For starters, the machine will set you back $10,000 to purchase. You’ll then need to buy between 350 and 490 pounds of feedstock to make your first batch. E-Fuel, the company marketing the device, is also planning to offer a program to buy discounted sugar feedstock at a cost of 15 to 30 cents a pound. It takes 10 to 14 pounds to produce a gallon of ethanol. Assuming your first batch costs the low end of 15 cents per pound and you need 10 pounds per gallon, you’ve already spent $1.50 on raw materials. Add in the cost of 4 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol, the cost of the electricity, and the factor likely to be the real cost of the operation: the production and delivery of the sugar feedstock. The company aims to keep the cost of ethanol less than $1 per gallon through its feedstock program, but I have a difficult time understanding how that’s possible. Even with its recommendation that the end product be dilluted to 65%, the cost still does not approach the $1 mark. Via SciAm
