Re: OT: Bad, bad ethanol

On 12 Feb, 12:35, Ron O <rokim...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 12, 1:43 am, Walter Bushell <pr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <p8SdnTpFsZBAcS3anZ2dnUVZ_uCin...@xxxxxxxxxxx>,

 dkomo <dkomo...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Also, I don't know how many people know this, but using the most common
ethanol fuel blend, E85, which is 85% alcohol, will get you
substantially fewer miles per gallon than gasoline -- something like 30%
less.  This decrease in mpg is expected because ethanol contains less
energy than gasoline.

Could you clarify the math, the alcohol is only 15% of the mix and it
causes a 30% drop in mpg because it has less energy than gas???

YMMV

It takes more 85% ethanol (E85 is 85% ethanol not 15%) fuel to run an
internal combustion engine than regular gasoline.  Methanol is worse.

Of course, if God Himself started miraculously to convert the carbon
dioxide in the sky into a carbon-combustion fuel that was only half
the mpg of gasoline, and gave it to Christians for free to use in
their automobiles, they'd be carbon-neutral, but just filling up twice
as often. However, if you're paying for a tank of gas, it shouldn't
be a secret that ethanol doesn't go as far as the same volume (space)
of plain old hydrocarbon. And it should be priced accordingly, at
least. My first guess is that the oxygen atom in the alcohol molecule
is a passenger just along for the ride, although in actual science
class I don't think we ever did things that way.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: I want my MTBE
    ... I've also had too high ethanol content screw up my cars three times; ... Heet is just isopropyl alcohol. ... We used to blend t-butyl alcohol directly into gasoline. ... sucks water into the fuel. ...
    (rec.sport.football.college)
  • Re: I want my MTBE
    ... direct subsidies and legal mandates needed. ... different alcohol. ... I got as high as 50-65% ethanol in the tank. ... We used to blend t-butyl alcohol directly into gasoline. ...
    (rec.sport.football.college)
  • Re: Surprising increase in truck MPG
    ... You claim that adding ethanol to regular gasoline will result in less ... E10 gasoline you get at the gas pump is NOT regular gasoline plus alcohol. ... increased mileage using ethanol" is BULL. ...
    (rec.autos.tech)
  • Re: Ethanol
    ... ethanol, and I was wondering what happened to the car this fall. ... economy decline when using gasoline with ethanol. ... Ethanol has roughly 85% as much energy as gasoline, so e10 ... should lower gas mileage by about 3% or, in your case, about 0.7 mpg. ...
    (alt.autos.toyota)
  • Re: I want my MTBE
    ... direct subsidies and legal mandates needed. ... I've also had too high ethanol content screw up my cars three times; ... Heet is just isopropyl alcohol. ... We used to blend t-butyl alcohol directly into gasoline. ...
    (rec.sport.football.college)
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