Now, that was very educational, Mark. Thanks. I think I’ll save it for future reference. The mention of how ethanol is made brought to mind the fact that it’s used as an additive in gasoline to make it burn cleaner in an automobile engine. As a matter of fact we have a big ethanol plant here in Manitoba (good market for the farmers’ grain) and I use it almost all the time in my car. I did notice that my car’s owner’s manual warns against using methanol in the gasoline as it will damage the engine. It’s amazing how much difference a molecule here or there makes!
…Bob
Seamonster,
Many race cars use methanol as their fuel. Ethanol in your gas (Gasohol) is a great way for farmers to make money on crops but is terrible for the driver. The reason is that the ethanol displaces up to 10% of the volume of the fuel but does not fully replace the BTUs of the displaced fuel. You are paying for the same volume but less energy. Not consistent with increasing the fuel economy of the entire vehicle fleet.
I found this out in spades on one trip across the country. I was running about 320 miles per tankful and stopped in Memphis and “saved” 4 cents a gallon on fuel. I didn’t notice until the tank was full that it was gasohol. I started south on I-55 heading for Jackson Mississippi. After driving for an hour and a half, I noticed the fuel gauge was dropping faster than it should. I looked at the map and did a rough estimate of how far I could go and realized that unless I found a station NOW I was going to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. I finally found an exit and had to drive several miles away from the highway to get to a station. I was almost out of fuel and only halfway to my destination! Filling the tank with regular unleaded immediately restored my fuel economy to where it had been. I had lost fully one third of the miles per gallon by running the one tank of gasohol! Going back to regular unleaded brought it right back immediately. Since then, I am totally opposed to putting gasohol in my engines. Since the alcohol is “like” water, it can absorb and hold moisture in the tank, too. Not good. I stay away from gasahol at all costs.
Mark C.
Pretty Pretty dog gone intelligent… HHHMMM Now for my question… Gasoline VS Isopropanol Alcohol??? Which would be more flammable ? Dangerous ? I guess what i’m trying to get at is, we had a bon-fire at our house and are currently being sued due a 45 year old male picking up a “NEW RED FLAMMABLE GAS CAN” labled “ALCOHOL” on it, written in 2 inch BIG BOLD BLACK LETTERS . Knowing what was in the can at that, and pouring it onto the fire to, “TURN IT UP” in his own words, in which it exploded. Now he is sueing us for liability… Now the question in doubt is, is the alcohol “more” flammable" than gasoline , and should it have been in some other type of container than a RED 5 GALLON FLAMMABLE GASOLINE CAN , especially when at Walmart, Kmart and all other drugstores any person of any age can purchase 92% isopropyl alcohol on the shelf in a clear plastic bottle . The fight on our hands is like I said, is it more flammable or commbustable and should it have been in some other type of container ? HMMMM, maybe I should have gotten 50 clear plastic bottle from the "Walley World " and put it in there. [:(] [:(!] Any help would be greatly appreciated…
Thanks Michelle, or better yet , CONFUSED from the great state of Louisiana
“Alcohol” doesn’t contain as much energy as gasoline, so it does reduce your mileage. But it has the effect of increasing your apparent octane. It also tends to absorb and suspend water in the fuel, preventing the fuel lines from freezing up. But it burns quite well, with a hard to see blue flame. One of my co-workers will tell you that it blows up real good. He was using it in a temperature bath, there was a spark, and then a large explosion. The building was designed for that possibility, so damage was limited. The real concern of the fire dept. was the 10,000 litre propane tank in the next building, not 10 feet from the one that’s on fire. Before I joined “The Company” pure ethanol was often employed for various purposes, often as a thermal fluid. Some of the old vets would drink it right out of the baths, especially around Christmas… We still have some alcohol around, but it’s like 90% ethanol with the balance made up of wood alcohol, just to deter imbibing. Like propane, methanol is made from natural gas, like a lot of other things. Rubbing alcohol shouldn’t be used to clean tape heads, because it contains gylcerin, a lubricant that leaves a residue. Best stuff for cleaning heads (or the stylus on your turntable) is vodka, or the purest methyl hydrate you can find.
On Half mile tracks for weekly shows in the modified we used pure methanol with a quart of marvel Mystery oil for 20 gallons. When we ran Langhorne which was a mile we went to Gas with about 20% Methanol to get better millage for the longer race. We are talking Jumping the milage from 3 to