I'm currently working on a little side project and I was wondering if there were any scientific types hanging around that might be willing to let me pick their brains just for educational purposes.

Anyone who knows anything about:

deisel engines (More design then operation)
Chemical Engineering
Electrical Engineering

Let me know!

I know some about chemistry and electronics. Are you asking about the sciences themselves or the fields?

The fields actually.

What about Diesel are you wanting to know RW?
Here’s a quiki from wiki: ~rore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Diesel

Do you have any specific questions?

Unless you want a few years of schooling and study all put down on this forum, you better refine what you would like to know. This is simply not the place for a complete education.

1) Can a deisel engine be adapted to run on methane (natural gas)

2) What is the most cost effective way of seperating methane from a mixture of gasses like oxygen, carbon dioxide etc...

More to come

Diesel engines, and spark ignition engines, can run on liquefied petroleum gas, which is propane, butane or a mix. I do not know if a diesel engine can be run on methane. Oxygen is not a constituent of methane. Methane can be produced synthetically, it is very easy to find information on the synthetic production of methane, but it is usually harvested by biological fermentation processes and not recovered from gases.

Look, I even found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_natural_gas

Here's a pretty kool blurb: ~rore

"Biodiesel can be obtained from vegetable oil (vegidiesel / vegifuel), or animal fats (bio-lipids), using transesterification.

Biodiesel is a non-fossil fuel alternative to petrodiesel. It can also be mixed with petrodiesel in any amount in modern engines..."

Hrm... Ok, a bit more clarity:

I am lucky enough to have a nearby source of free pure methane gas. I don't want to run my car on it, I want to run a generator off of it. Esentially powering my home and offices for free, and maybe selling some of the electricity back to the local power mongers.

The problem is what type of engine to use. I always loved the concept of the diesel engine, not needing an outside ignition source and all. I've been trying to see what type of engines the power companies use, but of course their engines would be much too big for my needs, and I can't seem to find much anyway.

I was also curious about what type of electrical set up I'll need to feed the excess power back into the power grid AND get paid for it.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

The parts about gas seperation is in refrence to an idea about removing ambient methane from existing sewer systems... sort of an offshoot idea. I think I've found a method that suits the concept well.

Anyway, methane burns clean and green and I think eventually it's going to be a primary fuel source, thus my interest.

Won't happen, in many places you actually have to pay them to tie an external source into the grid (like what can happen with solar panels).

Hey Pred, check this out...

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/conte...paign_id=search

Florida is part of this program... so... well, ya know.

Sorry.

I finally found what I was looking for as well. Seems there's this great company that makes methane generators on the scale that would suit my needs! Check it out!

http://www.cogeneration.net/

Heh, that is pretty cool, I didn't know they were doing that. I wonder if NC will pick up on the program.