Ethanol Issue!
- Thread starter KennyP
- Start date
I don’t believe it’s the ethanol that is the actual problem but the additives associated with adding ethanol to gasoline.
I’ve never bought into producing corn as a viable fuel source as mentioned the water/fertilizers and vast tracts of land required. It’s all about lobbyist$. jMHO
I’ve never bought into producing corn as a viable fuel source as mentioned the water/fertilizers and vast tracts of land required. It’s all about lobbyist$. jMHO
Keeping the farmers above water benefits everyone. It's much more to our advantage to support our farmers than some third world country that hates our guts. Ethanol is not what we are being told it is and that's the gripe. Be honest and I think there would be more support for it.
That's the same as me saying come up and see how mine will run like crap with it. That is no more evidence than anything anyone said about their problems with it.
DAC
I dont disagree with that. But I always thought that was why ethanol was pushed so hard on everyone.
Hey Chris, thanks for the kind words!!
The heat loss we visibly see from stacks especially on a cold day is another interesting thing and it is in two parts.
First and usually the most visible is from the cooling towers. This is heat coming from the distillation column, same as a still at home where you boil the beer and the alcohol boils at a lower temperature but you need to condense it back to a liquid ethanol from the vapour, this is where the cooling towers come in. This is the heat rejection from the condensing, where heat is actually rejected across the cooling tower by evaporating water (large BTU in the change of state). Usually the cooling towers are very visible and looks like a lot of pollution, but it is only heat and water vapour. Now this is a very easy heat source to use and some plants do reclaim the heat for heating buildings etc, but the cost of infrastucture to use it for heating towns is very cost prohibitive...especially when natural gas is so cheap. So they don't and there isn't a mandate to do it...so it won't happen.
Now the heat from stacks which is usually from the steam boilers is different animal as this is combustion gases at well over 500F. Problem with that is it contains all the combustion by-products, namely CO2 and sulfur. Problem with that is if you extract the heat, the cooled gases reach what we call the dew point of some of these corrosive gases, CO2 condenses to carbonic acid, sulfur condenses as sulfuric acid which one would need some very expensive and exotic metallurgy to handle...so they don't. Again, the costs are huge for a heat exchanger made of hastelloy or something exotic like that.
Well, I forget who said it now, but someone mentioned the additive package and this combined with the known chemical property that ethanol absorbs water (it is hygroscopic as a property) is what causes the problems. Ethanol will constantly absorb any water vapour it can, which will then separate out from the bulk liquid as a non miscible partition. The additives...depending on what they happen to be, and all gasoline companies each have their own special packages, also can and do precipitate with it. That is the problem. It is not that ethanol won;t urn well, it does. It is not that ethanol (as pure ethanol) won't stay in the solvent phase of gasoline...it does. But, it is when it is allowed to absorb water IS the problem. Now this water can come from many places, the gas station tank, the vented small engine tank, the gas can you use, etc etc etc. Gasoline never has that problem, ethanol does. That is the whole thing right there.
I think you just answered the issue I started this thread with. Thank you!
So your the culprit that opened this can of worms!
Very well put Shotgun. I think the people that are having issues with Ethanol need to go back to score one and look at a few thing in thier own situation. #1 is where you are getting the Ethanol from. A large popular station that gets a several tanker loads a month that has fresh fuel to start with or the Mom & Pop place down on the corner that gets one load ever month and a half just because they are $.10 a gallon cheaper. #2 is what king of containers are you getting and storing the Ethanol in. If your using metal containers your asking for the trouble you got. Metal draws moisture in any environment outside of a fully climate controlled area. #3 is where are you setting the containers of Ethanol after you get it home. The majority set it on the ground or floor of a shed or shop. Containers should be set on a wood surface and never on the ground, or concrete floor. #4 have the engines you use Ethanol in been updated with the new Ethanol compatable kits and fuel lines. New carb kits may have been installed but were they the Ethanol compatible kits or some that have been around for decades. #5 where are you storing you equipment with Ethanol in the tank. Out back behind the garage, inside a closed building with a wet floor, steel building that drips water every morning for an hour so the air is saturated with moisture. All of this contributes to contaminate the Ethanol your trying to burn. Ethanol in itself is not a problem. How it is handled and used is.
I agree! Well put. Now this is only for newer systems that have all the rubbers/gaskets/hose materials as ethanol compatible. Older stuff is a whole different ballgame!!!
My issues come for mowers that previous owners don't have a clue as to what this crap can do if left to it's own. Then I have to try to fix the whole mess! Most times, a whole new fuel system is needed! Needless to say, I won't use it in any small engine that may set for several months ( not even with additives as non-ethanol is cheaper than using the additives).