Found a good "BBS Text" link? Let Us Know!

This paper is presented in an historical context and is indicative of the various rants, raves, treatises, etc., that were prevalent in the old BBS (Bulletin Board Service) days. Content has not been changed, though formatting changes may have taken place to make it more presentable. (Spelling, sentence/paragraph structure, etc.) Wherever possible, credit is given to the originating source.

 Return to BBS Text Files

The SPOTLIGHT 
February 15, 1993

ANSWER TO ENERGY PROBLEMS? INVENTION EXCITES INDUSTRY
A Nevada inventor has come up with a process combining gasoline with water that promises to revolutionize the auto industry.
By Andrew Arnold

There's good news on the horizon for American automobile owners: A new technology developed by Nevada inventor Rudolf Gunnerman will allow cars to travel more than twice as far on a gallon of fuel priced at half of today's rate.

This breakthrough - consisting of a method to burn in internal combustion engines a fuel mixture of 55 percent water and 45 percent gasoline by weight, hence the name A-55 - reduces harmful emissions as well. Carbon dioxide is cut in half and nitrogen oxide drops nearly 40 percent. Total emissions, due to more efficient combustion, are cut by 90 percent. 

"It's not too good to be true," Gunnerman told The SPOTLIGHT. "It's new, but it's fact. Everything has been tested by Stanford Research International (SRI), an arm of Stanford University in California. A-55 uses a water/gas shift to produce hydrogen. It can be done with virtually no power.

"Before, if someone had the fuel, they wouldn't have had the car to run it in," he added. "and if they had the car, they wouldn't have had the fuel. It took a number of new disciplines to accomplish this." The chief breakthrough is a new emulsification process that combines the water and gasoline. Two industry newsletters, the Bloomberg Business Report and the Oil Market Listener, have featured in-depth coverage of Gunnerman's process. Gunnerman, a recent immigrant from Germany, has been approached by representatives of major oil companies as well as the military for information on adapting his process to their uses.

SPOTLIGHT readers in Reno, Nevada will have the opportunity to see how the fuel works this month as seven red-, white-, and blue- striped, modified American cars drive approximately 20,000 miles in a test run.

The modifications include the installation of a harmless, long-loved nickel catalyst in the engine combustion chamber. The price of retrofitting existing autos would be about $1,700.

Gunnerman said A-55 modifications may keep the price of cars down in the future as production costs, due to reduced need for anti-pollution control, air filtering and cooling equipment, are figured in.

To date the SRI has given a test car modified to run on A-55 flying colors. SRI tested a converted 1989 six-cylinder Ford Taurus. The ford showed an average of 37 miles per gallon of fuel, with some test scores near 50 mpg under differing driving conditions.

A similar but unmodified control car tested an average 14.7 mpg on standard fuel.

The inventor, president of Reno based Starbright Inc., said he expects to have a fleet of existing cars ready to test A-55 in limited market areas, "We hope to build an infrastructure to make the fuel available to the public," Gunnerman said. 

Once the infrastructure is laid, an as-yet-unnamed manufacturer has plans to have models of A-55 fueled cars on the market by the end of the year, Gunnerman said.

"We are able to have the fuel infrastructure in place by that time," Gunnerman said. "The first manufacturer will use the total country as a test market."

If the A-55 process is adopted widely it is expected to reduce U.S. reliance on crude oil imports and could have significant reductions on pollution emissions, according to experts.

 

Please Read The Website Disclaimer!
Copyright 2006, The Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute (SSRsi), All Rights Reserved
Site conceptualized, designed, created & maintained by MEG Raven
Snail Mail: SSRsi, PO Box 2572 Dillon, CO. 80435-2572