Is adding ethanol to petrol a bad idea?

[HDi fun]

The point I'm trying to make is that the government relies upon our use of fossil fuels for the duty it attracts.

That's why they're not at all keen on making RME and such fuels easily available.

Brown does not care about the environment at all.

[StevieDB9]

i dont see why theres such a hype about it. yes burning ethanol will cut down on nitrates and sulphates being produced but it will still result in carbon dioxide which is the main problem anyway.

[pgarner]

but the "idea" is that the crop absorbs CO2 while its growing. plants take in the CO2 and convert it to O2. so the carbon that is given off when burning the ethanol is then used by the next crop

[HDi fun]

Ive got it!

Let's invent an engine that can run on potato peelings!

Easy really

[waynne]

Spud You Trike could be the brand name for a new 3 wheeled potatoe driven vehicle. There could be a race league with specktaters everywhere watching. Chips Away would have to appeal to a whole different market!

Sorry!

[HDi fun]

Talking of chips (culinary type, not embedded LSIs in ECUs) I did run our 96 Seat 1.9D on 80% raw cooking oil for a couple of months. And it worked very well indeed. And the exhaust had a distinct frying aroma.

If you're going to do this the seek lots of engine specific advice firstly. Don't follow advice from biodiesel produers as they usually have little knowledge of modern diesel injection systems. The Seat we tried was the old VW 1896cc indirect injection non turbo engine with a Bosch rotary pump.

You MUST register with HM Customs and pay duty as well.

[pgarner]

new modern common rail cant run with chip fat as it will just bugger the injectors however i think you can can get systems that can make 10 gallons a day of a version of bio diesel which can run without damage ???? not 100% sure. but im sure that it requires ether methanol or ethanol to thin it down.

your allowed to make a certain amount before HM customs want a slice ( i think its around 1500 ltrs a year )

[StevieDB9]

Originally Posted by pgarner

but the "idea" is that the crop absorbs CO2 while its growing. plants take in the CO2 and convert it to O2. so the carbon that is given off when burning the ethanol is then used by the next crop

ah, i see. rubbish idea. the co2 from exhausts will dissipate up into the atmosphere out of reach of the crops. there probably isnt even such a thing as global warming. its all propaganda. the earths been heating up and cooling down since it was born. nothing to worry about.

seriously though, didnt someone propose building a sort of plastic dome tunnel like think covering all the main roads in britain made of some special polymer that would act on the emissions? anyone know what im talking about?!

[HDi fun]

Originally Posted by pgarner

new modern common rail cant run with chip fat as it will just bugger the injectors however i think you can can get systems that can make 10 gallons a day of a version of bio diesel which can run without damage ???? not 100% sure. but im sure that it requires ether methanol or ethanol to thin it down.

your allowed to make a certain amount before HM customs want a slice ( i think its around 1500 ltrs a year )

I know, you can't operate a common rail system on cooking oil. new/used, filtered or not as it will wreck the injectors and pumps.

THe process to which you refer is transesterification, and it does render filtered cooking oil down to something that will operate in high pressure engines.

Sadly, you can't use it in engines that have Euro IV compliant particle filters as the fuel borne catalyst is incompatible with such fuels.

Which rules mine out straight away.

So, it's back to peeling spuds then!!!

Cheers,

P.

[waynne]

Originally Posted by StevieDB9

seriously though, didnt someone propose building a sort of plastic dome tunnel like think covering all the main roads in britain made of some special polymer that would act on the emissions? anyone know what im talking about?!

Thats the Dartford tunnel It gets very smelly and requires you to hold your breath whilst you drive through and switch your fan to recircualte.

I heard the news this morning that the goverment are being lobbied to review the environmental impact of bio fuel mixed with regular fuel. Wonder if they will actually listen or we'll get another "solution" with hidden costs.

[waynne]

Ok guys - this legislation is now in force. We don't have a choice - all pump fuel sold in the UK will now contain biofuel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7347142.stm

Watch your MPG closely - I bet it goes down. Well at least the price is a little lower. Hang on a minute it's gone up! (1.10 per litre down here for unleaded!)

[pgarner]

ok seeing as biofuel is cheaper than normal can we get a 2.5% cut in duty tax then 5% in 2010.

i wonder if we can also claim off them for damage to seals, as is this not an issue in america ?

[HDi fun]

At high dilution ratios with pump fuel there's no issue with seals and gaskets. You won't get a duty reduction as this government is not interested in rewarding anyone really. Things might have been easier economically if the UK hadn't got itself involved in the Iraq conflicts. That was a hiding to nowhere.

[waynne]

The way fuel prices are going I'm going to get my engine to run on Vodka - at current rates of fuel increases it will cheaper in about 3 years! (One for the car, one for me, one for the car, one fur me, Won fur caaaar, wun fffuuurrr me. )