Fuel additive
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 147
Likes: 1
From: Arena Wisconsin
As you noted many pros and cons. E85 isnt for everyone and really in my opinion only good for boosted apps. A NA car no matter what manufacturer shouldnt use it cause its inefficient and worse mpg. Environmentalists, Al gore lovers and tree huggers want to use it I'm sure. Cold weather below 56 degrees sucks for start of the day and needs to be tuned to help it start better. And yes E85 will absorb more water vs E10 so you gotta stay on top of it.
My Vette is the only car out of our 8 that I use it in.
My Vette is the only car out of our 8 that I use it in.
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Thread Starter
Premium Supporting Vendor
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 131
Likes: 2
From: West Jefferson North CArolina
Ethanol and emissions
I have.
How do you factor in that lower energy content of Ethanol into your equation? I think it's somewhere around 2/3 the BTU rating.
On personal experience, I have noticed just the 90/10 mix we have here and switched to straight gasoline when available on vacations I can notice an increase in gas mileage from straight gasoline. E85 to straight gasoline will have a much more noticeable impact on miles per gallon.
On to performance, engine factors being the same you should also see less power output from your engine. Now you can balance out a little of this by raising compression which E85 will happier with due to it's higher octane rating, but you will need to be running a dedicated E85 engine. On a turbo or supercharged engines E85 will also allow for a higher boost pressures before you hit detonation; but with the lower energy content do you have to use more fuel? or just higher boost pressures to get the same power down to the wheels.
The only benefit of Ethanol is cleaner emissions, I just don't see any other.
I'm much mote interested in the technology of using genetic engineering and modified bacteria to create gasoline from sugars. And from the looks of some research I read, switchgrass might be a better alternative than corn; it would not effect our food source in corn, it takes less work and energy to grow, having less of an impact on the environment on the front side of production.
How do you factor in that lower energy content of Ethanol into your equation? I think it's somewhere around 2/3 the BTU rating.
On personal experience, I have noticed just the 90/10 mix we have here and switched to straight gasoline when available on vacations I can notice an increase in gas mileage from straight gasoline. E85 to straight gasoline will have a much more noticeable impact on miles per gallon.
On to performance, engine factors being the same you should also see less power output from your engine. Now you can balance out a little of this by raising compression which E85 will happier with due to it's higher octane rating, but you will need to be running a dedicated E85 engine. On a turbo or supercharged engines E85 will also allow for a higher boost pressures before you hit detonation; but with the lower energy content do you have to use more fuel? or just higher boost pressures to get the same power down to the wheels.
The only benefit of Ethanol is cleaner emissions, I just don't see any other.
I'm much mote interested in the technology of using genetic engineering and modified bacteria to create gasoline from sugars. And from the looks of some research I read, switchgrass might be a better alternative than corn; it would not effect our food source in corn, it takes less work and energy to grow, having less of an impact on the environment on the front side of production.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,554
Likes: 13
From: Romeoville IL
I am interested in the possible use of prairie grass as an alternate source for creating ethanol or even better is you ask me, gasoline through genetic engineering so as not to impact our food supply. Something you could harvest in the Great Plains; it does require some extra care from fertilization, other than just natural growth, but it sounded promising.
