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Show I. INTRODUCTION A search for plentiful energy has been made by mankind since the industrial revolution. This search has been intensified due to the present amount of energy used in the United States (35% of which is * for transportation) and depletion of fossil fuel supplies (1) . Currently, large importations of foreign oil have met our domestic needs, but they are no longer a certainty. Unless a single plentiful portable renewable fuel source is developed, the internal combustion engine of the future will have to have the capability of burning a wide range of fuels. The public sector is very boisterous about a loss of mobility in the event of a fuel supply shortage, while at the same time, one of their top priorities is ample food production regardless of the portable fuel situation. A foreign dependence for this fuel is neither economically nor agriculturally sound. Our agriculturalists have the capacity to grow part, if not all, of farm fuel needs. Homegrown fuels, such as alcohols and agricultural oils, can be obtained from biomass fuel stock. Current use of these as fuels is limited. An ideal solution would be for farm equipment manufacturers to begin Installing multi-fuel engines in new farm machinery. However, most farm equipment used today is equipped with conventional compression- ignition (C.I.) engines and replacement of these engines with multi-fuel engines would be expensive and long-termed. Simple modifications of present C.I. engines to allow the use of biomass fuels is an attractive alternative. Agricultural oils and alcohols have been used in conjunction with diesel fuel in stock C.I. engines for many years (2, 3). The most significant problem with these fuels has been their variance ^Numbers in parentheses indicate references listed in "References." |