E10 petrol

[Seeker]

Here comes E10:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-ethanol-blend

there goes your best fuel consumption:

https://www.euractiv.com/section/tra...l-consumption/

[embee]

As far as I'm aware there will still be the requirement for "protected" fuel to be made available (i.e. E5 such as we have now).
https://assets.publishing.service.go...-labelling.pdf

Note that the second link referenced in the post above dates from 2013.

I've used E10 along with 95RON E5 and 98RON (probably significantly less than 5% ethanol) when touring abroad. For all intents and purposes the fuel consumption has hardly varied, certainly nothing you'd notice. The conditions and use make a much greater difference than that from the fuels.

[SV650rules]

This article shows much bigger drop in MPG, and these are USA EPA figures....

Seems like for every 5% added it drops MPG by 2 to 3 %

https://itstillruns.com/effect-ethan...e-5882696.html

interesting quote from article.

'On the downside, growing, tending and treating plants to create ethanol uses up considerable amounts of energy. By some estimates the amount of energy used to produce ethanol is greater than the amount of energy the ethanol ultimately ends up making when it is burned. Critics of ethanol believe that more efficient methods must be employed to make ethanol worthwhile, and are especially skeptical about corn as a source of ethanol, since other types of plants, like sugarcane and switch grass, can yield much greater amounts of biomass (and therefore ethanol) per acre.'

One of the worst things about Ethanol is that it attracts water, when you leave it standing like in a bike over winter it not only causes extra corrosion but also separates out....

[johnnyrod]

Dear God, are we going round this again? Ethanol itself may be hygroscopic but that doesn't mean it is when blended, and that certainly doesn't mean it's going to separate out - it would be dissolved water if anything. One of the things though is more acidic exhaust emissions. As for carbon footprint, it's not news that corn starch ethanol saves pretty much nothing, but unfortunately most places outside of Brazil can't manage the same sort of ratio of sugar cane going to ethanol compared to the demand for fuel. Also important are the prices of food when they're taken and burned so creates a big demand. We need to stop burning stuff.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by johnnyrod

and that certainly doesn't mean it's going to separate out - it would be dissolved water if anything.

... if left alone for a while ethanol undergoes phase separation if water is present. The ethanol binds to the water molecule and forms a discrete layer at the bottom of a tank. Not only will your engine not run on this mixture but it also forms a gel like residue clogging up small holes and attacking certain metals. Carbs are particularly susceptible to damage.

In daily use this isn't a problem because of the agitation from movement but if you have a vehicle that is only used occasionally it will cause a problem. There are additives that can help but it all pushes the cost up.

https://petroclear.com/resources/dont-be-phased.php

[SV650rules]

Originally Posted by johnnyrod

We need to stop burning stuff.

It is burning stuff that raised humans from subsistence level living to where we are today, if some people want to go back to stone age well good luck to them.


Quote from an 'equipment news' article from USA .. They have had much more time to see what mischief ethanol gets up to and some of the articles are pretty scary. Does this mean we have to drain our fuel tanks every year when bike gets laid up ? I would also worry about the effect on bores of later SV that are a composite plated onto aluminium bore, these used to fail with too much sulphur in the fuel, now maybe with the gunk from ethanol. I guess there will be a whole raft of additives to counteract the effects of ethanol, as if we needed any more costs. This E10, E15 stuff is another red herring foisted on us by eco-zealots vociferous lobby groups, with little research into the affects of it on the environment and our expensive vehicles... It used to be good advice to keep fuel tank full over winter to prevent corrosion, now that advice will guarantee corrosion...

'Ethanol attracts water. When the two get together, they create the perfect environment to grow a type of bacteria called acetobacter. After getting drunk on their EPA-sponsored alcohol in your gas tank, the acetobacter excrete acetic acid. And acetic acid is very corrosive.
If you’re refilling your gas tank every week or two, acetobacter don’t have time to grow a sufficient size colony to damage metal parts in your fuel system. But if your fuel sits for longer periods of time these microorganisms continue to multiply until your gas tank contains damaging levels of acetic acid'.-------------------------------

'Prior to E-10 you didn’t get the kind of corrosion that makes your fuel pump look like it was left out in the rain for 20 years. But that kind of corrosion is occurring all across the country to people who store their chainsaws, string trimmers, lawn mowers, motorcycles, and ATVs without ethanol-fighting gas stabilizers'.

[timwilky]

Am I right in thinking some people have had nasty experiences with fuel systems, tanks, seals, pipework dissolving as a result of E10?

[Craig380]

Originally Posted by timwilky

Am I right in thinking some people have had nasty experiences with fuel systems, tanks, seals, pipework dissolving as a result of E10?

It's really bad for glassfibre fuel tanks, and it can also dissolve some older types of fuel tank liners. Older types of rubber fuel hoses and o-rings can be affected too.

Having said that, my old GT380 was happy enough on E5. Its tank had been lined but I never had any problems with that, or any rubber component deteriorating in the carbs (the 380 carbs have lots of tubes linking the carb bodies).

[redtrummy]

I have some Briggs and Stratton Fuel additive that's supposed to preserve the petrol - is that any help anyone?

[johnnyrod]

http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdiges...ration-occurs/