Ethanol from 10% to 15%

[Pu241]

I run on e85 so I could car less lol. Bring on the corn!!!

I believe the phrase is " I couldn't car less."

i WANT to run my car on e85 i think its a great fuel, its like cheap race fuel and its less harmfull to the earth

I do not disagree with E85 being great fuel, but its being marketed as a gasoline replacement.
It is not a drop in replacement and is typically priced similar to gasoline even though the performance BTU wise isn't there.
What kind of MPG do you get on E85 vs real gasoline.

And given how ethanol is produced today, I wouldn't count on it being "less harmful to the earth." If/when cellulose derived ethanol comes to fruition then you might be right.

[sasquatch]

good vid i found on youtube and this thread reminded me of it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOAyoCo3xXA

NINJA EDIT!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMTL6EazXa4&feature=related

[Pu241]

^^^
I have no doubt the ethanol and E85 burn cleaner, but I'd have though a chem prof would have known better than to compare the emissions from ambient combustion in a limited amount of oxygen to that which takes place in an engine (high pressure process with better air fuel ratio). What these people keep missing is that it take nearly as much, or more, fuel to produce ethanol from corn.
In Brazil they can use sugar cane which is photosynthetically about twice as efficient as corn in producing ferment-able materials.

[iceracerdude]

I think I read somehwere, its all E85 down there in South America. Your right about the amount needed to go the same distance as gas too, that's an ugly little known truth huh?
That's one of the reason it's a "little less" money, because you get a "little less" mileage.
I wonder what it works out to, you know $ for $ on a mileage basis?

[wybnrml]

I wonder what it works out to, you know $ for $ on a mileage basis?

According to GM, their Flex Fuel vehicles get 25-30% less MPG when using E85. With E85 only costing about 15% less than gasoline around here, it would cost more to run E85 than it would to just run gasoline.

[BUSTIVA]

In my area e85 is 1.89 a gallon, and premium gas is 3.09. I use it for my race car, so I could care less about gas milage, but it doesn't seem to worse than gas.

[sasquatch]

^ ya when you compair it to premium the e85 is a cheaper way to go and it gets more power...

[blkfordsedan]

Ethanol is produced from field corn that is used for cattle feed. It has little effect on corn for human consumption. The Ethanol process uses part of the corn that is not easily digested by cattle in the first place. The main by-product of ethanol production is a type of wet DDG or mash that is a very nutritious feed for livestock. The feed is then sold or traded back to the farmers that grow the corn. Other by-products are used in various other materials like plastics, hand lotion, etc.. Most all Bioenergy companies are conducting Biomass research with insane amounts of money from the government. I have personally seen biofuel made from numerous grains, grasses, wood chips, you name it.

Modern Ethanol plants are many times more efficient than they were even several years ago. They use substantially less water and many even generate their own power by burning by-products of the process in lieu of natural gas. The EPA regulations and monitoring are massive. Even with all this, the Ethanol plants could not stay in business without the substantial tax dollars the government is using to subsidize Ethanol production. Instead of worrying about the price of food going up, you need to worry about your taxes going up!

As I understand it, the increase in blend from 10% to 15% was passed with the stipulation that the 15% could only be used in vehicles built in 2007(?) or newer. I have no idea how they plan to regulate that. IMO, they are trying to "weed out" the older vehicles and get people to buy new ones. As for hurting older engines, the damage was already done a couple years ago when they mandated the reformulation of motor oil and took out most everything that prevented wear.

[Pu241]

Boydg1,

You started this!

Got nothing to say?

[boydg1]

.... S O R R Y !!

.... I am still digesting and LEARNING from all the comments.
.
Thanks
.

Boydg1,

You started this!

Got nothing to say?

[Pu241]

Good enough!

[iceracerdude]

According to GM, their Flex Fuel vehicles get 25-30% less MPG when using E85. With E85 only costing about 15% less than gasoline around here, it would cost more to run E85 than it would to just run gasoline.

See, that's what I mean, $ for $ the gasoline is a better deal by quite a margin!
When I buy bulk methanol for my injection system, it's like only $2.10 a gallon...see, because they're just not taxing it like street gasoline. You can bet they put the full tax load on it in Central America though, because there it's their main steet fuel.

[blkfordsedan]

Here's an update from the SEMA website

http://www.sema.org/sema-enews/2010/41/epa-denies-e15-waiver-for-pre-2001-cars

[Papabug]

10/10/10: Corn prices to $5.65 a bushel in the options market, a rise of 13.3 per cent on the day. Think the cost is gonna go up? If the gov didn't subsidize it what would the price per gallon be? We all know who the government is right? Pay now or pay later. But you WILL pay.

[scitzz]

Heard something about switch grass? being used to produce cellulose based ethanol, and that it helps to revitalize fields... Think it was a howstuffworks podcast..