Is gasoline really only 10% ethanol?

[sixdogs]

It's corn and ethanol country around here and today I overheard comments from respectable people regarding the percentage of ethanol in gasoline. I mean, I thought it was 10% max since that's what it says on the pump. Now I think that may not be correct and numbers up to 14.999% are allowed and that those percentages are not really even checked. Can this be correct?

One item discussed was the relative price of ethanol compared with gas and how easy it is to substitute more of the lower priced ethanol instead of the higher priced gasoline. And that many of us are filling up with higher percentages of ethanol than we think. I'm skeptical but what do you think?

 

[MHarryE]

Pumps here in Minnesota are labeled 10% max except for premium off-highway which is zero. Driving across Iowa last week I noticed they have 15% pumps clearly labeled and 1.85 per gallon vs 2.10 for the 10%. Iowa also sells 87 octane ethanol free for I believe 2.86 at the station where I stopped. They had a list of vehicles on the pump in which the E15 is safe to use, any car built after 2001 for example. So I believe we will be seeing E15 in the corn belt states but it will not be snuck in - too much liability.

 

[vsteel]

10% ethanol means it can only have up to 10% max. So it can be from 10% down to 0% and still be OK.

The 10% is not to replace gas, it is to replace chemicals like MTBE. Over 10% then they are trying to replace gas, but there are 100 threads if you search on if that is a good idea or not.

 

[Copperhead]

True. Whatever the pump is labeled for, the ethanol content cannot exceed that amount. On 10%, most times it is less than 10% to avoid the risk of exceeding the 10% maximum. The state fuel testers can show up at random and check and if a station is found out of compliance with the ethanol blend, it has to shut down operation till corrected. I have seen testing data that shows most 10% ethanol pumps hardly ever exceed 8% actual.

In my area, we have E0, E10, E15, E20, E30, E50, and E85. I have used them all. I make my fuel purchase based on prevailing seasonal pricing and which gives me the lowest cost per mile to use. The highest mpg does not always equate to the lowest cost per mile. Two separate things.

 

[square1]

With 100% certainty I can tell you the ethanol percentage is checked in Michigan and it rarely exceeds 10%

 

[Texasmark]

It's corn and ethanol country around here and today I overheard comments from respectable people regarding the percentage of ethanol in gasoline. I mean, I thought it was 10% max since that's what it says on the pump. Now I think that may not be correct and numbers up to 14.999% are allowed and that those percentages are not really even checked. Can this be correct?

One item discussed was the relative price of ethanol compared with gas and how easy it is to substitute more of the lower priced ethanol instead of the higher priced gasoline. And that many of us are filling up with higher percentages of ethanol than we think. I'm skeptical but what do you think?

Signs on pumps here specify: "May contain up to 10% ethanol". State regulates fuel and fuel taxes. Each pump is certified and a stamp is affixed to indicate such, renewed per the states inspection interval. Part of the process of determining that when the pump says 1 gallon dispatched, the customer actually gets one gallon is fuel inspection. I saw a crew doing it at a local station recently.

Most equipment owner's manual (non OTR vehicle engines) specify specifically that 10% is max on fuel for them. One would think if that is not the case, in time (damaged engines by the truckloads) word would get back to the governing authority that something is amiss and needs to be corrected.

 

[Fossil Farm]

Ohio is one of a few states that has no checks and balances on gasoline octane levels or ethanol percentage like Michigan and Texas. If a tanker doesn't meet, say Michigan standards, then it gets driven to Ohio and dumped in our gas station tanks. The county auditor checks to be sure you get a measured gallon of gas, but no Ohio authority verifies octane content or ethanol content of gasoline sold here.

 

[AlmostThere]

I'm not sure how accurate this is but my flex fuel truck has some method to determine the ethanol content of the fuel. The OBD2 scanner can pull up the reading, most of the time it shows an ethanol content of 5.6%.

Edit: Meant to add this is for E10 gas.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

The hoorah about ethanol reducing emissions, to me, seems false when you consider the complete trail from a tractor prepping the ground to delivering the grain to the distilling plant (probably at least 3 separate transports) fuel to boil the mash, cooling water to condense it (at least 3 cycles), transport the ethanol, who knows how many times, and then transport the blended fuel. I have read that it takes 4-5 times the BTUs to produce ethanol as the ethanol contains. BTU content of a gallon of ethanol has less BTU content as a gallon of E-O gasoline. Also remember that E blends reduce power available (lower BTU content of the blend) and therefore lower Miles Per Gallon commensurately. This is the government/industrial combine at its finest.

Ron

 

[def38]

The brainiacs that changed MTBE to ethanol were not engine/fuel/engineers...they were politicians who don't know a BTU from a fencepost.

MTBE is still used almost exclusively in Europe. MTBE is made from natural gas and is much cheaper than ethanol. As an oxygenate for motor fuel, it raises octane and supports complete combustion. Also, MTBE blend motor fuel does not have the problems associated with ethanol blends.