[Amc-list] PRI Learnings--Groovy Butanol

["Bruce Hevner" <scramblr@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Things I learned from the PRI show;

BUTANOL
The only folks I could find who had ANY knowledge of Butanol were those
crazy propeller head engineers from SHELL. 
They said there is no problem using it as a motor fuel to replace gasoline
as far as they know. The big problem is in the economics of it. Currently
the refining yield of Butanol is about HALF of Ethanol. They said it is also
much harder to get that yield because Butanol is very sensitive to several
things that can reduce the yield even more. That makes the price of Butanol
twice that of Ethanol BEFORE subsidies.
 They are aware of the Dupont/BP partnership which was established to try
and convert an Ethanol plant in Europe to Butanol. The partnership was
established over two years ago. As far as they know there have been no
advancements made with that and they felt if there were we certainly would
have heard about it.
With the current price of crude oil in the basement it doesn't look like
we'll hear Butanol news anytime soon.

CYLINDER HEAD GROOVING
I asked most of the "big name" cylinder head companies there what knowledge
they had of CHG (cylinder head grooving). NONE of them seemed to have any
idea of what I was talking about! The ONLY company who had knowledge of it
(and a pretty good one) was the folks at a small place called "Audie
Technology" www.audietech.com. They said they had seen the web site and knew
all about the claims. They too are VERY skeptical of any benefit from it and
expressed concerns it might increase the tendencies towards detonation. They
have not tested the theory however and knew no one who has. They also hope
SOMEONE will do a back to back dyno test soon.
 I asked about the possibility that it might help "swirl" if the grooves
were done at an angle. They said you have to be careful with inducing swirl
as you can actually get too much! He said GM had done a LOT of research with
swirl when they were developing the LS head. They found that using too much
swirl can actually hurt performance. Too much acts as a centrifuge and spins
the fuel out of the mixture where it collects on the cooler cylinder walls
not burning properly. The magic number seems to be 100 RPM. This can be
measured using their "Swirl Meter".
These guys are VERY knowledgeable and spent a good bit of time talking with
me. I recommend you take a look at their web site. They have a good
selection of software and hardware including instructions on how to make
your own flow bench!

I had a great time at the PRI show looking at all the high dollar parts,
talking with some of the top names in racing, and attending the technical
seminars. If you are in the racing game in any form (it's a trade only show)
I HIGHLY recommend you go! First full week in December, Orlando FL.
Maybe I'll see you there as I did Jim Boone!

But HEY,,, That's just ME!!
Bruce Hevner
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