Quote:
Originally Posted by KrisNL
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Here's the issue with ethanol for modern
cars:
1. The net energy contained (BTU) in common ethanol is a little more than 50 percent of gasoline, although octane levels can be as high or higher than gasoline. The lower BTUs presents a problem for modern computer control engines because they are not design to have proper combustion with higher blends of ethanol. On the other hand we can see Brazilian cars have been successfully running on 20 to 25 percent blends. Their law enforced blend changes annually based on the quantity and quality of the sugar cane crop. They also have a 100 percent ethanol prototype running around over there.
2. Ethanol has to ability to absorb fairly high levels of water, so if it sits around for a while it captures water and absorb it.
Looking at the two articles you pointed, one was about fiberglass boats. These boats typically have fiberglass fuel tanks which are intergrated into the fiberglass hull of the boat. The alcohol in ethanol reacts with the fiberglass resins and begins to disintegrate the composite structure. This obviously causes a problem not only for the boat structure but the engine as well because of the debris in the fuel. That scenario would not apply to modern cars.
The other article was produced on 2003. You'll also note that the study was talking about 10 percent of the cars would have an issue with ethanol. No doubt they were referring to older cars which would have issues using ethanol for the reasons noted above, but my guess is they are no longer on the road. Here in the States the Federal Government made an effort to buy older cars to get them off the road.