10% Ethonal

[OcalaHemi]

The last two fills at the gas station I noticed larger then normal stickers on the pumps that their gas contains up to 10% ethonal. Has this been discussed here before. I currently pump 93 octane, could this cause knocking, having the 91 Performance tune from SuperChip? I have not heard any yet, but it's cool weather. Are there brands that do not use ethonal? If there is a link to this question please post it and I'll read it!

[HEMIDON]

Gas with ethanol does not change the anti-knock value. With ethanol,they modify the additives to provide the same octane rating. Running gas with ethanol, you will see up to a 10% increase in usage (10% less MPG) and slightly slower times at the track. You won't notice any difference in daily driveability.


Yea thats right, they add something to the gas that makes you use more and raise the price too !!!

[OcalaHemi]

Is ethanol suppose to be one of those "Green" fuels? Do all the Gas suppiers have ethanol in it?

[Arch Stanton]

Is ethanol suppose to be one of those "Green" fuels? Do all the Gas suppiers have ethanol in it?

It's "supposed to be", but it actually costs more at the pump than straight gasoline. Gotta love that, huh? Depending on where you live it may or may not be easy to find fuel without it. Here in Houston, you can't buy any gas without ethanol.

10% Ethanol in your gas should only decrease you gas mileage by 3% or so (that's still significant), but it actually helps to raise the octane level. No worries burning it... other than the decrease in mileage and an increase in the cost of breakfast cereal and beer.

[FloridaRT]

The last two fills at the gas station I noticed larger then normal stickers on the pumps that their gas contains up to 10% ethonal. Has this been discussed here before. I currently pump 93 octane, could this cause knocking, having the 91 Performance tune from SuperChip? I have not heard any yet, but it's cool weather. Are there brands that do not use ethonal? If there is a link to this question please post it and I'll read it!

Yeah Steve, I noticed the same thing in our area (Ocala) of Florida.
Seems all the gas stations are using it................:-(

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.............

Better get used to it.

Bob

[MagNite]

The 10% Ethanol blend has been out for years. Sunoco uses the blend where as Hess, Mobil, and Citco don't. Of course that's in my area. We don't have any Shell around here. I use Mobil probably like 95% of the time myself.

[apanda]

Wow! I am going to start paying more attention when I fill up... but usually it is before I go to work so I don't. But I am going to research the loss in MPG on the subject. If there is any than that is robbery.... cost more AND uses more!!

[Hemi31]

We have had it in NY for years.....used to only be in winter,now it's year round.

[apanda]

Ok so here is some info on the subject. If you scroll down to the "Technoloy" section it pertains to more of what we are talking about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel

It does claim--------

"the effect is small (~3%) when compared to conventional gasoline, and even smaller (1-2%) when compared to oxygenated and reformulated blends."

AND...

"For maximum use of ethanol's benefits, a much higher compression ratio should be used, which would render that engine unsuitable for gasoline usage."

Which would explain how they get comparable performance from an inferior energy source. I have been wondering on that on...

[stevesrt8]

The 10% Ethanol blend has been out for years. Sunoco uses the blend where as Hess, Mobil, and Citco don't. Of course that's in my area. We don't have any Shell around here. I use Mobil probably like 95% of the time myself.

It's a regional thing. BTW, here the Hess stations were among the first to use it!

The one nice thing is they are required to label it, so if there's no sticker you can be reasonably sure there's no ethanol.

[lafrad]

Ethanol up to 10% is used to decrease NOx and Carbon Monoxide emissions, NOT used to put farmers to work, or spend money, or be "Green" in the sence of what Al Gore wants.

A slightly oxygenated fuel burns cleaner, with less soot, and is able to keep a clean Catalyst in the converter.

Ethanol also is used to RAISE the octane rating... E10 fuel should knock LESS than straight gas.

Power output should not be measurably changed.

Fuel mileage will go down slightly.


We have had the E10 fuel forever on Milwaukee area: I was NEVER able to tell a difference between E0 and E10 at the drag strip.

I saw about 1-2 mpg difference in Highway MPG when using it.

[Arch Stanton]

Ethanol up to 10% is used to decrease NOx and Carbon Monoxide emissions, NOT used to put farmers to work, or spend money, or be "Green" in the sence of what Al Gore wants.

A slightly oxygenated fuel burns cleaner, with less soot, and is able to keep a clean Catalyst in the converter.

Ethanol also is used to RAISE the octane rating... E10 fuel should knock LESS than straight gas.

Power output should not be measurably changed.

Fuel mileage will go down slightly.


We have had the E10 fuel forever on Milwaukee area: I was NEVER able to tell a difference between E0 and E10 at the drag strip.

I saw about 1-2 mpg difference in Highway MPG when using it.

It does reduce emissions in your car, though it also needs to be taken into consideration that you're consuming an equal (or nearly equal) amount of fossil fuel to produce it in the first place. And lesser fuel mileage (though relatively small) negates some of those CO reductions as well. So I'm not so sure that there's much of a net reduction in greenhouse gasses.

And you can be certain that making it from corn (one of the most inefficient plants you could possibly choose) and a mandated increase in production to 36 Billion gallons by 2022 is very much driven by a want to help farming states... and more specifically, companies like ADM. Ethanol from corn wouldn't even be economically viable if not for government subsidies and an artificial market created for it.

[apanda]

The article that I posted earlier states that Brazilians have been using sugar cane for years as an alternate fuel source. But Arch Stanton, you are correct, it does produce approx 34% less energy.

[Pushbutton]

The article that I posted earlier states that Brazilians have been using sugar cane for years as an alternate fuel source. But Arch Stanton, you are correct, it does produce approx 34% less energy.

I have traveled to Brazil many times in the past on business...probably 20+ times. They have been heavily into alcohol (alcool down there) for at least 30 years. Now just about all cars run on it though they used to (maybe still do) have a small gasoline tank in each car with which to start the car since alcohol does not vaporize well at low temperatures, so it is used just for the first few minutes.

The irony is that, as mentioned above, alcohol has a much higher octane rating (burns more slowly than gasoline). So an engine made soley for alcohol can be very mileage efficient per BTU value if designed solely for that fuel.

We used to joke regarding the Brazilian drivers (who are quite wild by our measure) that they must have two alcohol fuel lines; one to the engine and one to the driver!