Does ethanol in gas really reduce emissions?

[pwd72s]

Interesting video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-yDKeya4SU&ab_channel=EngineeringExplained

[drcoastline]

I don't know, but I can tell you it ruins a lot of $h!t.

[LWJ]

Biggest scam I know of.

I just saw a study that confirms this.

[cabmandone]

It does reduce emissions! Think about how man carburetors get gummed up due to ethanol. Or how many fuel lines deteriorate. That down time for repair is time those engines would have otherwise been running. Ethanol definitely cuts emissions.

[KNS]

According to this Reuters article that came out last month, Ethanol is worse for our climate than gasoline.

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-corn-based-ethanol-worse-climate-than-gasoline-study-finds-2022-02-14/#:~:text=The%20research%2C%20which%20was%20funded, along%20with%20processing%20and%20combustion.

If this country wants to get serious about climate change they'll stop listening to the corn lobby and dump Ethanol.

[Superman]

I've never heard of ethanol as a strategy for reducing emissions. Ethanol is added to gas because it is a less expensive way to bump octane up.

[pksystems]

Destroys your mileage.

[URY914]

It all has to do with Iowa farmers and the fact their caucus is first during POTUS elections. Complete BS.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Middle class welfare at its best, propping up a commodity with a false market incentive thru legislation for pure political gain.
Then having those same folks rail about crime & homelessness while cashing their federal AG subsidy checks that keep them from going BK.
Watch RFD TV sometime when they talk ethanol, They talk & act just like a Heroin addict from the hood; There is NO problem.

[Jim2]

Originally Posted by pksystems

Destroys your mileage.

Ahhh yes, the slightly overlooked loss of 50% for the ethanol component.

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by Superman

I've never heard of ethanol as a strategy for reducing emissions. Ethanol is added to gas because it is a less expensive way to bump octane up.

Really? You believe ethanol is added to gas as a benefit to gasoline consumers?

Are you saying its use today in usa gasoline is a natural fallout of free market efficiency?

https://fee.org/articles/the-real-reason-we-have-ethanol-in-our-gas/

[speeder]

Originally Posted by zakthor

Really? You believe ethanol is added to gas as a benefit to gasoline consumers?

Are you saying its use today in usa gasoline is a natural fallout of free market efficiency?

https://fee.org/articles/the-real-reason-we-have-ethanol-in-our-gas/

That is a good and concise article but I have no faith that anyone will ever have the political courage to take on the farmers and the ethanol lobby. This is a scam on such a basic and transparent level yet elected leaders just ignore it.

[Jolly Amaranto]

A lot of folks are under the impression that it reduces CO2 emissions. After all instead of burning fossil fuel you are burning a renewable resource (corn) and don't add new CO2 to the carbon cycle. If only it were that simple. Growing and harvesting it with monster tractors sporting air conditioned cabs while sucking huge quantities of diesel fuel, processing and fermenting it uses a huge amount of energy that has to come from somewhere. And what is in these tiny bubble coming up in the vat of mash? I suppose that if you use sugar cane like they do in Brazil where there are human beings with machetes harvesting it, you might do better than breaking even. Lets chop down some more rain forests and grow sugar cane.

[GH85Carrera]

The corn lobby is powerful. And in high population cities, the corn squeezing are an oxygenator. So LA and NYC and Miami have less pollution. The pollution is just moved to Iowa and all the other farmlands. Bottom line, it is just a total bondoogle for the taxpayer costing billions per month to have the big cities have slightly cleaner air, and the farmers just produce the pollution in bigger amounts than the cars would have.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Superman

I've never heard of ethanol as a strategy for reducing emissions. Ethanol is added to gas because it is a less expensive way to bump octane up.

nothing in this post is correct

[cabmandone]

What I want to know is, and this might sound painfully stupid, why does my car burn leaner when I run fuel with ethanol? Premium pure gas I'm in the 13.7 -13.8 AFR range. Premium with an ethanol blend I'm in the 14.3 range. I've noticed this on several occasions when I go from pure gas to a gas ethanol blend.

[Superman]

Originally Posted by zakthor

Really? You believe ethanol is added to gas as a benefit to gasoline consumers?

Yes.

Why is ethanol in our gas?
Fuel ethanol is used to enhance the octane rating of gasoline. To put that simply, higher octane gas resists detonation, so it burns rather than exploding. But raising the octane level of gasoline is expensive; that’s why premium fuel costs more than regular. Adding ethanol reduces the tendency of low-grade gasoline to detonate, enabling our national fleet to run on crappier gas.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/the-truth-about-ethanol-in-your-gas/#:~:text=Why%20is%20ethanol%20in%20our,fuel%20cost s%20more%20than%20regular.

Ethanol has an octane rating of over 100:

https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-a-brief-history-of-octane#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20having%20lower ,lower%20octane%20rating%20than%20required.

Honestly, I understand that human nature seems to love to blame and reject and assume conspiracies and nefarious intent. But geez. Almost anytime I have taken the time to really drill down into what happened and why, the facts and decisions eventually start to make sense. Detonation is avoided, while allowing high compression and advanced timing, by increasing octane. Ethanol is a cheaper way of doing that compared to using more-refined gas. Shorter hydrocarbons are higher octane.

[JackDidley]

Not sure anyone on here has ever tried E85. 85% ethanol, not the 10% in typical pump gas. I have. I used it in my Corvette for 3 years , about 30,000 miles. The consumption is not 50% more. It was 30%. The octane gain is real. I never got spark knock.The fuel lines did not decompose. The injectors were fine. The main issue I had was getting it. Thats why I switched back to premium gas. Not available everywhere. I was not interested in emissions or the farmers. I just wanted the octane.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by cabmando

What I want to know is, and this might sound painfully stupid, why does my car burn leaner when I run fuel with ethanol? Premium pure gas I'm in the 13.7 -13.8 AFR range. Premium with an ethanol blend I'm in the 14.3 range. I've noticed this on several occasions when I go from pure gas to a gas ethanol blend.

Timing?

[hcoles]

Originally Posted by Superman

I've never heard of ethanol as a strategy for reducing emissions. Ethanol is added to gas because it is a less expensive way to bump octane up.

Which allows higher compression....which provides higher efficiency.