E10 ,. . What is the real story with this Fuel?
Submitted: Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 19:05
ThreadID:
89062
Views:
2966
Replies:
6
FollowUps:
8
This Thread has been Archived
Axle
I notice
United fuel suppliers are pushing hard with their discounts, But whats the truth with this stuff. When this fuel first arrived it wasn't long before a lot of criticism went against it with certain engines, Left the motor very dry at the top end, other probs, and so on. Now their saying it wont have any effect on motors from the 90s upward!, I thought the latest V6 Holden motor was designed to cope with this fuel without drama, So i can't see to many engines from other companys having the same technology back in the ninetys!!. To much B/Dust and sales Hype with this sort of thing these days.
Cheers Axle.
Reply By: ozjohn0 - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 19:16
Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 19:16
Axle.
Post 1990 cars will run quite
well on E10 which contains 'Upto' 10% ethenol.
The lastest Holdens are designed to run on fuels with 'Upto' 85% ethenol.
Many of the E10 mixtures only have the same Octane rating as the standard ULP. That's 91 Ron, which won't give quite as many Km as standard ULP.
However a couple have a higher octain E10 mixtures.
Shell's E10 is 94 Ron.
United's is 95 Ron the same as Premium ULP.
ozjohn.
AnswerID:
465214
Reply By: Rockape - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 19:32
Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 19:32
Axle,
E10 does nothing for me.
1. I use between 2 and 3 litres more over 400k. Forget the price I put 2 to 3 kg more carbon into the air.
2. It is cheaper for me to run 95 octane than E10.
3. We are using food production land to produce fuel.
4. At the turn of the century it took 1 calorie to produce 2 calories of food. Now it takes 8 calories of fuel to produce 1 calorie of food.
We gotta get smarter and using prime growing land to produce fuel is BS.
Have a good one,
RA.
AnswerID:
465217
Follow Up By: Rockape - Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 04:18
Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 04:18
Axle,
I forgot to add that when I use the unleaded with 5% ethanol my fuel consumption doesn't seem to be affected. I could never figure that one out.
RA.
FollowupID:
739229
Follow Up By: Member - John G- Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 09:11
Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 09:11
G'day Rockape
I'm with you. Using E10 in our Hyundai
sedan results in a 5% increase in fuel consumption. So, over a year we use more petrol than when using standard ULP, and don't save any money.
Cheers
John
FollowupID:
739242
Reply By: Bushranger1 - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 20:05
Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 20:05
It causes lots of problems when left in
farm & garden care equipment for any period of time. Gums up the system big time when it goes stale.
I avoid using it.
Cheers
Stu
AnswerID:
465223
Follow Up By: Shaker - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 21:30
Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 21:30
It also causes massive problems for boats moored in marinas.
FollowupID:
739206
Follow Up By: Bushranger1 - Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 08:05
Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 08:05
Good point.
Not being a boating enthusiast I did not give that a thought.
FollowupID:
739235
Reply By: get outmore - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 20:16
Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 20:16
I would avoid it if for no reasdon than ethonol is an extremely bad thing environmentally and socially
AnswerID:
465225
Follow Up By: Bushranger1 - Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 07:58
Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 07:58
Thats for sure.
We use large amounts of fossil fuels to harvest our crops, produce & transport the fertiliser for them & then we use the crop to produce more fuel instead of using it for food.
How dumb is that!
FollowupID:
739234
Reply By: ian zzr - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 21:04
Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 21:04
hi axle, the crop based additive that is added to fuel to create E10 is alcohol, Alcohol is water based but being what it is chemically it will mix with petroleum.
Unfortunately it is hydroscopic which has the ability to absorb moisture , if you use your vehicle regularly fine don't let it sit. If stored in a container for mower shake before you use it but dont keep this type of fuel to long. Also it does not like rubber seals or fuel hoses of older cars turns them soft. agreed late model cars the manufactures have sorted out rubber used but the problem still is this fuel is hydroscopic . It will be in all fuels soon :(
AnswerID:
465236
Follow Up By: Member - Mark (Tamworth NSW) - Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 23:24
Friday, Sep 16, 2011 at 23:24
Ian
The E in E10 is Ethanol.
Ethanol is not water based, it is a chemical on it's own (C2H5OH). It is from the family of chemical compounds called alcohols.
It is soluble in water (and vice versa) and as you say it does absorbs moisture from the atmosphere (Hygroscopic, not hydroscopic).
Ethanol has only 60% of the energy content of "gasoline/ octane", hence the poorer fuel consumption when using fuels containing ethanol.
Ethanol in Australia and the USA is produced from fermenting grains such as wheat & corn. In Brazil, it is produced by fermenting sugar. In the USA they use approx 140Million tonnes of corn pa to produce ethanol for E10, that is 6 times more wheat than Australia produces in a year.
If you want a good source of information, Google Renewable Fuels Association, and they will give you all the positives for Ethanol based fuels. There are plenty of negatives as mentioned above.
FollowupID:
739224
Follow Up By: Member - Mark (Tamworth NSW) - Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 18:34
Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 18:34
I forgot to mention,
UNITED fuel company is the only fuel retailer/ wholesaler in Australia which owns a ethanol plant.
They own the one in
Dalby Qld, may explain why they may be pushing E10 harder than the other fuel retailer who buy their Ethanol in from another company.
FollowupID:
739298
Follow Up By: Bazooka - Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 23:04
Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 23:04
The great fuel fail: ethanol from corn
Iirc the price of corn rose so sharply at one time that the Mexican govt brought in a law to limt its sale for biofuel (instead of fuel for the cars of the good ol ' boys up north they seemed to think it was better to use it to fuel their people).
FollowupID:
739327
Reply By: Robin Miller - Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 08:11
Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 at 08:11
The real story is simply that you use approx 3-4% more , and that its usually 2-3 cents cheaper. (approx ) 2% cheaper.
It is quite simply a waste of everyone's time.
AnswerID:
465258