What if someone invented a machine that could make gasoline? Small quantities, two or three gallons a day at most, but used only resources found in just about every household in America and only cost maybe a buck or two a day to run? What would you pay for such a machine? What would it be worth?

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: What if someone invented a machine that could make gasoline? Small quantities, two or three gallons a day at most, but used only resources found in just about every household in America and only cost maybe a buck or two a day to run? What would you pay for such a machine? What would it be worth?

This is interesting... what secrets do you know? Heh...
For me at least, COST, SAFETY, and SIZE would be of a concern.

3 gallons a day would be enough to get back and forth to work on a regular basis, but then at that point, why wouldn't I just get a plug in electric vehicle? ...or is that your point?

What if someone made a machine that shot blueberry muffins out of your @$$ when ever you had to fart. The world would be a better place.

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: (which I drive less than a couple hundred miles each per year).

This is sad... these cars were made to be driven.

Of course, without knowing what the consumables are, and what they cost, it's hard to determine if such a machine would be worthwhile. If the consumables tend to be readily available and less expensive than the equivalent gallon of refinery gasoline, then the machine would be well worth it, IMHO, provided that it can pay for itself within 3 to 5 years.

The obvious problem, of course, is that any such 'machine' would run afoul of the carefully regulated (ie TAXED) commercial refineries, and would most definitely be met with extreme prejudice from the Guberment. But if such a machine were made, it is likely that mere mortals would never know about it, since BiG OiL would immediately purchase the rights (or assassinate) the inventor to prevent it coming to market.

Like a still?

Might not be legal to produce your own. Should be though.

I would build up an immunity and begin drinking gasoline instead of water and other beverages!

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I been had money.

quote Originally posted by 2.5: Like a still? Might not be legal to produce your own. Should be though.

lol - this is a mighty valid idea.
Flex Fuel vehicles
only partially fill with gasoline, then the rest home brewed

but - again - the key being the costs of running these things - and - the costs of the resources - and - finally - the costs of disposal of the wastes

love the idea - BUT - as a basic rule of thumb - it is tough to beat large volumes when it comes to production. leave it to the refineries.

What is now cheap may become an expensive commodity when it is used for fuel.

quote Originally posted by 87antuzzi: What if someone made a machine that shot blueberry muffins out of your @$$ when ever you had to fart. The world would be a better place.

I'd be hesitant at first, to want to eat these blueberry muffins. I'll tell you right now, we'd all get fat, because there's a LOT of farting that goes on in the IT office here at work. We would have a plethora of muffins for the entire office. As a matter of fact, the amount of farts in the office due to protein shakes would probably make enough blueberry muffins that we'd be able to feed ALL the poor in the entire city.

Since muffins often cause people to fart anyway, I can see a scary dillema of people getting fatter and fatter, and then farting even more and more. We might get to the point where muffins outnumber humans by a significant majority. We would start launching them into space (maybe at the sun) to get rid of them, but they would continue to produce more and more. Homes, even entire cities would be overwhelmed. We'd get to the point where the oceans would be jam packed full of soggy blueberry muffins. They would wash up on the shores, and the beaches (and ocean water) would be stained blue. Sea-life would be eating them, and then likely they would start farting too which would lead to even more. It would be sheer chaos...

quote Originally posted by TommyRocker: This is sad... these cars were made to be driven.

Shoot... it's not like they have 10 miles each on them. The Fiero was my first car. It's seen everything from car sex, to 130miles an hour, to triple-digit speeds on a highway on / off-ramp with all four tires squealing. Right now, I'm in the process of totally restoring the car... so to say the car is probably "relieved" is an understatement.

I only drive the Bus when I go to the beach, or need to pick up 50+ bags of mulch at Home Depot.

Anyway though... had either of these cars ended up in the hands of someone else, they would have been destroyed by now.

Sounds like a interresting concept. 3 gallons a day would be more than enough for my daily commute. I usually drive 30-50 miles a day. In my Duke powered Fiero that means I burn 1-1.6 gallons a day.

Is this some kind of home gasifier?

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: What if someone invented a machine that could make gasoline? Small quantities, two or three gallons a day at most, but used only resources found in just about every household in America and only cost maybe a buck or two a day to run? What would you pay for such a machine? What would it be worth?

If you accept alcohol as a fuel source, its been done already. You can buy home 'stills' dedicated to making car fuel.

quote Originally posted by Scottzilla79: What is now cheap may become an expensive commodity when it is used for fuel.

Yeah , it depends on what you need to use it. How much baby sitting it needs, etc. Cost/benefit.

quote Originally posted by Doug85GT: Sounds like a interresting concept. 3 gallons a day would be more than enough for my daily commute. I usually drive 30-50 miles a day. In my Duke powered Fiero that means I burn 1-1.6 gallons a day. Is this some kind of home gasifier?

Ya but what if you need to travel more than the 30-50 miles a day and there is now no other source to get gas from? (no gas stations)

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: I'd be hesitant at first, to want to eat these blueberry muffins. I'll tell you right now, we'd all get fat, because there's a LOT of farting that goes on in the IT office here at work. We would have a plethora of muffins for the entire office. As a matter of fact, the amount of farts in the office due to protein shakes would probably make enough blueberry muffins that we'd be able to feed ALL the poor in the entire city. Since muffins often cause people to fart anyway, I can see a scary dillema of people getting fatter and fatter, and then farting even more and more. We might get to the point where muffins outnumber humans by a significant majority. We would start launching them into space (maybe at the sun) to get rid of them, but they would continue to produce more and more. Homes, even entire cities would be overwhelmed. We'd get to the point where the oceans would be jam packed full of soggy blueberry muffins. They would wash up on the shores, and the beaches (and ocean water) would be stained blue. Sea-life would be eating them, and then likely they would start farting too which would lead to even more. It would be sheer chaos...

"The Trouble With Tribbles"

Just don't let government or special interests get involved or the cost will skyrocket.

quote Originally posted by Scottzilla79: Ya but what if you need to travel more than the 30-50 miles a day and there is now no other source to get gas from? (no gas stations)

The OP said 2-3 gallons of gas a day. So I could fill up my tank and then some with the gas that I could produce on a daily basis. I can drive about 320 miles on a full tank. That is a 160 mile range.

Also, if this machine is making gasoline and requires no modification to my car, then I should be able to just drive into a gas station to fill up if I need to make a longer trip.

I want one of these:



But more likely to get this:

[This message has been edited by spark1 (edited 03-30-2011).]

I wouldn't get a chance to pay for it because the big oil execs would have you slaughtered and the plans hidden within about 10 minutes of it appearing.

quote Originally posted by InTheLead: I wouldn't get a chance to pay for it because the big oil execs would have you slaughtered and the plans hidden within about 10 minutes of it appearing.

Very true!!


My daily driver is my diesel truck and getting 6.8 MPG lately city driving. (but a lot better on the highway)

quote Originally posted by InTheLead: I wouldn't get a chance to pay for it because the big oil execs would have you slaughtered and the plans hidden within about 10 minutes of it appearing.

You forget about ethanol stills.
If your car is able to run on E85, all you need is a little bit of gas in each tankful. Making your own motor fuel is legal, but you need to be sure to take care of the road taxes or the government will shut you down and fine you should they notice. That was the catch with moonshine - not that it was "illegal booze" but the alcohol taxes weren't paid on it.

I already have one of those machines !!!...Somebody just needs to find a way to capture and liquify what comes out my azz in gaseous form !!! TALK about high octane !!

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: What if someone invented a machine that could make gasoline? Small quantities, two or three gallons a day at most, but used only resources found in just about every household in America and only cost maybe a buck or two a day to run? What would you pay for such a machine? What would it be worth?

It has, and is, being done. Ethanol stills and methane digesters produce burnable compounds that people have converted their cars to run. Cost looks to be several thousand dollars unless you do a lot of "Hilbilly Engineering" which may not be too safe. The hard part is getting the feedstocks, and setting up such an operation in the typical suburban setting. Virtually impossible if you consider zoning. Absolutely impossible if you live in the city, or an apartment.

Unless you have some technology we don't know about. And we're pretty smart....

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: What if someone invented a machine that could make gasoline? Small quantities, two or three gallons a day at most, but used only resources found in just about every household in America and only cost maybe a buck or two a day to run? What would you pay for such a machine? What would it be worth?

The machine would be worth whatever the market would bear. The first few would be worth hundreds of millions then the worth would taper off to millions and hundreds of thousands. If too many machines were made, the big oil producers would have to drop their prices to compete. This will happen shortly after Hell freezes over.

If you own a diesel vehicle, its even easier. Converting your diesel to run on vegetable oil is easy. Remember, Rudolf Diesel designed his engine to run on peanut oil. Diesel fuel was an afterthought cooked up by the oil companies to keep people dependent.

quote Originally posted by 87antuzzi: What if someone made a machine that shot blueberry muffins out of your @$$ when ever you had to fart. The world would be a better place.

Dammit, tuzzi, I almost spewed scotch all over my monitor.

quote Originally posted by Formula88: You forget about ethanol stills. If your car is able to run on E85, all you need is a little bit of gas in each tankful. Making your own motor fuel is legal, but you need to be sure to take care of the road taxes or the government will shut you down and fine you should they notice. That was the catch with moonshine - not that it was "illegal booze" but the alcohol taxes weren't paid on it.

Well he said gasoline which is derived from petrol. If it was 'fuel' I wouldn't have replied as such.

quote Originally posted by billpapps: "The Trouble With Tribbles"

Loved that episode!!!

Well, he said "gasoline"--not ethanol or "biofuel".

I would try it here, since I have room enough to keep it far from where I sleep, and eat, but the idea of cracking out all that "stuff" and having perhaps benezene, xylenes, tolulene etc around in a close proximity neighborhood is kinda worrisome.

Word of warning:

The valves on a homemade thermal depolymerization machine are about $500 each. You probably need 3. The cost of such a machine would probably be close to $4000 - not totally unreasonable considering you'd get a few gallons per day, but Americans are incapable of thinking beyond next month.

quote Originally posted by Doug85GT: The OP said 2-3 gallons of gas a day. So I could fill up my tank and then some with the gas that I could produce on a daily basis. I can drive about 320 miles on a full tank. That is a 160 mile range. Also, if this machine is making gasoline and requires no modification to my car, then I should be able to just drive into a gas station to fill up if I need to make a longer trip.

Ok you didn't read my post, "NO GAS STATIONS". Now that everyone can make their own gas at home, how long will gas stations stay open? For those that remain open do you think prices will increase or decrease? How much gas are you going to store at home? How much will it cost to store gas? I'm sure there would be a lot of EPA involvement just as there is with a commercial gas storage. What about the environmental impact of people who can't even mow their lawns now having 10s or 100s of gallons of gas stored in their backyards? What if you need to make a long trip and use up your tank of gas and then unexpectedly have to make another long trip?

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: Word of warning: The valves on a homemade thermal depolymerization machine are about $500 each. You probably need 3. The cost of such a machine would probably be close to $4000 - not totally unreasonable considering you'd get a few gallons per day, but Americans are incapable of thinking beyond next month.

Okay, YOU know something I don't. Spill the beans. What the heck is a "depolymerization machine"?

quote Originally posted by Zeb: Okay, YOU know something I don't. Spill the beans. What the heck is a "depolymerization machine"?

You've never heard of Google?

quote Originally posted by Zeb: Okay, YOU know something I don't. Spill the beans. What the heck is a "depolymerization machine"?

it breaks down plastic into its base form, which is oil

I've been looking for plans/drawings for one for quite a while.

It also is apparently a foul smelling process.
A TDP plant was shutdown in Missouri because residents complained of the putrid smell from the plant. Doing this in a home based environment will be tricky, if even possible.

We used to call Pasadena Texas--where a lot of refineries are located along the Houston ship channel------------Stinkadena.

quote Originally posted by Zeb: Okay, YOU know something I don't. Spill the beans. What the heck is a "depolymerization machine"?

I investigated this around 2002... Basically you can put whatever you want into this pressure vessel (in this case, probably garbage... A typical household has a lot of plastic and organic waste - GREAT for conversion to oil) and cook it at high temp and pressure, and out comes crude oil. Then you can distill the oil into separate products like gasoline, etc. Diesel would probably be the easiest to get out of the system, however.

It's a great idea, and I love the fact that it reduces garbage production and gives back something everyone could use... hell it would probably reduce our foreign oil consumption by 30% or more if everyone had one!

The issues with the system are:
1) Safety. It needs high temps and high pressure to operate. That makes it inherently dangerous.
2) Cost. At $4000, and a couple gallons of crude a week, you're looking at maybe 6 years break even point... Like I said, we typically don't look much farther beyond a month. A couple years, tops.

Here's an article from a couple of weeks ago on MSNBC on a machine that turns plastic back into oil. Cost was stated as $10k

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn....astic-bags-into-fuel

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: What if someone invented a machine that could make gasoline? Small quantities, two or three gallons a day at most, but used only resources found in just about every household in America and only cost maybe a buck or two a day to run? What would you pay for such a machine? What would it be worth?

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Average consumer would pay $3000 to $3500.