2% Ethanol mandatory in NSW (September)

**swiss7** · 20-08-2007, 12:05 PM

Brackie: They didn't give it up.. the project was started in 1973 after the big oil-crash with sky-rocketing prices. Over the mid-80s and early 90s popularity in E100 cars dropped significantly due to very low oil prices. However, these cars have been resurected in the past few years for two reasons: a) increasing oil prices, and b) because most new cars sold now are dual-fuel (as in E100 and gasoline). In fact, 55% of transport in Brazil is now using fossil-fuel alternatives.

Syncro: With increasing petrol prices, current grain-crops in Australia can provide a minimum of 10% of our fuel usage in Ethanol at approximately 80c per litre. This just means that we've got to reduce our grain exports. Of course there are issues of fuel vs food security if Ethanol production is increased, which is why alot of research is going into alternative crops and biofuel production techniques (mainly Lignocellulosis). Alternative crops (or in fact, feedstocks) which may soon power our cars include waste from households, forestry, farming (crops & animal), etc..

Australia is actually a long way behind most 1st world countries (including the US surprisingly). But its mainly in Europe where the big movers are. Check out Saab's E85 compatible cars which account for a large percentage of the new car market in Sweden.

Anyways.. enough aimless rambling..
Damien

**mollins** · 21-08-2007, 01:58 PM

I use E10 confidently in my mk1 1.8... i would be more worried about mixture issues than rust seeing as the watercooled heads are alloy, and that amount of water (once atomised with the fuel) is negligable compared to natural humidity or driving in the rain. Some of the new Saab engines are built to run on E85, and im not aware of any corrosion issues that have had to be addressed in the design of these.

syncro, i hope to see more ethanol generated from waste derived feedstocks (waste paper, corn stubble, green waste) rather than dedicated crops. I have a friend who is working on a plant being built in WA which hopes to do this.

**gldgti** · 22-08-2007, 06:52 PM

lets keep the discussion intelligent guys - i don't think arguments about rusting heads (i've never seen a steel or cast iron vw head) really holds up. plus, the chemical nature of alcohols is generally non-detrimental to aluminium alloys.

i too have run E10 in my 1.6 mk1 and havn't had any problems, other than reduced fuel economy (though e10 is damn cheap).

hooray for waste derived fuels!!!