Ethanol: it’s cheap, it’s clean(ish) but is it viable?

why is ethanol cheaper that petrol

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Beware. I filled up on what was claimed to be biodiesel in liverpool yesterday. My car smoked and stalled after 1 mile. What was sold as biodiesel turns out to be unfiltered waste veg oil. £323 plus recovery costs so far. Trading standards tomorrow.

Here in Australia I've been using an Ethernal blend for some time in a new engine & so far no problems. Better milage also & cheaper au$1:17/ litre & we think thats dear. I'm hiring a car in england shortly for 5 weeks & reckon I'm going to need a bank manager @ your prices.
Still itll be our last trip home so hang the expence & enjoy our holiday.
It's mid winter here & 10 degrees, Clear skies, Sun shining etc. Not like UK being flooded.
Regards from paradise,
Andy Palmer

If its not wars in the middle east, its cutting down the rain forest, anything, anything as long as i don't have to sit next to smelly people on a bus! The Monkeys have had a good run lets chop it down and plant biofuel trees now.

Bio Fuels should be used
Ideally as a mix until manufactures
Sort out Engines to use them correctly

Plenty of Fields along side Motorway's
Ideal for Growing Bio Fuels
As understand there have been complaints they crops
close to Motorway's is being reject for food.

Jason makes a good point about cooking oil. i use pure vegetable oil in my diesel peugeot 206 straight from the bottle mixed with about 60 percent diesel from the pump. it is perfectly legal but of course you must pay the tax on it.

Yes I have registered my Vote against the Road Pricing proposed by the b-----d Blair

Ethanol as a fuel?

Ethanol is a poor fuel compared to gasoline. If nature had not made ethanol so easy to manufacture then it probably would not even be considered as a replacement. In most case's it needs to be mixed with gasoline to obtain power!!

The other way to power your car in a "bio" way would be to used diesel made from cooking oil. Bio-diesel compares well to regular diesel.

I suggest everyone is very careful to notice just how much ethanol is in the fuel they buy - yes it can be cheaper with tax incentives, but make sure YOU get the incentive - ethanol contains only about two thirds of the enrgy of petrol, so only gives two-thirds of the mpg.

Incidentally do you know that Mexico is having riots over Totilla prices; so much USA corn is now being turned into ethanol that the Mexicans who used to take a lot of the corn exports are having to pay a lot more for it!

In Reply to Paul,

Yes our car's (Ford Galaxy) "upstream HEGO sensor" (lambda) has given up the ghost. We only use a small Jet petrol station in North Weald so it may not just be the supermarkets that have the problem.

PetrolPrices.com - is it possible to set up a way of reporting which petrol stations people suspect have supplied the bad fuel? It may help prevent further problems and be usefull in tracking the supply?

has anyone been affected by the contaminated fuel in the south? we have been having problems with our car for the last few days car stalling spluttering now we have had to have a new lambda sensor fitted we only ever fill up at asda in norwich .

We are being told that farms are being sold off,because crops are not profitable,due to the eu farming policy .Lets do something on our own for a change,and plant a crop just to see if the idea of"synthesis gas"could work. Pleas forgive me if this is against" the common agricultural policy",and as such embarrases the government ? of this country,(which used to be called Great Britain.

Standard engines must be modified to run on pure ethanol; "gasahol" is about 10% ethanol in gasoline. However, there is an alternative, the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. This converts a source of carbon to something resembling crude oil. This was used in Germany in WW2, and, more recently, in South Africa (SASOL). In both of these, the carbon was low-grade coal, but it will work on fresh plant material, which is burned in a limited supply of air to make "synthesis gas". Any plant material will do - grass clippings are ideal. Since such fuel is made from atmospheric carbon dioxide, it does not increase the concentration in the atmosphere. Given adequate tax incentives, crops could be grown for this purpose - it is the ultimate in recycling.

"Ethanol" has been around a long time, E10 is used in the USA, along with E85 and E95. However, the latter need redesigned engines.

Ethanol at present, is only 60/70% efficient as Petrol, and has a nasty habit of retaining water, which leads to corrosion. The "energy" cost to produce the product, is in excess of present "Fossil Fuels".

The development of "cellulosic ethanol" is a long way in the future, and has its own set of problems to be sorted out.

"Alcool" from Sugar Cane, was used in the 1980's in Brazil, but collasped after proving too expensive for the market. It was highly subsidised by the Government and failed.

Ethanol, is subsidised in the USA at present time, but is begining to suffer the same fate, as its Brazilian counterpart. The jury is still out.

I have just spotted a Biodiesel station in Liverpool. Will you be including Biodiesel prices in your system soon?