The E100 Evangelist

by Katie Schroeder (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Straight ethanol isn’t sold at U.S. gas stations. But why not? A top proponent of E100 says offering 98-percent pure ethanol at the pump would not only benefit ethanol producers and consumers, but the environment and energy security. Could it happen?

Don Siefkes believes E100 can save the planet. Not alone, of course, but in parallel with the widespread adoption of other clean fuels and, yes, electric vehicles. He says offering consumers practical alternatives to gasoline—real choices that offer similar low- or net-zero carbon emissions results—is the fastest and most realistic way to immediately reduce vehicle emissions and mitigate climate change.

Siefkes, president of the California-based E100 Ethanol Group, is not E100’s only American proponent, but he may be the most recognized. E100 is often associated with Brazil, but Siefkes was far from equatorial South America when he had his aha moment about ethanol. On a trip to Antarctica, he saw tabular glaciers melting into the ocean and, soon thereafter, E100 Ethanol Group was born. The goal of the group is to ban the sale of new gasoline vehicles in the United States while allowing existing gasoline vehicles to stay on the road until they wear out. Siefkes believes several viable replacements for gasoline could be offered—he says people should have the freedom to choose—whether that be E100, electric vehicles, hydrogen power or something else. But he says ethanol is the most practical and abundantly available alternative.

What is E100?
“E100, technically, is E98,” Siefkes says. “Ninety-eight percent ethanol and two percent denaturant.” Most of the time, that denaturant is gasoline, however, isopropyl alcohol and ether are also approved additives. Getting ether combined with two parts per million of denatonium benzoate approved as an additive is one of the accomplishments E100 Ethanol Group is most proud of.

The most prevalent obstacle currently in the way of E100 in the U.S. is the fact that engines simply aren’t designed to burn pure ethanol. “You have to change the engine to optimize it to get [competitive] mileage on ethanol,” Siefkes says. “And right now, all the attempts that were done in the past used E85, which is 85 percent ethanol, in engines optimized for gasoline.” While flex-fuel engines are designed to accept high blends of ethanol, they aren’t necessarily optimized for them. As a result, Siefkes says, E85 has a reputation for relatively inferior mileage.

The U.S. Department of Energy agrees. In a recent report, the DOE stated, “If [FFVs] were optimized to run on higher ethanol blends, fuel economy would likely increase as a result of increased engine efficiency.” The DOE goes on to state, “Ethanol also has a higher-octane number than gasoline, which provides increased power and performance.”

E100 Ethanol Group proved that it is possible to get the same gas mileage with E100 as with gasoline by modifying a Ford Focus FFV, Siefkes says. “We modified it by increasing the compression ratio, changing the engine timing and running lien and more oxygen than is necessary to burn all the fuel,” he explains. “We matched the mileage with E85 and E100 with gasoline to prove that this is not an impediment. Once you do that, once you change the engine, you can no longer burn gasoline in it.”

E100 (hydrous ethanol) is sold at the pump in Brazil alongside 27 percent ethanol blends. Car engines can burn E100 but are still optimized for at least 70 percent gasoline blends, meaning they also struggle to get good gas mileage burning E98. READ MORE