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Higher Ethanol Blends Don’t Boost Emissions
By Mr Ethanol | October 8, 2008
DesMoinesRegister.com:
A new government study of ethanol fuels found that they don’t increase tailpipe emissions, but that mileage does go down when gas contains as much as 15 percent or 20 percent alcohol. Ten percent ethanol is now the legal limit for use in most cars.
The study, released today, also found that ethanol can increase temperatures in some cars’ catalytic converters, and that excess heat could be sufficient to damage the converters, according to an auto industry group.
The Energy Department studied the impact of the ethanol blends, known as E15 and E20, on 13 different automobile models and on 28 types of small engines, including ones used in lawnmowers and generators.
Under federal regulations, gasoline cannot contain more than 10 percent ethanol except for use specially equipped, flexible-fuel cars.
The ethanol industry wants the government to allow blends such as E15 or E20 to expand the market for the fuel. However, car makers and manufacturers of small engines have raised concerns that the ethanol could harm engines, and the higher blends also could run afoul of federal air-pollution laws if the alcohol were to increase emissions or damage emission-control equipment.
The impact on small engines was unclear in the study. Many of the motors operated erratically no matter what type of fuel was used, the researchers found.
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October 9th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
If tail pipe emissions are not increased, can we presume they at least stay the same or are slightly lower?
If the latter 2 are true and that mileage decreases, then the amount of fuel burned for equal miles is greater and that in effect brings negates the net amount of emissions, making ethanol either similar or dirtier than standard gasoline.
What are the #’s on 10% EOH?