Alternative to Ethanol in gasoline

[circa1968]

Now that I'm deep into my carburetor cleaning and overhauling (waiting for new needle valves at the moment), my curious mind has taken over and I've been doing a bit of research about ethanol, why we are required to use it, what it does and why its bad.  I'm sure most of you are already years ahead of me on this, but my research led me to ask  "Why in the heck isn't someone creating an alternative to this  ethanol?"   Well, as it turns out, they are: bio-isobutanol!

Bio-isobutanol has higher energy content than ethanol, is not corrosive, is not hygroscopic (so does not phase separate) and can be made from same feedstock and equipment as ethanol (different fermentation yeast and separation processes though).  There really shouldn't be any political battles from the corn belt to protect their profits, which would be a huge hurdle to overcome. 

And the best news is that the EPA approved its use as a fuel additive in 2018.

We can, in part, thank the marine industry for pushing for this through gov't channels.  https://www.nmma.org/press/article/22033

I'm not too far into it yet, but wondering if other industry groups are also backing isobutanol to replace ethanol and what the chances are we'll actually see this in our fuel instead of ethanol in the near future. 

Here's an interesting article from a few years ago comparing the two additives in boat engines:  https://www.boatingmag.com/replacement-ethanol/

 

[Flyinfool]

WAY back when this ethanol in the gas first started, there was a hotline to call with questions and concerns. At the time they claimed there would be no difference in fuel mileage. I called the hotline and was told that there is no difference, it is a simple matter of ME not knowing how to do basic math, even after I pointed out that I am an engineer and am quite capable of calculating gas mileage. their next response is that you can not just go by the result of a single tank. I then pointed out that I have a log book where every fuel fill is recorded and tracked. I was told that there must be errors in my recorded data. I tried to explain that the simple laws of physics say that IF you use a fuel with 50% less energy per gallon then you will get 50% less work done and that means half of the fuel mileage. I was then told that the laws of physics do not apply here because they are only using 10% ethanol.......?

I did all of this on speaker phone and the whole engineering department was ROFLOL.

Edited November 26, 2020 by Flyinfool

[circa1968]

"There are 10 kinds of people that understand binary, those that do, and those that don't."

Love that!  Eng humor @ its best!

[djh3]

So I'm not an engineer but have been around motorsports for years. So different series of cars run different fuels. Some what we call "pump gas" Usually the rule states something like fuel from readily available stations or something like that. Some use special race gas like VP or Sunoco but if checked they could get disqualified. But a local track cant do that anyways. Our rules for Legends cars said something like this and gave an octane rating. I just went to the airport and bought "can gas" 110 low lead. Some run straight up alcohol. They run cooler engine temps and make plenty of power, and may make more than an equal "gas" engine. But they burn almost twice as much fuel for same distance of race. For our street use mixing ethanol creates problems because it traps water and does some really bad things. My suspicion why they dont change to the Iso stuff is cost to retrofit plants and maybe wont need as much corn or whatever they are making the ethanol from. Brazil has been on mixed fuel for years and it works for them and they dont have much problems. And they are not using up resources you can eat. They use the husks and other things

[circa1968]

On 11/22/2020 at 8:16 PM, djh3 said:

 For our street use mixing ethanol creates problems because it traps water and does some really bad things.

Yeah, that's my take on it also.  From what I've read, at a relatively low % of water absorption, it will phase separate from the gasoline & settle at the bottom of the tank and that's when s* hits the fan.    IIRC, Isobutanol has one more carbon molecule than ethanol and that is the game changer.  There are a couple of companies already switching over to isobutanol production in the midwest, but mostly for exporting.  I don't know anything about Brazil, but I'm guessing if you asked the gear heads, they will complain about ethanol there too.  Physics don't change from one country to another.  If you watch the 6:00 news, you'd never hear about ethanol problems in the US either.

[djh3]

From Wikipeda. Most automobiles in Brazil run either on hydrous alcohol (E100) or on gasohol (E25 blend), as the mixture of 25% anhydrous ethanol with gasoline is mandatory in the entire country. Since 2003, dual-fuel ethanol flex vehicles that run on any proportion of hydrous ethanol and gasoline have been gaining popularity.

[larrydr]

Over all the years buying fuel for any of my vehicles and that includes any and every bike I have riding since 1964 .

I have always found a benefit in better the top grade fuel #1 or premium fuel ...

I do know there is a lot of discussion out there  the blended or lower grade fuel is just fine ...

When you put an engine to work and it has to perform to it's maxium specs you will find that only premium fuel is what works the best . 

Aviation works best but it has hugh price .

Call me stubborn or wrong but I will never buy a blended , unless I run out on road some where and I nave to walk