Entries from September 2007 ↓

In the not-too-distant past, people were not concerned with using ethanol in their vehicles, as there were very few ethanol gas stations, except in certain states in the corn belt. Today the spread of ethanol as a fuel has more ethanol gas stations in more states and their number is growing almost daily.

Generally, the public will want to know what they are putting in their vehicles and to denote gasoline mixed with ethanol, the color yellow is being used. Since it is the same color as the corn, with which ethanol is made, it is not unusual to see a yellow corn stalk on gas pumps at ethanol gas stations. Most stations are not going to install a separate storage tank for gasoline blended with ethanol rather they will simply add it to their current storage capacity with the ethanol designation.

The use of ethanol as a gasoline additive is not new, however its use outside the corn belt is slowly growing, mainly because until recently there was not enough ethanol production to supply more than a few ethanol gas stations and they were generally close to the ethanol refineries.

Cleaner, More Efficient Burning With Ethanol

Environmentalists applaud ethanol due to it renewable source as well the fact it burns cleaner that gasoline, reducing the amount of toxic emissions from care and trucks. Power advocates appreciate that ethanol can add two or even three points to the octane rating of straight gasoline however there is a minor loss of horsepower in straight ethanol, when mixed with gasoline, there is none. With the additional ethanol gas stations popping up nationwide, the use will spread.

As more manufacturing facilities come on line in the near future, the availability of E-10 at ethanol gas stations will continue to grow and more people will use it. E-10 is the designation given to gasoline containing a 10 percent blend of ethanol. In diesel-powered vehicles, the blend can be as high as 85 percent, known as E-85, is those engines are designed to burn the more raw diesel fuel.

By the year 2012 the government is pushing for the use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol mixed with gasoline to help make the country less dependent on non-renewable resources, such as oil, as well as on foreign oil to provide gasoline. Refineries are under construction to help manufacturers meet the future demands nationwide.

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The production of ethanol gas requires only ninety-five percent less petroleum when compared with the same quantity of fossil fuels, according to new studies conducted. The production of this gas is also far more environments friendly as it causes lesser amounts of greenhouse gases to be produced that in turn increase the possibility of global warming. It is believed that ethanol gas could contribute in no small measure to being more energy efficient as well as ninety-five percent free of emissions of greenhouse gases if use is made of woody plants in producing it, instead of corn.

There is no doubt the fact that when one uses ethanol gas they will benefit from this cleaner burning fuel which can provide the same efficiency as standard fuels. The standard 1:9 mixture of ethanol to gasoline can be used in any vehicle but there are also other mixtures that may be used to drive flexible-fuel cars and this mixture is known as the E85 that contains 85 % ethanol and 15% gasoline. Ethanol gas is produced from renewable home-grown resources and is very advantageous to the economy as well as provides cleaner air.

Cars May Also Be Converted To Run On E85 Ethanol Gas

The process of producing ethanol is through fermentation of bacteria and breaking down of carbohydrate sugars like starch from corns. There are good possibilities for converting vehicles that run on unleaded fuel to also run on E85 ethanol gas and reputable car manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler sell cars that can run on such alternate fuels.

It is believed that out of every eight gallons of gasoline sold there is one gallon that contains ethanol gas which is mostly a ten percent ethanol and ninety percent gasoline blend and is sometimes referred to as gasohol or E10 whose primary use is in enhancing octane that helps to develop better quality of air. Ethanol gas blends that contain ten percent or less of ethanol have been used successfully in every type of engine and vehicle.

There is also a steady rise in the number of ethanol gas stations being opened up though this may be true only for corn growing states since the cost of transporting ethanol is quite prohibitive and so most ethanol gas filling stations seem to be cropping up in states such as Minnesota and Illinois. However, ethanol gas is sold in every state across the US and ethanol blends comprise total sales in areas of carbon monoxide and ozone no attainment, at certain times of the year.

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The ethanol fuel cell is a matter which needs to be taken quite seriously into consideration, especially once you realize the fact that using ethanol as fuel – and this directly surrounds the matter of the ethanol fuel cell – is actually one of the most topics of conversation in the world today.

In fact, the largest single use of ethanol period is as motor fuel and fuel additive, and the largest national fuel ethanol industries exist in Brazil, and one of the most major methods of production is through fermentation of sugar; ethanol also creates very little pollution, which is absolutely a positive thing, and as well, millions of acres of land are going to be needed if ethanol is to be used to replace gasoline – hence why the matter of ethanol fuel cell is so critical.

More About the Ethanol Fuel Cell

In regards to leaning more about the ethanol fuel cell in general, basically you need to know that a fuel cell is a device that can actually obtain 40 to 50% efficiency in the conversion of fuel into useable power; this technology is actually a by-product of the NASA space program, which was originally developed to provide a lightweight and efficient power source for use on manned space missions.

However, it was soon realized that this incredible technology could be used for numerous other reasons, and so it was thus eventually shared with the world, and now there is the fact that ethanol is being considered as being the most major option to a replacement for gasoline in the world; this is even more important considering the fact that we are presently in a war with Iraq and that for the most part this is also where we get our fuel from.

It should also be known that some fuel cells actually use specialized molecular sieves made of complex polymers with some type of anode/cathode properties, and then others use expensive platinum catalysts. Then there are those which use pure hydrogen as a fuel source in order to be able to make electricity, and some are designed to run on propane, but they then may only have a membrane life expectancy of about 3,000 hours.

Overall, we can see the importance of this issue, and understand now why we should take it much more seriously into consideration overall.

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