Ethanol Side Effects

[ISX]

This is kinda interesting. I just wonder if it applies to biodiesel too. http://www.enginelabs.com/news/carb-defender-designed-to-counter-harmful-side-effects-of-ethanol/

[Mopar1973Man]

In both cases both biodiesel and Ethanol fuels tend to be much lower in the BTU energy levels. The only reason they keep pushing this stuff is the fact the lower and lower the BTU level the more and more fuel you have to buy more fuel to travel farther. So little company like "Carb Defender" comes along selling a product to fix the fuel. Ok. So lets think about it. So you have something mixed in the fuel that you don't want and add another product to the fuel to alter it? It sure isn't removing it. Kind of like getting diesel fuel into the engine oil and buy a product to dry up the engine oil. What?! So in this case the alcohol is still in the fuel but adding another product to mask the issues. So now two companies profit the oil company for producing the ethanol and the "Carb Defender" for making the band-aid...

[rancherman]

one side effect for sure, is that it has made special interest groups a mountain of cash!

[dripley]

one side effect for sure, is that it has made special interest groups a mountain of cash!

How bad has it driven up feed costs? And how far has feed cost driven up the price of meat? Maybe you save on the cost of fuel a little, but spend any savings buying food. A vicious circle if you ask me, and not a real solution.

[rancherman]

How bad has it driven up feed costs? And how far has feed cost driven up the price of meat? Maybe you save on the cost of fuel a little, but spend any savings buying food. A vicious circle if you ask me, and not a real solution.

plus the hundreds of thousands on newly plowed up acres to grow this new 'cash crop'. Most corn was grown on good, sensible, ground before the ethanol-crazed-greed pushed growing corn into the fringe areas. These areas were NOT farmed previously BECAUSE EITHER Too steep, too dry, or poor soil. Grass was king/ perfect for these areas. So the extra fertilizers, and fuel to pump water to these fringe areas to 'cash' in on this phenomenon is certainly doing several things: A train load of cash is going to China for imported fertilizers. (most fertilizer is crude oil based these days) Phosphates and Potash are still dug out of the ground. 2. even more crude oil is needed to plant, harvest, deliver, and distribute the ethanol to end consumer. 3. I shudder when I see these areas being farmed around here with no respect for soil/water conservation! Top Soil ( our Nations MOST valuable asset, is NOW exposed to wind/water erosion. And it's heading for the gulf of Mexico every day. I see hillsides so steep that a cow used to have problems standing on,(but grass held the soil in place) being farmed now! It's nutz! What happened to the adage: We may own the land today, but we borrow our soil from our future generations??? I won't even mention what our drinking water has done , besides the nitrates going though the roof! The greenies have missed the boat on this one! The experts even admitted to this ethanol phenom is BARELY energy-positive... I'll concede that what is coming out our tailpipe is somewhat lower in CO emissions, but I have to think the extra CO in the production of the corn more than makes up the difference! My answer?? CELLULOSTIC ethanol. Plant those acres back to grass, and send the grass/hay to be made into ethanol. the soil will never leave, less crude oil to grow/harvest, little to no fertilizer to grow, grass does pretty good on what rain falls out of the sky.... AND, studies have said upwards of almost 2X the ethanol per acre, compared to corn. The MONSANTO'S/ CARGILLS don't like to hear those kind of things!

[dorkweed]

Our country needs to look at "non-food" source agriculture products for the 'fuel market", IMHO. SwitchGrass in an native species that is superior in all regards for fuel production. It gets little fanfare at all.

[dripley]

Many years ago I thought ethanol form corn was a good idea. I have long since changed my mind when i saw how it was affecting our food supply. It floors me that more people cant see whats happening and I am just speaking of prices at the counter not effects from farming additional land. I have to agree with the use of non food agricultural products for fuel for the car and leave the food for the life forms that need it.

[rancherman]

Our country needs to look at "non-food" source agriculture products for the 'fuel market", IMHO. SwitchGrass in an native species that is superior in all regards for fuel production. It gets little fanfare at all.

[diesel4life]

Surprisingly ethanol has been slow to hit the pumps around home. What few stations do have it I avoid. We just drove through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska on into Wyoming to visit family. Every gas station in Iowa and Nebraska had ethanol advertised at their pumps. I kept a fuel mileage log from the moment we left the driveway and after the first fill up in Iowa our mileage dropped 1-2 mpg. This is with the same speed being maintained, same driving habits. I unknowingly filled my 650 Honda up with the crap at a low volume gas station when we were in W Virginia and had nothing but problems with it. Drained the gas as a last resort and filled with some fresh gas from another station and no more problems. The only thing we could figure was the lil mom and pops station I got it from had probably been sittingking for some time and collected enough moisture to give the ol girl a fit.

[Overload]

I have not heard of ethanol being blended with biodiesel?

[rancherman]

I have not heard of ethanol being blended with biodiesel?

yep. B10 for example, is 10% biodiesel, 90% regular diesel. Of that 10%, there are many recipes depending on what the 'base' is.

Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl (methyl, ethyl, or propyl) esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids (e.g., vegetable oil, animal fat (tallow^[1][2])) with an alcohol producing fatty acid esters.