Stable ethanol/biodiesel/diesel emulsions.

I'm going through the scientific journal Energy and Fuels as I usually do, and found an article that may be of interest to those of us who are larger fans of ethanol and biodiesel fuels than I am.

The reference is: Energy & Fuels 2004, 18, 1695-1703 and the article is entitled: "Development of a Novel Biofuel Blend Using
Ethanol-Biodiesel-Diesel Microemulsions: EB-Diesel."

Apparently the use of ethanol as an additive has been complicated by the biphasic nature of ethanol diesel systems that appears at certain temperatures. The authors of this paper are reporting on their work using biodiesel as a surfactant to make stable emulsions. This apparently could lead to ternary fuels having a high biologically generated content. This of course, to the extent that industrial agriculture is sustainable, would be, as Martha Stewart used to say, "a good thing."

http://www.dancingrabbit.org/biodiesel/flrecipe.html
www.distributiondrive.com/Homepowerbiodieselarticle.pdf

I had considered doing some of my own conversions but in a small apartment with gas heat and having a fairly efficient car, it would take too long to see the return. From what I had read, the biggest problem is achieving and maintaining consistent viscosity through expected temperature ranges. I read another article that had a good real world test procedure for getting the best ratio of oil/lye/ethanol for the most consistent blend, but I can't seem to find the link. The most useable blend seems to be 20% biodiesel. Higher ratios run higher risk of filter/injector clogging from viscosity change or deterioration of rubber seals or gaskets.

My $.02 (even if it's only worth half that)