ethanol blends can improve mpg

[newmachineoverlord]

Cliffs: For some vehicles, a 20% or 30% blend of ethanol into gasoline resulted in higher mpg than unblended gasoline. Only four vehicles were tested, but 3 of those four showed an optimal blend of ethanol that gave better mpg than without any ethanol.

Remember, raw energy content of fuel is not its only important characteristic, so ethanol's other properties can cause it to contribute to better mpg despite having less energy. Results vary by engine so you'll have to experiment with your own vehicle to find your optimal blend, unless you own one of the four in the study. Since ethanol is cheaper than gas knowing the optimal blend for your vehicle could save significantly in fuel costs for those willing to bother doing their own dilutions.

http://www.dtnethanolcenter.co...?show=10&mid=67&pid=30

http://www.rhapsodyingreen.com...2/ethanol-can-inc.html

"That's the conclusion of a study from the University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center and the Minnesota Center for Automotive Research at Minnesota State University Mankato. Their study found that many cars can get more miles per gallon with mid-level blends of ethanol than they can with regular unleaded gasoline.

The study used federally approved testing procedures on four 2007 vehicles and found that all four achieved better miles per gallon on mid-level blends of ethanol (E20, E30, E40) than was expected due to ethanol's BTU content. Three of the four vehicles actually achieved better mpg with a mid-blend than they did with regular unleaded gasoline."

 

[glenn1]

Cliffs: For some vehicles, a 20% or 30% blend of ethanol into gasoline resulted in higher mpg than unblended gasoline. Only four vehicles were tested, but 3 of those four showed an optimal blend of ethanol that gave better mpg than without any ethanol.

I would presume that you this could be said for any blended fuel, if you have an engine optimized with the ideal compression ratios, etc.

 

[brxndxn]

These are bullshit articles..

In my car, when I fill up with normal 89, I get 12-14mpg.. consistently. When I fill up with '10% ethanol blend' at Hess, I get 10-12mpg..

I started noticing this after resetting my gas mileage meter in my car after every fillup..

 

[StageLeft]

Hmm, not sure I'm ready to shove that through my engine.

 

[ViRGE]

This is interesting to say the least. Ethanol doesn't have the energy density of gasoline, the logical conclusion is that the cars should suffer a drop in MPG.

 

[Vette73]

Read the REAL report and you will see that MPG went down as the amount of ethanol was added. there were som peaks but most could be written off as flukes/margin of error.

Check out page 23 of 37 in the report.

http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/con..._Study_final_12507.pdf



On average their own charts as a WHOLE show the more ethanol you add the lower your MPG will be. yea you might be a slight bump here and there but if you test enough you might see a large bump down as well.


Oh and almost forgot...

"EERC DISCLAIMER
LEGAL NOTICE This research report was prepared by the Energy & Environmental
Research Center (EERC), an agency of the University of North Dakota, as an account of work
sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE)"

Kinda like those "funded" studies that showed cigs are not addictive and don;t cause cancer. :roll:

 

[1EZduzit]

Originally posted by: brxndxn
These are bullshit articles..

In my car, when I fill up with normal 89, I get 12-14mpg.. consistently. When I fill up with '10% ethanol blend' at Hess, I get 10-12mpg..

I started noticing this after resetting my gas mileage meter in my car after every fillup..

Well, I used to own a '89 Plymouth Voyager with the Mitsubishi 3.0L engine in it. I tested it many times and would consisently get just a little better mileage with the 10% ethanol blend then I did with the straight unleaded.

I would get 21 to 23 with unleaded and 22 to 24 with 10% ethanol blend. I had almost 180,000 miles on it when I got rid of it and tested it many times over the course of the 15 years I owned it.

I always assumed that by raising the octane (via the ethanol) caused the engine to burn the gas a more effiently.

 

[EXman]

Originally posted by: brxndxn
These are bullshit articles..

In my car, when I fill up with normal 89, I get 12-14mpg.. consistently. When I fill up with '10% ethanol blend' at Hess, I get 10-12mpg..

I started noticing this after resetting my gas mileage meter in my car after every fillup..

agreed I have the same problem

 

[silverpig]

Ha, and to think when I first saw this thread I was going to make some sarcastic comment about how the evil corn lobbyists were putting out propaganda to try to make us dependent on them.

 

[BrownTown]

Ethanol has a lower energy density than gasoline so it would be expected that the MPG goes down as ethanol content goes up. However there are some fuels (maybe even ethanol) where adding some amount of the fuel actually improves the MPG (even with lower energy densities), but this is usually the case because the air:fuel ratios are set wrong and some fuels don't need as much air to burn so they actually result in more complete combustion of the gasoline.

 

[redly]

does it have anything to do with the fact that todays engines need to run hotter for the emissions controls?
More BTUs, easier to get the engine hot, better mileage??

 

[piasabird]

Any car without ethanol will run better than a car with ethanol, because ethanol burns faster than gasoline.

 

[Vic]

This just in: special interest study disproves "pesky" scientific laws, urges increased government funding in miracle perpetual motion machine.

 

[Harvey]

Ethanol is not the end solution for our energy needs for a couple of reasons:

1. The current push is for ethanol derived from corn. Corn is not the most efficient source for ethanol. Ethanol is successful in Brazil because they derive it from sugar cane, which yields far more ethanol than from corn. Economically, it's much worse because allocating corn for fuel stock competes with corn based food products, both directly, for human food and as feed for poultry and livestock.

2. Ethanol is a hydrocarbon, and burning it still outputs CO2 so it isn't a way to reduce the production of greenhouse gasses.

We've got some serious energy problems ahead, not the least of which is obstruction to the needed changes by those with vested interests in current energy systems and the remaining vapor heads who suck up their KoolAid and cling to the idea that there is no problem with global warming or future energy production.

 

[1EZduzit]

I've burned ethanol for a long time and I will continue to burn it for a long time. Anything that can cut our DEPENDANCE on FOREIGN oil can't be all bad.

Nobody is claiming that ethanol and/or biodiesel is the total answer to our energy woes, it's just one piece of the puzzle.

 

[TheSlamma]

I don't buy that at all, Ethanol does not produce the same amount of energy (like calories) as gasoline.

 

[woodie1]

All of the ranchers around here complain that ethanol fuel gives them a lot less miles on a tank of fuel. Also, it causes the price of feed to rise so it is not a favorite with them.

 

[redly]

ran across this forum about ethanol tuning and E85 cars
http://e85vehicles.com/e85/index.php

 

[charrison]

Ethanol is an interesting fuel. It contains less energy than gas, but it is also has a much higher octane rating. In a normal engine you will get reduced fuel economy because of the lower energy rating, however if your engine has high enough compression you wont lose anything.

For instance ford introduced a new v-6 last year. It gets 265HP on normal gas. Next year they will release a turbocharged version of this engine and it will get 350HP. On ethanol it will hit 450HP. This v6 will easily replace v-8s and get better fuel economy to boot. They also have a 2 liter 4banger planed to replace v6s. So ethanl can be good thing.

However it is difficult to produce here, but there is hope for better production methods in the future that dont require corn. Also ehanol also tends to absorb any condensation that gets occurs during transportation, so it is also not readily transported via pipeline at this point.

As of right now, ethanol is largely a government mandated waste of taxpayer money.

 

[StageLeft]

It contains less energy than gas, but it is also has a much higher octane rating.

I could say that about water Compress the crap out of that, no spontaneous combustion