What are the disadvantages of using Ethanol as a fuel in cars???

Question

Hey

does anyone know the disadvantages of using Ethanol as a fuel in cars

Can you answer as quickly as possible im desperate.

Cheers ma dears

Answer 1

Everything everyone is mentioning on hear . Its just a crappy way to make fuel. We may as well go back to horse and buggy .Its all 18th century technology anyway . Its a backward step into the future we need to step forward not backwards

Answer 2

1. Driving up food prices.

2. GMO corn that is better as a fuel then food, i.e. cross pollination.

3. Not enough corn or crops can be grown to replace current fuel usage.

4. Will create a boom and bust type economic cycle.

5. previous wild areas will be plowed up, possibly creating a dust bowl scenarios.

Answer 3

Ethanol and methanol both have advantages and disadvantages over fossil fuels, such as petrol and diesel. For instance, ethanol can run at a much higher compression ratio without octane-boosting additives (its octane rating is 129 as opposed to 91 for plain petrol), and it's cleaner - because ethanol molecules contain oxygen, carbon monoxide emissions can be 80-90% lower than for fossil-fuelled engines.

But there are disadvantages too. Ethanol is corrosive and has 37% less energy per litre than petrol. Methanol is even more corrosive and its energy per liter is 55% lower than that of petrol. High compression ratios and corrosion-resistant materials can overcome these issues, but require extensive engine modification.

Answer 4

Your car smells like a chip shop

You can't buy it anywhere.

Answer 5

First It doesn't produce as much power as gas, second and probably the biggest problem is that we're using corn to make it, in part because of the political clout of Iowa, and also the political clout of corporations like Cargill and ADM. We should be using crops like switch grass that don't effect the price of food.

Answer 6

It drives the price of basic foods ( corn) through the roof and in order for it to be viable,there is a lack of "growing areas"

Answer 7

Disadvantages of Ethanol-

1. Engines run on ethanol may give starting problems when the air is cool.

2. Ethanol is highly hydrophilic. As a result, it can absorb moisture from atmosphere, etc.

3. It reacts with metals used in the alloys of carburettors etc. It can be remedied by using nickel in the engine alloys.

4. The downstream processing for ethanol recovery is costly as it requires lots of energy.

5. Ethanol run engines use about 10% more fuel than petrol, which means a proportionately larger tank.

Answer 8

The main disadvantages of ethanol are:

1) it has less energy density, so you travel less distance on a tank of ethanol than you can on a tank of gasoline.

2) It is more expensive than gasoline.

Some of the fallacies are that it will raise the price of food "through the roof". The main fuel used in Brazil is ethanol, and their food prices are normal. I know, I recently went there on vacation...

Another fallacy is that it causes overfarming. In reality farmers are very protective of their main source of income. They don't overfarm. Also, the divertion of grain from the food industry to the fuel industry would slightly raise the price of grain, but wouldn't cause farmers to risk their land and future to produce more grain.

Answer 9

The cost.

Answer 10

It still causes CO2 emissions. It isn't as dense as Gasoline therefore takes as much space in the tank but offers less energy. It can cause ecological disaster due to over farming of crops used to produce it and also food shortages. It doesn't have as much return on investment as Gasoline and other fosil fuels.

Answer 11

The ethanol fuel is produced  from sugar crops which are grown on land that would otherwise have been used for food production, thus in order to provide so-called environmentally friendly fuel we have to starve.

Answer 12

It emits less CO2 than petrol  but that not what we're looking for, next  it's not the solution because it's gonna create other trouble by going to war for food now. For instance, they use a numerous corn to make a gallon and other aliments.

Disadvantage are CO2 emission's and consummation of Food.