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Posted by D. Sherman on Friday, April 04, 2008 at 22:41:50 :
In Reply to: Why not Kerosene posted by Tim on Friday, April 04, 2008 at 22:09:55 :
#2 diesel is getting close to being the standard. "Furnace oil" and "off-road diesel" are the same stuff these days, and are probably going to end up being the same as undyed low-sulfur highway diesel. Kero (#1 diesel) or heavier won't work for spark-ignition in any kind of modern engine, so I think gasoline/alcohol are here to stay as long as we need light engines for light vehicles. As for aviation, my understanding is that jet fuel is basically 50/50 kero/gasoline, with the gasoline being there to ensure that it doesn't gel at 50 below zero. Gel point would be a tough one to get over for any kind of standardized fuel that has to both be guaranteed not to gel at stratospheric temperatures and still be as cheap as possible for trucks, trains, and heating. Personally, if I just had one little oil well, like some farmers in Honduras hit a few years ago that produces light sweet crude the color of honey and that burns fine in their diesel tractors with no refining at all, I'd convert everything I have to run on it and I'd be happy.