small wonder that alcohol was considered as a possible alternative fuel.

“Midgley and Kettering's interest in ethyl that time, it was thought that oil supplies alcohol fuel did not fade once tetraethyl in America would become exhausted in lead was discovered as an antiknock in about twenty-five years [9]. The idea of December, 1921. In fact, not only was importing oil from the Middle East, then ethyl alcohol a source of continued from Persia, or Russia, which was then in interest as an antiknock agent, but more the throes of a civil war, was considered significantly, it was still considered to be positively dangerous. And, the explosive the fuel[for high compression engines] that growth in the number of people buying would eventually replace petroleum[when cars meant that known reserves would be supplies began to run out]” [9]. depleted even sooner. Today, Thomas Midgely is known as the Small wonder that alcohol was considered inventor of two chemical compounds as a possible alternative fuel. In fact, the that have caused the world problems: situation then was eerily similar to today, as A charcoal fuelled Opel Kapitan with an Imbert projections of millions of new motorists in gasifier, at the Automechanika show in tetraethyl lead, a poisonous anti-knock Frankfurt, 2006 (Photo: Courtesy Kack Rosebro, agent in petrol, and CFCs, claimed to be India and China now mean that current oil Green car Congress). responsible for damage to the ozone layer. supplies could be depleted even sooner than predicted. At first, Kettering, Midgely But Midgely's role in investigating ethyl discovered, there were two “ethyls” on and Boyd, another GM researcher, began alcohol's potential as a fuel has largely the horizon for General Motors: Ethyl been forgotten. to consider what would be involved in a total switch from petroleum to alcohol fuel. leaded gasoline, which would serve as a How Midgely came to discover and And, like current calculations, they showed transitional efficiency booster for gasoline, develop tetraethyl lead and CFCs is there was no way the US could grow and ethyl alcohol, the “fuel of the future” exceeding well told by Bill Bryson, in enough food to produce enough alcohol that would keep America's cars on the Chapter 10 (“Getting the lead out”) of fuel to completely replace all the oil used. roads no matter what happened to the his best seller, "A short history of nearly domestic or world oil supply” [9]. everything." In 1921, Kettering noted that were [alcohol] to take the place of gasoline, over half the In other words, the long-term goal of That cannot be repeated here, instead, total farm area of the United States would General Motors researchers was to we touch on something largely forgotten be needed to grow the vegetable matter introduce high-compression engines today: how and why Midgely and Charles required [9]. Since then, things have got that would and could use fuel more F. Kettering, Vice President of Research at noticeably worse. Now, even using 100% economically. At first, the fuel would be General Motors, believed in ethyl alcohol of the [American] nation's corn crop would gasoline, aided by lead additives to stop as the fuel of the future, even after supply [alcohol for] only 7% of the fuel knocking. And then, when gasoline started tetraethyl lead was discovered, and why a consumed by its vehicles [22]. to run out, those same high compression lot of research was done at General Motors engines could then switch to a fuel that did into this topic, and how General Motors, So, strangely enough, many of the not cause knocking, ethyl alcohol. conclusions being reached now – that it abruptly decided to drop ethyl alcohol only really makes economic sense to make What is knocking? It occurs when the burn and concentrate only on tetraethyl lead . alcohol from cellulose, and not from food or explosion of fuel spreads too irregularly after ignition. Instead of one flame front Cellulose, the fuel of the future – were already reached by General Motors researchers in 1921. So, what happened spreading uniformly in what is basically “From cellulose waste products on the to stop alcohol from being used as a fuel? a controlled explosion inside the piston, farm such as straw, corn-stalks, corn After all, most countries of the present-day several different flame fronts develop cobs and similar sorts of material that European Union were already using a 5% where they shouldn't, and cause the we throw away, we can get, by present blend of alcohol with their gasoline in the explosion to proceed far more quickly – known methods, enough alcohol to run 1930s, long before most people had even and unpredictably – than planned for. our automotive equipment in the United heard the word “biofuels”. The result is a sudden down thrust of a States” [9]. The answer comes down to two words: piston, which ruins the steady, regular At first glance, this doesn't seem to be Standard Oil. But before we look at the thrusts essential to spinning a crankshaft something that Thomas Midgely would decision to switch to leaded gasoline, let smoothly. And, if not stopped, knocking ever say. After all, he invented tetraethyl us first sum up where General Motors was can soon ruin the engine as well. Knocking lead, and a few years later, he and going: or though they were going, and why. is not a problem with a low-compression Kettering were saying the exact opposite: engine, or with a diesel engine. But it is that alcohol was not suitable for large- Two ethyls on the horizon a huge problem when one is trying to scale automotive use. What happened to improve the fuel efficiency of an engine “Thus, during the time Kettering and cause the sudden change? by increasing the compression. Midgley researched anti-knock fuels, The first thing we must realise is that, at and especially after tetraethyl lead was As Kettering and Midgely had discovered

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through their pioneering research, there that consumed ever more cheap, leaded Sweden, Germany [the United Kingdom] were two ways to solve it. One, the petrol, that became the quickest way for and Czechoslovakia [9]. high percentage direction, was to add the automotive industry to make profits. France and Germany, two key members alcohol to the gasoline, mixing it in various Alcohol as the fuel of the future had joined proportions of 5% or higher or even use electric cars, hybrid cars, and a need for of the European Union, had both known pure alcohol (methanol or ethanol) as better fuel efficiency as things that no insecure oil supplies during World War I. a fuel, as no knocking resulted. Modern longer really mattered. Germany had gone further, with alcohol lead-free petrol typically uses methanol, obtained from agriculture providing fuel ethanol or even benzene to stop knocking. While the USA turned increasingly to leaded for every motor car in the empire and petrol after 1925, most other industrialised most of the German transportation system Or, one could use far smaller concentrations nations turned to bio-alcohol.This was of a special additive compound, the low- after 1915 [9]. especially true for Europe, where most percentage direction.This compound, But it was the Second World War that countries routinely blended bio-alcohol originally iodine (far too expensive) and showed that burning wood could do with their gasoline between 1925 and later tetraethyl lead, effectively dampens far more than generate heat. It could 1937. And this brief period is worth looking the smaller, irregular explosions and allows also be used to drive cars and trucks: one steady burn to develop properly. at, for it shows how bio-alcohol was used an idea, strangely enough, that is being extensively in industrialised countries as a In chemical terms, this compound absorbs rediscovered as research into advanced fuel, without affecting food prices in the just enough of the free radicals, particularly biofuels continues. slightest. oxygen radicals that developed during Running on empty burning to prevent irregular explosions. How to produce bio-alcohol without Too little additive allows knocking to “In occupied Denmark during World War affecting food prices? develop, while too much additive, and II, 95% of all mobile farm machinery, the engine looses power, and eventually “By the mid-1920s ethyl alcohol was tractors, trucks, stationary engines, and dies completely. Then, the additive has routinely blended with gasoline in every fishing and ferry boats were powered by become a fire extinguisher. industrialised nation except the United wood gas generator units. Even in neutral States. 10% to 25% alcohol blends were Sweden, 40% of all motor traffic operated An abrupt change of direction common in the Scandinavian countries, on gas derived from wood or charcoal. All “By the mid-1930s, the alliance between where alcohol was made from paper over Europe, Asia and Australia, millions of General Motors, DuPont Corporation mill wastes; in France, Germany and gas generators were in operation between and Standard Oil to produce Ethyl throughout continental Europe, where 1940 and 1946” [15]. leaded gasoline succeeded beyond alcohol was made from surplus grapes, potatoes and other crops; and in Australia, What do you do when, suddenly, no petrol all expectations: 90% of all gasoline is available and you somehow have to contained lead” [9]. Brazil, Cuba, the Philippines, South Africa, and other tropical regions, where it was keep cars, lorries, engines, ships and Why did General Motors walk away from made from sugar cane and molasses” [9]. tractors running? This was the situation all their research and suddenly embrace that many countries found themselves leaded gasoline? The exact reasons are Can biofuels be produced without in soon after the outbreak of World War not very clear. All that Kovarik says is that, affecting food prices? The answer appears II, in 1940. It was almost as if the worst in late 1920, Midgely was more interested to be yes: if they can be made from surplus fears of Charles Ketttering had come true in meeting Standard Oil Co. officials agricultural crops or waste products from overnight, and the world had suddenly run than with Hibbert, who was researching industry like paper mill wastes. And, if out of oil.Actually, in 1940, lots of oil was a process to convert cellulose into ethyl one could somehow repeat what most still available, but war had created the alcohol alcohol [9]. of Europe managed to do between same result: oil suddenly became virtually 1925 – 1937. Exactly how this could be unobtainable. Clearly, Kettering was no longer worried achieved is far beyond the scope of this about American oil supplies drying up. article, but many of the practical measures While alcohol for fuel was no longer In another paper, Kovarick notes that introduced then could doubtless be available in large quantities, wood was. Kettering's strategy was discarded when applied again, allowing for the changed And when petrol supplies disappeared oil supplies proved to be plentiful and TEL times. in 1940, older people remembered what [Tetra ethyl lead] proved to be profitable they had used before petrol – gas: fuel in the mid-1920s [10]. The key appears to be the idea of using gas, used since 1840 in Europe for heating Whatever the reasons were, the surplus crops, instead of producing crops and lighting. Wood gas is very similar to consequences were profound. General in competition with foods. Of course, the fuel gas, except for its source.While fuel Motors formed an alliance with Standard immediate problem is what happens gas was usually made in the 19th century Oil and the Du Pont Corporation, creating when there are no surplus crops any by heating and reducing coal and peat in the Ethyl Corporation. In 1925, making more. This was the situation after 1937, a gasworks, wood gas was be made from as Europe shifted gears and prepared for this highly poisonous chemical resulted wood chips in a far smaller bin heated by war. Industrial production thereafter shifted in a public outcry, following the deaths of charcoal, in what was known as an Imbert away from producing alcohol to producing some 17 workers and injuries, from lead gasifier. poisoning, of at least 149 [10]. Why the war materials. Crop failures in 1938 and resulting public health enquiry did not ban 1939 also helped to eliminate surpluses. The main gases formed – carbon monoxide TEL is a story in itself,[10]. The result was that (CO) and hydrogen (H ) burn reasonably But for 12 years producing alcohol for 2 by the mid 1930s, the motoring industry in well in both petrol and diesel engines, blending into fuel enjoyed considerable the United States had largely standardised forming carbon dioxide and water. Called success in Europe because of two different on leaded gasoline. synthesis gas, this mixture of CO and H is measures: tax incentives encouraging 2 also produced on a huge scale today by Only sixty years later were the public health this, and regulations enforcing it. Hungary, heating coal, and used to form a variety of dangers of leaded gasoline recognised, Poland and Brazil followed the French and hydrocarbons, including octane, at Sasol's and lead banned. In a sense, General Italian examples with mandatory alcohol oil from coal plants. Motors current problems can be traced and gasoline blends in national fuels in the to the adoption of leaded gasoline, 1920s and 1930s, while the tax incentive But the Imbert gasifier was far simpler, because it marked the trend towards the approach was adopted by many other and was mass produced during World “gas guzzler”, large, uneconomical cars European nations such as Switzerland, War II by many European automotive

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companies, including General Motors, Some researchers have claimed they can [6] “History of hybrid vehicles”. 27 March 2006. Ford, and Mercedes Benz [15]. However, even produce jet fuel this way. So, just [7] K Krolicki, and N Groom, “Will Detroit's cash crisis kill the electric car?” Scientific American. it had disadvantages. Besides having maybe, a variant of the old nineteenth 18 November 2008. somewhat low efficiency, operating it century fuel gas process could, two [8] B Walsh, “Green motors”. Time. 11 October, meant shoveling in chunks of wood chips, centuries later, be used to produce fuel for 2007. and lighting all this by means of charcoal. cars, trucks, modern aircraft and maybe [9] B Kovarik, “Henry Ford, Charles Kettering and Almost like having to get a braai or even fighter aircraft. And the idea of the “Fuel of the future”. Proceedings of the 1996 Automotive History Conference, Henry barbeque ready every time you wanted using “switchgrass or poplar trees grown Ford Museum, Dearborn, Mich. Sept, 1996 to use the car. as energy crops, or forest or agricultural [10] B Kovarick, “Charles F. Kettering and the 1921 residues such as wood chips” to drive cars discovery of tetraethyl lead in the context Also, danger was never very far away. The and run engines suddenly does not seem of technological alternatives”. 1999. www. gasifiers produce carbon monoxide, an runet.edu/~wkovarik/papers/kettering.html) so new, as after all, millions of people were [Accessed December 2008]. extremely poisonous gas, and sometimes basically doing that between 1940 – 1946. [11] B Siuru, ”Ford Model T-100 years old”. (http:// exploded. Small wonder then that, once newcarbuyingguide.com/index.php/news/ petrol again became available in 1946, In the next article, let us briefly look at so- main/6055/event=view) [Accessed December called “good” and “bad” biofuels: and 2008]. the use of these generators was quickly [12] J DiPrado, Energy Information discontinued. But, they did keep millions why bad economics can give even the Administration,DOE. “Outlook for biomass of cars, lorries, engines, tractors and ships best of fuels a bad name. And, some ethanol production and demand”. very basic points about global warming, [13] A Radich, “Biodiesel performance, costs, and moving during the difficult war years. And, economics and agricultural yields that are use”. Energy Information Administration, DOE. ironically, we may yet see these generators often forgotten in all this. [14] Wikipedia. “Wood gas generator”. again in the future, but in a different form. [15] Federal Emergency Management Agency. July, 1989. “Construction of a simplified wood While still a long way off from large-scale References gas generator for fueling internal combustion use, researchers have recently announced [1] “A good idea at the time: Electric hackney engines in a petroleum emergency”. RR-28 carriage”. The Telegraph. November 2000. [16] J B Heywood, “Fueling our transportation future”. the first direct conversion of plant cellulose [2] J Tarr and C McShane, “The horse and the urban Scientific American. Vol. 295, No. 3, 36-39. into gasoline components [21]. Instead environment”. www.enviroliteracy.org/article. [17] S Ashley, “Diesels come clean.” Scientific of breaking down the cellulose into its php?id=578&print=1) [Accessed December American. Vol. 296, No. 3. 62-69. 2008]. component sugars and then producing [18] “Information Paper: Electricity and cars”. World [3] G Mom, 2004.“The electric vehicle: technology Nuclear Association. December 2008. [19] M L alcohol, the cellulose is chopped up, and expectation in the automobile age. ”Johns Wald, “Is ethanol for the long haul?”. Scientific rapidly heated in the presence of solid Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. American. Vol. 296 No. 1, 28 – 20. catalysts, and then rapidly cooled. The [4] “Automobiles in Chicago to adopt a hansom [19] J M Flink, 1990. “The automobile age”. MIT Press. resulting liquid can be used "as is" for a high cab system and inaugurate an ‘automobile” [20] “Green gasoline could power future cars and day. The New York Times. 5 February, 1899. jets”. Renewable Energy World, 10 April 2008. octane gasoline blend or further treated [5] “Electric cab service tied up by a strike”. The www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/ to form the remaining fuel components. New York Times. 26 October, 1906. print?is=52115) [Accessed April 2008]. v

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