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Ashton
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02 Sep 2008, 7:21 am

Can somebody show me how to calculate the energy content of E10 (10% ethanol blended petrol)?

Also, is there another alcohol which would be better (in terms of efficiency and energy content) than blending petrol (gasoline) with ethanol?

Help most appreciated and cookies will be given.



Wisguy
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02 Sep 2008, 10:52 pm

I'm not sure on the exact efficiency differences, but I hear a lot of anecdotes locally about E10 resulting in 8-10% less range on a tankful than using straight petrol/gasoline (E10 is VERY COMMON around here, due to an over-strong farm political lobby).

The general rule of thumb that I've seen is that E100 has about 62% of the per-volume energy content compared with 100% petrol.

Ethanol is also VERY BAD for many small engines (lawn mowers, etc), due to seals that it will dissolve. Ethanol absorbs water and may cause faster corrosion of engine parts, too.

Mike



DNForrest
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02 Sep 2008, 11:15 pm

Ashton wrote:
Can somebody show me how to calculate the energy content of E10 (10% ethanol blended petrol)?

Also, is there another alcohol which would be better (in terms of efficiency and energy content) than blending petrol (gasoline) with ethanol?

Help most appreciated and cookies will be given.


Supposedly there's some good from methanol, you may want to look into that.