Advanced BioFuels USA

by Marc J. Rauch (The Auto Channel)  … The reason I’m contacting you today, in 2020, is because yesterday I received a message from a reader who disagrees with my advocacy of ethanol based upon your article. In my reply to this reader, I said that I could appreciate why he would cite your article, after all, it’s in Popular Science magazine…a publication that many of us grew up with thinking that they know what they’re talking about.

Unfortunately, this is another sad case of bursting the perception bubble, like finding out that the New York Times isn’t fit to wipe your… um, to wrap fish in. I rate the level of information in your article to be somewhere around junior high school (now known as middle school).

Your main complaint with ethanol fuel is the issue of summertime smog and the claim that E10 somehow causes more low-level ozone to form than E0 (gasoline with no ethanol blended in). We know positively that E0 causes smog (proven by the decades of terrible smog in cities like Los Angeles and New York in the years preceding the use of E10). Moreover, we know that gasoline causes many other safety and health problems due to carbon monoxide, benzene, and the other junk added to the formula.

Ethanol burns so clean that people could be in a closed room burning ethanol (without any extraneous type of equipment to clean the fumes’ emissions) and survive the experience quite handily. As I’m sure you know, ethanol is used safely for indoor lighting, heating, and cooking.

Therefore, the question is: What makes E10 hazardous (that it can create low level ozone smog)? There is only one answer: The cause is the 90% gasoline and aromatics that are contained in the E10 blend. The burning of all petroleum oil fuels produce nitrogen dioxide (NO2). This includes natural gas, which is a primary gas used for cooking and heating in the U.S. and in some other countries. (EPA’s Basic Information about NO2)

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Moreover, if E10 was discontinued, in order for oil companies to produce a fuel to power the newest internal combustion engine vehicles (which require greater octane), they will have to add more oxygenates (benzene, toluene, xylene, etc.) to the finished gasoline. This would increase – not decrease – the amount of poison emissions in the air. This would not be beneficial to anyone.

Is it possible that the combination of clean burning ethanol with gasoline and aromatics in an E10 blend can produce more NO2 than just gasoline and aromatics (E0)? I don’t see how, but for the moment let’s say it does. In that case, the solution to the problem is to skip E10 altogether and go straight to E15 and higher blends. Studies show that E15 causes less ozone than E10, and the ozone continues to decrease as the ethanol level increases to E85 and beyond (proof that the problem is caused by gasoline and aromatics). And, we know from tests conducted by the EPA and U.S. national labs, as well as decades of ethanol-gasoline blend use in Brazil and Europe, that E15 and higher blends have no negative effects on internal combustion engines (despite irresponsible claims that ethanol causes greater damage₁ to ICE parts and components than gasoline and aromatics).

The following are some links to studies that relate to higher ethanol-gasoline levels reducing E10 ozone:

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https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-the-consumer-and-fuel-retailer-choice-act

• https://ethanolrfa.org/2018/10/the-truth-about-e15-and-smog/

• https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeeenergy/v_3a82_3ay_3a2015_3ai_3ac_3ap_3a168-179.htm

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484719308248

• https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/1/221/pdf

• https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/46570.pdf

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You wrote “While all cars can run on E10, only specially designed vehicles and passenger cars that are model year 2001 or newer can use E15.” This is untrue. Every internal combustion engine vehicle that can run on E10 can also safely, efficiently, and economically run on E15 and higher ethanol-gasoline blends. This is proven by Brazil’s mandated use of E27 on ALL vehicles (regardless of model year), and by the six-plus decades of use of ethanol-gasoline blends in Great Britain and other European countries. SEE:

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The Hypocrisy of Big Oil

You may be confusing the issue of “warranty” with “ability,” and therefore you may think that pre-2001 vehicles can’t use E15 from a technical or mechanical perspective. If so, forget about it. READ MORE

Ethanol Finds Its Market … Reluctantly — It’s not people looking for affordable, efficient gasoline. (American Spectator)