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[P-Luke]

I don't like playing on magma maps, because I'm usually a slow starter (I don't want to make a basic base before starting a megaproject.. I want my initial base to BE the megaproject).

Anyway, I've been playing a lot on otherwise interesting maps: deserts, mountains and oceans/lake.
On these maps its often hard or impossible to find wood, and having a large amount of coke is often a luxury I do not have.

I would like to see a plant that can be used for fuel, either right away or processed in a brewery/apothecary/farmers workshop into a liquid fuel (like peanut oil = diesel).
That way you can practically grow your own supply of fuel. It doesnt make the game a terrible lot easier because it would be more work then making charcoal, but at least its safer then going out to cut down trees and easier then waiting for the next caravan to come visit you with wood/charcoal.

[P-Luke]

Actually, it just occurred to me that being able to plant your own trees would have the same result, in a way.
And I believe that that was already on the list, so I suppose this suggestion is somewhat obsolete, although I'd still like it for roleplaying purposes.

[Rysith]

It's also easy enough to mod in as a smelter reaction, either with or without fuel. Doesn't seem like it's the kind of thing that would need to be part of the official raws.

[Footkerchief]

It's worth noting that different fuels burn at different temperatures (I'm talking about combustion temperature here, not ignition temperature), so not every fuel will be suitable for all types of work.  A broader spectrum of fuels and job requirements would cause local conditions to have a more meaningful impact on industry.  In your exotic biomes, the locally available fuels might not be adequate for smelting, but they could still be used for cooking (once cooking needs fuel), etc.

Unfortunately I'm having some trouble finding a definitive table of combustion temperatures of various substances -- most online resources focus on modern fossil fuels.

[Neonivek]

Fuels like Dung and Olive Oil would probably be pretty hard to get information on.

Though Olive Oil was too valuable to get in large enough quantities to actually use as a fuel.

[Duke 2.0]

 I hear some animal oils and fats burn hot enough for smelting, as one guy did in his backyard.

[Neonivek]

I hear some animal oils and fats burn hot enough for smelting, as one guy did in his backyard.

The problem is that some animal products require such high heats to force it to release its energy that it is impractical. (Some meats have enough energy to be rocket fuel)

Though yes people back then did realise that animal fats could burn. Early Candles were done with animal fat... Hense why Wax Candle isn't redundant. Though if it went further then that I don't know.

[puke]

I hear some animal oils and fats burn hot enough for smelting, as one guy did in his backyard.

yeah, and thats no bullshit either.  did you read the one about the guy who made the thermal lance out of bacon, and used it to cut through a steel pan?

http://www.popsci.com/bacon

of course he used pure oxygen to feed it, which its self is more than moderately flamable.  but its impressive none the less.

[Derakon]

Oxygen doesn't burn. However, it is a necessary input into the "burning" reaction, and typically what limits the rate of combustion is access to oxygen (all of the oxygen near the burning material is used up, so it has to wait for the released CO2 to dissipate and more oxygen to flow in before it can continue burning). By directly pure O2 at the burning material, you greatly increase the speed of combustion, releasing much more heat, but in a much shorter timeframe.

[Duke 2.0]

 And thus why forges have bellows. I think they guy who did the backyard melting and casting used the fuel in an air jet directly into the furnace. But these are dwarves! Of course they can make smelters capable of creating mini-tornadoes!

 I think animal fats and oils of plants can be used as fuel, but because they burn faster than traditional fuels you need 5-10 objects of animal fat/plant oil to melt a bar.

[Footkerchief]

And thus why forges have bellows. I think they guy who did the backyard melting and casting used the fuel in an air jet directly into the furnace. But these are dwarves! Of course they can make smelters capable of creating mini-tornadoes!

This raises a good side point -- bellows should totally be a crafted item required for construction of a forge/smelter.  Maybe crafted from metal/wood + cloth/leather?  A high quality bellows could increase the fuel efficiency of the job or something.

[puke]

ah, that reminds me of the old chemestry courses now.  so the pure O2 environment that "caused" the old space capsule fire and the "no smoking" in areas where pure O2 is in use (back when you could smoke in hospitals) isnt because the oxygen burns on its own, but rather because it makes normal fires more likely and more dangerous.

a simple spark from an electrical outlet or lightswitch wont ignight the oxygen the way it would ignight a natural gas leak, but it is more likely to start an electrical fire which is more likely to spread.

right?

which leads to the question of wither you could smelt with bacon without pure O2 as the oxidizer.  probably yes, if you started with a dung fire and fed it with powerfull billows.  you'd think that the richest fuel would be pure lard, and isnt tallow essentially dried / refined lard?  it was used in candles and lamps, but maybe it has larger applications?  some googling suggests that there is some EU legislation going on about wither tallow burning is allowed in the waste incineration industry right now...

perhaps a good suggestion would be dwarf powered or machine powered billows, to aid in smelting.  much like mills work.  maybe some types of metals are unsmeltable without them, depending on their melting point.  or maybe job speed changes...  i think tallow-as-fuel has been brought up before.

[Neonivek]

The Thing is Puke that Candles are basically in a manner of speaking... Perfect for burning the Lard/Tallow.

I don't know if they could replicate it in a large scale sort of method.

[Duke 2.0]

 Checked the backyard melting site. The guy used old motor oil and excess cooking oil. While he preferred the motor oil, he found the cooking oil worked fine for melting iron.

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/bestfuel03.html

[Neonivek]

Checked the backyard melting site. The guy used old motor oil and excess cooking oil. While he preferred the motor oil, he found the cooking oil worked fine for melting iron.

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/bestfuel03.html

That doesn't quite help things... The only two oils that I am aware were available was Olive and Baby (Mir?)