I'm not sure how this would work - I'm fairly sure there's some factor here that I haven't taken into account, but wouldn't it be possible to run a car with a large intake similar to a "Ram Scoop" on the fumes from other cars. I live in Australia, where the car pollution problem isn't quite so bad as say, America or parts of Europe, but if it's much worse overseas than it is here sometimes, then it might be possible.

I'm not looking for snipers to shoot my idea to bits. Maybe someone has some idea about the science behind it.
-- thelumberjack, May 28 2002

Eat poo, drink pee http://www.jesus-diet.com/urine.htm
and live to be a hundred. So sez a former PM. [neelandan, May 28 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Exhaust composition with cat convertor http://hk.geocities...er114fch/04/04c.htm
0.01% by volume of exhaust is unburnt hydrocarbons. That's not a lot of fuel. [pottedstu, May 28 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Better to collect evaporated gasoline than fumes? http://www.etvi.org...w_Benefits_jtf.html
"evaporative losses can account for a majority of the total hydrocarbon pollution from current model cars on hot days" [pottedstu, May 28 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Definitely! If the driver can live on excrement, the car can run on exhaust.
-- neelandan, May 28 2002


thanx neelandan. That was really constructive. I appreciate the time and thought that went into your input.
-- thelumberjack, May 28 2002


I think the other cars in this case would have to be REALLY fuel inefficient. The point with car fumes is that they have already been burnt, if they were still flammable then places with a high ambient temperature and lots of cars would have exploded by now. Or all cars would have back ends like the 1960's batmobile!
-- dare99, May 28 2002


You could gather all the soot from smelly old diesel engines, and use it to smelt iron.
-- pottedstu, May 28 2002



random, halfbakery