r wrote:
How about using nitrox,
nope, it won't work. Nitrox is just a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen with more oxygen than a normal atmosphere. to make nitroglycerin (actually easy) one need only combine fuming nitric, fuming sulfuric, and glycerin in the correct proportions, while keeping the whole lot cool. Just let me know when you are going to do it so I can several miles away.
In reality it is a very, very dangerous process. As I recall it was Alfred Nobels brother who was killed by a nitroglycerin explosion which inspired him to invent dynamite (nitroglycerin + sawdust or a similar dispersant)
You could use nitromethane (liquid) or nitrous oxide (gas) but that doesn't get to the point of using the glycerin. I am going to try taking the glycerin and esterifying it with short chain fatty acids such that I come up with a molecule with about the same mol wt as the FAMEs. For example one could make tributyl glycerate and it should have the same viscoity and vapor pressure as FAME. The only problem is that the energy content is lower still than FAME which is slightly lower than fossil diesel.
as in used in recreational diving? I suppose
that there is a need for energy to combine the nitrogen with the glycerin, to make the chemical reaction happen. Maybe carry 2 tanks (one of glycerin and one of nitrox)? There might be a pre-combustion chamber where a spark would be set to the glycerin/nitrox mixture, to create the nitroglycerin, then the nitroglycerin would be sent to the engine to be burned. Would the design be feasible and realistic?
-- Bob Allen http://ozarker.org/bob "Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves" — Richard Feynman _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
