Ethanol again?

[Raymond]

A bill has been introduced into the US Congress to require 10% renewalble source fuel in all forms of gasoline by the year 2010.  It's called the 10 by 10 Act.

Do any of our trained engineer members have an opinion of how our cars would react to this?  The Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association has weighed in saying that it is incompatible with the engines in the piston-powered fleet.  They are seeking an exemption and a guarantee that airplanes will still have fuel available.  100 octane low-lead Aviation gas is $4.40 per gallon now.

The legislation has 41 co-sponsors so, if this taks it will have a lot of support.

Ray
'68 280SL 4-spd Coupe

[Vince Canepa]

Here in the US Mid-Atlantic Region the EPA has required the elimination of the oxygenate MTBE since early this year.  The refiners met the new requirement by adding 10% ethanol.  I've run my SL about 1,000 miles on this fuel and it seems quite happy on it.  The fuel mileage is good (about 16.5 mpg), it starts well and pulls strongly.  I don't think the change is necessarily a bad thing.  Keep in mind that the old plug fouling problem was cured without any proven negative effects when the lead was taken out.

Vince Canepa
1967 250SL
113.043-10-001543
568H Signal Red
116 Caviar MB-Tex

[George Davis]

Fuels with 10% ethanol have been in use for a long time in many places (several years), either full time or during the winter months.  I use it all the time, no noticable difference in the Pagoda.

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[n/a]

This ethonal stuff is getting ridiculous...
Politicians listening to non engineers and scientists...
It takes more energy to convert corn by harvesting, mashing, distilling, etc to get ethanol than is released by burning it. Also, the number of C-H bonds broken is less than gasoline so the energy out is less so you have to burn more to get the same amount of work which means less fuel economy and more pollution. Only a subsidy trick for the corn belt. This point has been brought up many times by my friend, Dr. John Fenn, 2002 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, but the politicians find the votes in the corn states too appealing to ignore, regardless of the logic. Similar to push for electric cars...no one asks where the electricity comes from...burning fossil fuels, primarily. I haven't looked at the economy of it, but a better use of corn might be to make vegatable oil to run in diesels...which, by the way, if anyone converts their diesel to run on waste restaurant grease/veg oil, keep a low profile. Every time I read about this in the paper, it won't take long before legislators take notice and want to force you to pay road tax on that "free" fuel!
R/
Joe

[mulrik]

I think the point in the future is that you can use renewable energy (windmill, water power or nuclear power (not really renewable but CO2 free)) to make ethanol.

Anyway, ethanol contains fexer C-O bonds and hence less energy. Therefore, theoretically lower milage. However, ethanol also has a higher octane number and you should be able to advance your timing a bit to make up for the lower energy content. If you do that you're forced to run ethanol blend all the time or keep an octane booster in the trunk in case ethanol mix is unavailable.

I don't think it is right for us, especially americans who by far has the highest energy consumption per capita, to complain about measures taken to reduce overall CO2 polution or energy dependence on the middleeast, sorry for that members living in the middleeast. Having said that I hope that fuel will be available for our classics in the future at a reasonable price. But for daily drivers, ethanol is a step in the right direction.
Ulrik


'67 250 SL Papyrus White 113043-10-000023