Jump to content

Important Ethanol Message!


R W Burgess

Recommended Posts

Just a slight detour here.

In my humble opinion ethanol should remain a beverage and not a fuel additive. It has no business being in a gas tank.

Does this make your car under the influence every time you fill the tank?

Anyway, this is an issue I take seriously and perhaps we should find some elected officials who are sympathetic to our cause. There certainly have to be some members in congress who collect and enjoy vintage automobiles as much as we do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ooops. I made a mistake. Ethanol is blended at precisely 5.6% in gasoline when used as an oxygenate only, not "substantially less than 5%" as I stated. I had the wrong figure in mind when I wrote the post.

Even a public servant with brains can misspeak on occasion.:o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's rumour here in tobacco-land that biofuels can be made from it.

What you are talking about is called cellulosic ethanol, which is ethanol made from the whole of any plant. That is the ultimate goal of the building ethanol infrastructure in the U.S. When achieved any rapidly growing plant can be used, and species used will be chosen based on local conditions. It might be tobbaco, it might be sawgrass, it might be kudzu, etc.

When cellulosic ethanol becomes a reality it is expected to rival sugar cane ethanol processes for energy production efficiency. Presently corn-based processes make 2.3 BTUs for every BTU expended (up from 1.76 BTUs 6 years ago). Cellulosic ethanol should produce an expected 9 BTUs for every BTU expended, similar to Brazil's sugar cane based industry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Answering Glenn’s question on why aviation fuel (avgas) doesn’t contain ethanol. There are probably a few reasons:

1) Avgas is a specific product with its own additive package and has always had a separate distribution system as compared to automotive fuels, so it has been easier to keep it out of the main stream changes.

2) Avgas is a fairly low volume commodity (0.14% of auto use) and is not as scrutinized.

3) Changes to avgas would require a significant investment by any piston engine aircraft user and manufacturer and would kill an already weakened industry.

4) The aviation community has a pretty strong lobby representing about 1.3 million people.

Add all that up and they have been successful is keeping ethanol out and lead in (for the time being). The lead issue is coming to a head rather quickly and there is a lot of work going on to find a cost effective substitute.

Scott

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Guess I'm lucky...we have an independent gas station in Satellite Beach. FL that sells ONLY non-ethanol gas. Station usually has lines of folks filling their cars, boats and cans. I'm one of those in line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guess I'm lucky...we have an independent gas station in Satellite Beach. FL that sells ONLY non-ethanol gas. Station usually has lines of folks filling their cars, boats and cans. I'm one of those in line.

If they're filling road vehicles with marine gas don't expect it to last long, especially if it's as well known as you say. Avoiding the fuel tax is illegal, and in Florida it is outright against the law period to sell gasoline with less than 9% ethanol for motor vehicle use. ( Isn't it illegal for stations to sell non-ethanol fuel? | TBO.com )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Legal issues aside, from a mechanical perspectivem does anyone know if it is ok to use Avgas (100LL) in a 1920s Packard? I believe this is basically straight gas (around 93 octane) with some lead added? Would this damage the engine or any of the fuel system components? Would this be a better alternative to E10 gas?

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"That law now requires all gasoline sold or offered for sale to be blended with 9- to 10-percent ethanol, except when sold for some special use, said Matthew Curran, chief of petroleum inspection with Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Among those special uses: Fuel for aircraft, boats, collector/classic vehicles with a state tag, off-road vehicles, motorcycles and small engines, i.e. lawn equipment."

So at least someone in Florida realises the folly of ethanol for those "special uses".

Sounds to me like Floridians need a wholesale changeout of their state legislature, beginning with the ones who devised and voted this law into existence in 2010. I can promise you Big Agriculture was in every one of their pockets.

One thing I have learned- re-election is the ONLY thing that matters to a politician. The only way most of them get the message is the threat of losing their office. Hence my argument for strictly enforced term limits and campaign money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"That law now requires all gasoline sold or offered for sale to be blended with 9- to 10-percent ethanol, except when sold for some special use, said Matthew Curran, chief of petroleum inspection with Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Among those special uses: Fuel for aircraft, boats, collector/classic vehicles with a state tag, off-road vehicles, motorcycles and small engines, i.e. lawn equipment."

So at least someone in Florida realises the folly of ethanol for those "special uses".

I would be VERY happy if this were a national policy, and not just in Florida. I don't know any other state that makes this exemption, but I sure hope there are others. Also I hope that this exemption applies to tags from other states, i.e. a registered antique just visiting FL.

BTW, I find it hard to believe that there are "lines of folks" buying this gas just for the purposes stated in the law, at least not on a regular basis. If Ray's description is accurate, I think this outlet may be asking for trouble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...