We're now feeling the cost increase passed down from the oil companies as they begin to switch from MTBE to ethanol fuel additives. What's better? Expect your mileage to go down, and now fuel costs more
Ethanol produces less power when burned than gasoline, but has a higher octane rating...so it also resists burning more than gasoline (roughly 120 octane compared to average of 91-98 for gasoline). Gasoline engines have compression ratios and fuel and spark maps tuned for the characteristics of standard gasoline - so when the fuel produces more or less power than anticipated, problems arise.
A few numbers for comparison...
Standard gasoline produces 115000 BTU's per gallon.
MTBE produces 93500 BTU's per gallon.
Ethanol produces 75000 BTU's per gallon.
Ever notice your fuel mileage drop in the winter months? That's when most stations switch to the 15% MTBE-mix fuel, which is roughly 2.8% less efficient.
Now the push is for nationwide 10% ethanol mix, which is 3.4% less efficient.
So in closing...expect your fuel costs to be higher than last year.
MTBE had claimed environmental benefits, but no one talked about the water contamination it produced. Ethanol should be less harmful than MTBE, but one has to wonder...if we burned non-oxygenated gasoline, our mileage would go up since our engines would be operating more efficiently- therefore reducing pollution - and as a side effect we will be burning less gas, ALSO reducing pollution. What do you guys think?
Sorry for the rant, but this has been REALLY pissing me off.
Exo2
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