Why are we still forced to use Ethanol when it has been proved to reduce milage & damage our car,s engines?

Question

Cars, trucks farm equiptment,etc. was never made to burn Ethanol (A.K.A. Moon Shine) It damages valves,rings and pistons making new motors old and sloppy adding to the already reduced millage caused by adding alcohol to our gasoline. The only ones benefiting from ethanol are the oil co.s They get to dilute our gas by no less than 10% with a product that we pay to provide them with, + reduces the millage we get from there fuel so we have to burn more to go shorter distances.When you add the fact that it takes MORE energy to produce ethanol than it provides, How can this possibly help the environment !?

Answer 1

The ten percent ethanol they use in Ohio doesn't seem to hurt anything, and it does help increase the octane rating a bit without the use of tetraethyl lead.  

That said, trolley-powered electric buses and trucks are probably the best solution to the current crisis.  The wires are quick to put up over existing roads, the buses last forever, anyone can drive them, no rails or signals are required, and the new versions can get around obstructions by means of a diesel generator when necessary.  And yes, they do perform better on hills than diesels.

Answer 2

If this was true, why is it used for race cars?  From what a lot of modified drivers have told me, it tends to work out better than either entirely petroleum based fuels or a petroleum-ethanol blend.   Methanol, not ethanol, is found in moonshine as well. The names are similar, and they are related compounds, but they are NOT the same.

Answer 3

It's just an additive. Years ago they used lead as an additive, then they found that it was harmful to humans including the lead that was used in lead based paints. They found another chemical called MTB as a replacement for lead. They recently found that MTB causes cancer, so they changed to ethanol which doesn't have any side affects like the other additives, and it's a renewable resource. I agree that ethanol is harmful to automobile engines, I had a sensor go out because the ethanol content was too high.

Answer 4

A big myth is that more fossil fuels are used to make ethanol than the energy it yields.  This is dead wrong.  Ethanol is now being made with almost an infinitely positive net yield via wind power and combustion of waste biomass from the beef industry.  Ethanol is being produced with ZERO fossil fuels used in the process.  Read that again---ZERO FOSSIL FUELS are being used to make ethanol.  Here are the links to prove it:

http://connectbiz.com/2005/11/keith-kor/

http://fairmontsentinel.com/page/content...

More Biofuel Myths

Myth: Biofuels provide less energy than it takes to make them.

One (and only one) obsolete study done over 20 years ago—in the 1980s—showed a negative energy balance, which the media sometimes quote. Since then, technology and crop yields have improved tremendously. Many studies prove that ethanol provides about 1.5 units of energy for every unit of energy used.

Biodiesel is even higher: 3.2 to 1. What oil companies don’t want you to know is that gasoline takes 20 percent more energy to make than it provides.

Myth: Biofuels drive up food prices.

Corn and soy bean prices have gone up—primarily because of speculators, not Biofuel producers, increasing the cost of a chicken sandwich by about 7 cents. However, high petroleum prices have driven up food prices far more! About 20% of America’s corn crop goes to produce ethanol, which accounts for about 5% of our motor fuel. After the liquid starch is extracted, the remaining product is still be used for feed and fiber. That’s why a third of all the corn grown in the U.S. is still exported! We can easily increase our ethanol production to 15% of our gasoline needs without threatening our food supply. Beyond that, we will need to develop new feedstocks, such as wood and fibrous plants. Research in these areas is well underway.

Myth: Biofuels get worse fuel mileage.

We have been using Biodiesel for over 6 years now. Nearly all of our distributors have seen a 1% to 5% improvementin fuel economy due to better lubricity, higher cetane levels and oxygen content.

Ethanol blends up to 10% have negligible effect on fuel mileage. While high blends of ethanol (such as E85, 85% ethanol) can reduce fuel mileage slightly, ethanol, at 110 octane, provides more power. With proper tuning, engines can reach comparable mileage. In fact in Europe, which has already adopted Biofuels, the same manufacturers sell models in Europe to run on ethanol that get the same mileage as those they sell to run on gasoline in the U.S.

Myth: Vehicle and heating systems must be modified to use Biofuels

Rudolph Diesel’s first diesel engine ran on vegetable oil. Any diesel can run on Biodiesel, although blends above B20 may not yet be supported by your manufacturer.

Any heating system can use Biodiesel, although you may need to replace your fuel pump and make minor modifications for blends over B20.

Henry Ford promoted ethanol. Any car can run on up to E24 (24% ethanol). Blends up to E85 can be used in Flex Fuel Vehicles. There are millions of these on the road today. By 2012, all GM vehicles will be Flex Fuel.

Answer 5

your info on ethanol energy output is like all skeptics, OUTDATED. ethanol and biodiesel has already been reducing the price of our gasoline and diesel. the greatest benefit for america is that finally we can produce something in america and keep those dollars here instead of sending them to foreign countries. there are many jobs that are created from the biofuels industry and a healthy farm economy. farm equipment companies are already running way behind on deliveries of tractors and combines for 2009. the energy output of ethanol keeps getting better and better every year. we have been producing biodiesel from used cooking oil from local restaurants for our farm since last fall. the oil companies are enjoying more profit from ethanol in gasoline because ethanol is cheaper than gasoline. the end result of using a cleaner and renewable fuels are that it keeps farmers profitable so they can continue to produce enough food and fuel for the american people and in the end the american consumer will benfit the most.

Answer 6

if ethanol really did damage to internal engine components, it would not be used in racing. the IRL would still be using methanol. does ethanol reduce fuel economy? yes, but you can eliminate much of that reduction if you tune your engine to run ethanol in what ever percentage you plan on using. granted ethanol is not the green fuel that people think it is, bu it is a renewable fuel source and can be made from a number of different sources, not just corn. as for engines not being made to burn ethanol, hog wash. early internal combustion engines were designed to run on a number of different fuel sources, you just need to tune the engine to run on what ever fuel source you choose. gasoline won out because it was an easier fuel to make at the time, and thus the infrastructure was easier to design and build.

alcohol has its issues, but as a motor fuel it does well enough.

danagasta, methanol is a petrolium based alcohol. moonshine IS ethanol NOT methanol.

Answer 7

Ethanol was recently introduced as an additive to gasoline (at least 2%) to replace MBTE, which was causing all kinds of ground water pollution and I believe was also discovered to cause cancer.  When ethanol is mixed with gasoline in small amounts, less than 10%, it's generally not that bad for an engine and won't affect the vehicle's gas mileage very much at all.  It's when you start making cars that are suppose to run on E85, which is 85% ethanol and only 15% gasoline, that fuel mileage is reduced significantly.  

The reason we have E85 now is because some people claim that it can reduce our country's dependance on foriegn oil, but it has been shown that 30% of our nation's corn crop was diverted to make ethanol, and it reduced our oil imports only 3%, so that's not nearly good enough.  

The reason E85 is being shoved down our throats is because the farm lobby in Washington is very powerful, and this is making farmers a lot of money!  Not to mention that the Presidental primaries always start in Iowa for some reason, so all the candidates seem to pander to Iowa to try to get out to a lead.  Thus they'll take any position that would attract voters in Iowa, no matter if it's good for the country or not, it's all about getting the votes to get in office.

Answer 8

Ethanol actually produces 35% more energy than it takes to make it.

http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol_ener...

Why does it mess with our engines, because the auto industry is the oil industrie's b!&ch.  Like I've said in several other answers, watch the documentary "Who killed the electric car?".  Automobile makers could make every new car E85 compliant at a cost of less than 300/vehicle. That's mainly a corrosion resistant tank, fuel line, and a system for analyzing the fuel for more efficient combustion.

http://www.drivingethanol.org/ethanol_fa...

That link is why we use ethanol. It reduces carbon emissions.  Also, don't worry about crippling the food supply. After alcohol extraction, the mash is dried and can be used as animal feed. A weird thing a professor told me is that after the fermentation process, the corn actually has a higher protein content, not a bad trade off for the feed business.

Personally, I'm for all electric vehicles, but in the mean time E85 is viable for reducing our dependency on foreign oil and trying to stem the rising cost of petroleum.

Answer 9

OK a few clarifications.

Folks are misunderstanding "35% more" when it comes to ethanol.  They are saying that if you start with fossil fuel, and use it for fertilizer, pesticides, fuel for machinery, and energy to refine and distill the ethanol...  you get 35% more fuel value from the ethanol than you would have gotten if you just used the fossil fuel as fuel directly.  Instead of going 100 miles you go 135.  And that's by the best possible estimate, some people say it's less than a 35% gain, some say it's less than zero gain - a loss.  Everyone agrees it takes an ENORMOUS amount of fossil fuel to make ethanol, so much that it's practially a waste of time.  

It is correct that ethanol gives less MPG than fossil gasoline. ~30% less MPG, so 10% ethanol fuel should give you 3% less MPG.'

2n2222 has some neat ideas about electric trolley trucks, but hanging trolley wire is much, much harder than he thinks.  It's essentially a craftsman skill, and there are very few such craftsmen in the world. There's also a whole liability issue, because bad wire can tear down poles/pans, and vice versa - if they are not owned by the same people, the lawsuits would be legendary.  The #1 thing we could do is electrify the nation's railroad mainlines, that's easy.