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Times-Advocate, 1981-01-21, Page 25Could use farm by-products Seminar on iuel alcohol production A seminar on "Fuel Alcohol Production on the Farm" drew a good atten- dance at Centralia College, Monday. Two of the speakers were Marty Mirik of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in North Bay and George Jones of Stewart Seeds in Aliso Craig' The subjects covered in- cluded the equipment need- ed, crops to produce the product, how to use it, ex- isting motor changes and utilization of internal com- bustion exchanges. Jack Underwood, an agricultural engineer at CCAT said he expected on- farm demonstration units may be set up in Ontario within the next two years. OMAF has set up an energy resource centre in Toronto and hopes to follow with an on-farm alcohol production demonstration. Underwood continued, "Our laws concerning alcohol production are very stringent and need to be changed to allow the use of alcohol for fuel. Licences are only $250 but a bond of 1200.000 is necessary to en- sure the product is used for what it was intended for." Alcohol to be used as a motor fuel would need to be about 95 percent pure. This would require extra distilla- tion. Underwood added, "The real utilization would be to use the byproducts of such thingsas corn, potatoes and lumber." Sawdust could be used to heat the production still and for making the product. Following is some infor- mation in a recent bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food regar- ding farm scale production and use of fuel alcohol. On-farm production of alcohol can give some in- dependence from traditional fuel sources. Though not commercially available in Canada. engines that run on 100 percent alcohol or mix- tures of alcohol and water ("aquahol ') are being developed. Some individuals have been successful at modifying gasoline and diesel engines to run on various com- binations of fuel (gasoline or diesel), alcohol and water. Companies are developing conversion kits for existing engines. If it is economic to do so, you can mix up to 10 percent (perhaps even 20 percent) of anhydrous (water -free) alcohol produc- ed on the farm with gasoline and use this in gasoline engines without major engine modification. The mixture ("gasohol") appears to cause no damage, to the engine, although long- term effects are not precise- ly known. Alcohol can also provide a source of fuel to dry grain and to heat buildings, greenhouses, and water. However, it makes better sense to directly burn straw. stover or wood for such heating. Cardiff proposes bill for farm machinery Member of Parliament Murray Cardiff (PC, Huron - Bruce) recently forwarded the text of Bill C384, an Act respecting Farm Equipment Emergency Repair Parts, to provincial agriculture ministers. heads of national farm organizations, and national media organizations serving agricultural interests. Cardiff introduced Bill C384 as a Private Member's bill. shortly after his elec- tion to Parliament. -I think most farmers have been aware for some time of the damage that can be done to their operations by slow delivery of necessary repair parts," Cardiff said. 'This bill is meant to provide procedures for making sure that emergency repair parts for farm machinery get special handling and are not sub- jected to unnecessary delays." he said. Cardiff emplained that he is circulating copies of his bill to.141,e,restO agencies to provoke discussion of possi- : b)e solutions to the parts I delivery problem faced by farmers ,and equipment dealers acting on their behalf. The bill is unlikely to come up for debate in Parliament during the pre- sent session. Thus there is an opportunity to in- corporate.new ideas into the present text so that it may be re -presented during a future sesssion. "The important thing," says Cardiff is to come up with a delivery system that guarantees rapid parts delivery from anywhere in the world. That's not easy, when the required part may have to travel on three different airlines to a Cana- dian airport, and then by truck 'to wherever the farmer or his equipment dealer is going to receive it. The present bill proposes one solution upon which farm groups and the provinces may wish to com- ment." The bill's provisions would require airlines operating in Canada to advertise a special tariff and observe special procedures for parts shipped under this category. A special label reading "F.E.R.P. rtUSH''would at- tach to the Farm Equipment Repair Part (FERP) to notify handlers that special procedures are in force. Customs officers would also be required to observe special procedures in clear- ing FERP items originating outside Canada, in order to minimize delays. "It's the old story outlined in the old saying," said Mr. Cardiff." 'For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe. the horse was lost; for want of ahorse, the rider was lost.' " "A farmer may have a $200.000 crop rotting in the field because his $80,000 machine is missing a $60 part. When you are facing the ruin of your crop because that small part is sitting idle in a storage bin at some air- port or customs depot, it is obvious that you need procedures which will get the part to you without such delays." Mr. Cardiff acknowledges that the proposed procedures might be costly, but he argues that on oc- casions when farmers would use such a service, the cost of not getting the part would be devastating. Because farm machinery used in Canada may originate in any country in the world. the hazards of parts supply are con- siderable. Correspondingly, Stephen Central Tiger Times Hi! Tiger Times readers! How's life treating you? If the weather is getting you down, let us pick you up with interesting articles and stories. So start reading! The Tiger Student wins pin Heather Love entered a Natural Resources Essay Contest and won 10th and also a pin for It. It was a at Wingham District Office. Heather wrote her essay on Provincial Parks. -Lisa Hewitt Speeches Speeches are coming up in our school. Grades four to eight are preparing speeches for different competitions. I would like to wish everyone that is writing a speech, the best of luck. -Julie Hendrick Popcorn sale The Grade seven students are holding a 'popcorn sale and a bake sale Thursday January 22 to gc toward our Camp Sylvan fund. -Ruth Anne Martin Upcoming tournament Friday, January 23 the boys floor hockey team will be going to McCurdy and the girls floor hockey team will be going to Exeter for the tournament. The teams were picked on Friday January 9. The try- outs started in mid December. There were about 40 girls and 40 boys trying. Out of the 40 girls trying out only 15 made it, and out of the 40 boys 18 made it. -Paul Mellecke Course selection Tuesday, January 13, the grade eight students from Mount Carmel, J.A.D. McCurdy and Stephen Central met at the Stephen School to discuss their course selection for grade 9. It proved very helpful. -Dan Mellin Student council fund raising The Student Council recently finished their fund raising drive. We raised over $1600. We gave out awards in three categories: Primary, Junior, and Senior. The nine winners were: Suzanne Finkbeiner, Steven Anderson, Trevor Johnston, Lori Hutchinson, Connie Glanville, Gary Austin, Connie Russell, Jeff Sweitzer. We especially congratulate these people but we thank everyone who participated. -Jerry Lam - port Everything looks so cold The trees are bare, The cold in the air, Everything looks so cold. The evergreens froze, the cold on my nose, Everything looks so cold. The snow blowing along, the wind so strong, Everything looks so cold. When winter is here the snow is most feared 'Cause everything looks so cold. •Barbera Gallant Mr. Cardiff argues, the need for well -drafted guidelines setting out delivery procedures is very great. It is for this reason that he is seeking comments and suggestions from provincial legislators and farm organizations whose members would be affected by the bill. "I must commend my predecessor in Huron - Bruce." Cardiff said. "Bob McKinley, who held my seat for fifteen years, introduced a bill addressing this same problem in the last Parlia- ment. The present bill owes a great deal to the work he did in preparing his own bill." Difficulties in settling upon a workable text for the bill have held up printing since May. The bill began circulating in parliament in early December. Vandalism proves costly Vandalism in Huron Coun- ty schools has cost the tax- payer almost $6,000 in the last four months of 1980. A report released to the board by Director of Educa- tion. John Cochrane in- dicated that incidents of vandalism and related damage in both elementary and secondary schools amounted to 85,894 in repair costs. The total cost of damage repairs in elemen- tary schools was $3,035 and $2.859 in secondary schools for the four month period. Most elementary schools reported one or two in- cidents of damage but Robertson Memorial Public School in Goderich reported eight incidents at a repair cost of 8384. The highest repair cost was $554 as a result of two incidents at Huron Centennial School. One incident of damage at Holmesville Public School resulted in repair costs of $116 while five at Victoria Public School cost $404. There were seven incidents of damage at Usborne Cen- tral School costing $280. Almost half the incidents of damage at county secon- dary schools occurred atCen- tral Huron High School in Clinton. Of 31 damage reports in the county, 15 were in Clinton at a cost of $1.844. Much of the damage required the expertise • of outside tradesmen. South Huron High School in Hxeter reported nine in- cidents of damage at a cost of $607. There were two in- cidents at Goderich and District Collegiate with repair costs estimated at $186. Cochrane told the board that many incidents occur after school hours and on weekends and repairs often involve overtime pay to custodians or outside tradesmen. The only schools without damage reports were Hen- sall Public School, Howick Central School, Seaforth Public School, Stephen Cen- tral Public School and Walton Public School: National Non -Smoking Week Jan.18-24,1981 Low-cost steel or fiberglass rather than stainless steel may be used for some components of the alcohol production system to reduce capital costs. However, because of possi- ble hazards and rapid weaP due to corrosion, stainless steel is recommended for most of the components, es- pecially the distillation ap- paratus. Many individuals will be capable of building some of the components themselves. Odor, clarity and the bitter taste of fusel oils (higher alcohols) are not concerns in fuel alcohol production. When practical, crop residues (straw, stover) or wood may be used to fire a steam boiler for the dis- tillery. is- tillery. Unsold crop inventory, distressed grains and other low -quality produce such as potato culls may be used to produce alcohol. On a cash crop/livestock farm. you may convert part of the crop to alcohol, and use the wet spent mash or stillage. that is high in pro- tein. aa livestock feed. Cooperative development of a central alcohol produc- tion plant is a possible way to increase production and balance alcohol and feedstock supply versus alcohol demand, while lowering costs to individual producers. The cooperative or other business arrangement will let the producers hire a qualified person to operate the system, avoiding many, though not all, of the technical problems that will be encountered. An integrated approach might be to produce alcohol in association with a methane digester using livestock wastes. Methane could supply some of the energy needed by the digester and the cooking/distillation pperations. However, farm - scale methane (or anaerobic)digestion has not yet proven profitable in Canada. Times -Advocate, January 21, 1981 Page 25 TALK ABOUT FUEL ALCOHOL — A seminar on On -Farm Production of Fuel Alcohol was held at Centralia College, Mon- day. From the left are CCAT short course director Don Cameron, Mort Kirik from the North Boy OMAF office, Huron's Ag engineer Ron Fleming and area farmer Dave Turnbull. 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