Propane


 * __Propane__**

Most people dont realize that the same gas we use to make our burgers and hotdogs is also a GREAT altenative to gasoline. Propane is a by product of crude oil refinement and also naturally occurring. Its ability to be liquefied at a relatively low pressure makes it great for transport. When compressed, it is 270 times more compact in its liquid form than gas form. Propane has a lower BTU content than gasoline at roughly 91,500 BTU per gallon of liquid propane. This however is offset by the fact of its lower carbon content and it having an octane rating of 100-110 where gasoline can be bought in 87, 89, and 93 octane. The great part too is that current gasoline burning engines can be converted to run off propane for under $800 and less than 3 hours of work.

Now the "average" (I say average because gasoline chemical make up varies greatly depending on what octane you buy, where you buy it from, even what time of the year you buy it) chemical formula for gasoline is C8H18. As you can see, when compared to propane, propane has a substantially lower amount of carbon and hydrogen in it. These chains of elements are called hydrocarbons and are what form nasty chemicals when combusted such as NOx, CO, and CO2. Now, yes gasoline has a higher BTU content therefore it can do more work and propane but the difference in carbon and hydrogen and there impact on the environment offset the difference. Lets compare the amount of CO2 produced in complete combustion of gasoline versus propane.

(2) C8H18 + (25) O2 ---> (16) CO2 + (18) H20

C3H8 + (5) O2 ---> (3) CO2 + (4) H2O

As you can see, gasoline produces more than 5x the amount of CO2 than propane when it is combusted in a perfect combustion reaction.

Now, the benefits of propane do not stop there, because it is a much cleaner burning fuel than gasoline, it can extend the life of an engine dramitically. What does this translate to though? It simply means that you car engine will last longer. The biggest investment in your car is the engine by far accounting for almost 50% of the cars value, so wouldn't it be in your interest to protect it? This also translates into less cars being scrapped and there unrecyclable parts not going into a landfill. Now we also need to remember what is inside our engine, oil. In a normal engine, the carbon and other contaminants can squeeze by the pistons and into the oil. This is normal but is part of the reason we have to change our engine oil. Over time, the carbon build up in the oil renders the oil useless and it can no longer serve its function by cooling and lubricating key engine parts. However, since propane is cleaner burning, less carbon and other contaminants leak by the pistons and into the oil. This means we don't have to change our oil as often. That is great for ease of use but also means that less waste oil is generated each year by every vehcile. General rule of thumb for most manufactures is oil changes every 3,000 miles and a typical engine holds somewhere between 4 and 5 quarts of oil. Now if we say most people average 12,000 miles a year, this means a single average car produces about 20 quarts of waste oil a year. Now multiply that by the estimated 254,400,000 passenger cars in America. Thats 5,088,000,000 quarts of waste oil a year, and that waste oil has to go somewhere! Now, if we assume that you can go roughly 6,000 miles with propane powered cars that require less frequent oil changes, we can cut the quarts of waste oil a year in half.

The conversion process is very simple. I have even done it to my own vehicle, granted for different benefits that go beyond being better than the environment. But it goes to show that it is very easily done and can be done in your own garage with basic hand tools and a few hours of you time. Here is a video of my own vehicle running on propane.

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