Question about ethanol and its viability as a fuel…?

…on the surface – and politically (there are more farm lobbies per person than any other group, I understand) – it seems like a good deal. The devil, however, is in the details, as they say.
1) Most estimates say that it takes the equivalent of 70% to 130% of the energy ethanol derived from 1 bushel of corn to create that ethanol. Compare that to a comparable statistic for oil of about 10% to 15%. That means ethanol is about 10x less efficient to produce than oil. That completely wipes out any cost advantage corn may have over oil.
2) You cannot ship ethanol by pipeline, due to unwanted water buildup. This means that an ethanol plant needs to be build near every major population center. Ethanol must be trucked and cannot be stored over long periods. The corn must be trucked to the myriad of plants for processing. All of this costs alot of money and energy that oil does not suffer from.
3) Ethanol creates as much smog as gas.
Are we sure ethanol is the correct solution?
4) The amount of corn to replace oil would be impractical and unimaginable. Thus, the food chain will compete with energy for corn, therby driving up the price of corn — and everything that depends on corn, like feed for pigs and cows. Already the price of feed corn has doubled in the past couple years.
4) The amount of corn to replace oil would be impractical and unimaginable. Thus, the food chain will compete with energy for corn, therby driving up the price of corn — and everything that depends on corn, like feed for pigs and cows. Already the price of feed corn has doubled in the past couple years.

Engine Revving Slightly Higher, After Water, Ethanol or Both were Forced into the Fuel/Exhaust System?

You may need to think outside the box on this one…

My ’05 Subaru Impreza RS is revving slightly higher than it used to, and it’s experiencing some sort of sloshing sound at start up. This latter part is very brief, and only happens at start up. I’ve been to a lot of technicians about this, including two Subaru dealers in the upstate of SC. Nobody has been able to help yet.

How much land needed to keep a regular family car running for a year with ethanol?

As far as I know is needed two hectares (20.000.oo sq,mt) produce 1 lter of fuel, the sugar cane could be harvested twice per year with high investiments in technology, land and water. this means about 24 km (14.65 mi) running in the road and about half in the city, close to 12 minutes with the engine on, Do you a know better figures? This question is to realize how much of the croppable land would be sacrificed just to keep us driving our cars.

How to protect from Ethanol Phase Separation in Bertram Fiberglass Gas Tanks with E-10 Gasoline?

Hi, I have a 1985 Bertram 30 with a 220 Gallon Fiberglass Tank. As we approach the end of the season in the Northeast, we now have to start planning for Winterization. A standard procedure for Winterization over the years was to fill up your tanks with Gasoline before winter storage to cut down on water/condensation. That was before this Ethanol fiasco! Now if we have phase separation in the E-10 Gas, the Ethanol can eat away at the fiberglass resin in the tanks and also leave deposits in the Heads of the engine.

gas with ethanol , does it turn into water?

dose gas with ethanol make older vehicles run poorly ? I have a 89 dodge w-150 318 v8 . For the last month it has been running rough. Replaced the gas filter it was full of white creamy looking stuf. Is it h20 ?It ran better for a few hrs. but its running rough again..

I am looking for a product that will stop my fuel tanks from being corroded by ethanol. Does it exist? Where?

I have searched the net and so far, I have not found a product that will inhibit the corrosion caused by ethanol in gasoline. It has been known for a long time that ethanol causes corrosion in mild steel due to higher water content and acidic contaminants such as formic and acetic acid that can arise during processing (as well as oxidation of the fuel during storage). I asked my fuel supplier this question, and he told me that ethanol does not cause corrosion. I then read an article that was written in 1991 that details the problem and names products such as Shell ALCOOL (marketed in Brazil). I would think that the refiners would put rust inhibitors in the fuel(silly me!).

Could it be that gas prices are being manipulated to prepare us for a far more costly ethanol?

Did you know that ethanol has only half the energy as gasoline? Meaning, you’ll have to buy twice as much ethanol to go the same distance on the half as much gasoline.

Ethanol is NOT the solution! I feel it will have disastrous environmental consequences. Could it be nothing more than attempt to direct revenues from the mid-east to American chemical manufacturers? You do realize that to grow corn you need fertilizers and pesticides that end up in our soil and our drinking water?

Is there any reason to switch to gas with 10% ethanol in the winter?

Normally I prefer to use regular 87-octane unleaded, rather than the 89-octane 10% ethanol blend. This is mainly because ethanol contains 1/3 less energy than gasoline (yet the ethanol blend costs more).

Some people around here change to the 10% ethanol blend in the winter. Is there any logical reason to do so?

For example, does it help prevent gas line freezing (I live in northern Minnesota where it can get to -40), water accumulation in the gas tank, etc?

Thanks!

Do All Hydrocarbons, Eg Gasoline And Ethanol, Burn To Co2 And Water With Some Trace Gases?

If so, then why the push for ethanol and biofuels to fight global warming?