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Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 21:23:53 -0600
From: Patrick <patrick@hoffmann1.net>
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To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Ethanol
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Interestingly, if an engine is specifically designed to run only on 
ethanol, it will actually extract a much higher percentage of energy per 
unit of volume (BTU/gal) than is possible with gasoline. Ethanol burns 
cooler and is less susceptible to detonation, so the engine can be run 
at a much higher compression ratio (15:1 instead of 8:1) and with more 
ignition advance (20+ degrees). With less heat to expel, cooling systems 
become lighter and simpler. Such an engine obviously wouldn't run long 
on gasoline without self-destructing.

Excerpts from http://robertrapier.wordpress.com/category/compression-ratio/
Gasoline contains about 115,000 BTUs/gallon with a typical engine 
efficiency of 25%, yielding 28,750 BTUs/gallon of power and the 
remainder expelled as heat. Ethanol contains about 75,000 BTUs/gallon. 
If an engine was designed with an efficiency of 38%, that would result 
in the same 28,750 usable BTUs/gallon.

The Saab Biopower engine was designed with a higher compression ratio, 
so that on E-85 it showed a 12.5% drop in fuel efficiency instead of the 
typical 20-30% drop. Saab reported 20% extra power and 15% extra torque 
from this engine. Swedish automaker Scania has produced an ultra-high 
compression ratio engine designed for ethanol usage, and they reach 
engine efficiencies as high as 43%, yielding 32,250 usable BTUs/gallon.

Now if they could just figure out the problems of water absorption, cold 
starting, corrosion, inefficient fuel production, and a few other minor 
issues, we might have a viable replacement for 100LL. And at the end of 
the day, you can sump your tank, and (as long as it's ethanol and not 
denatured) add a little cola for mixer, and let the party begin. Hey, 
let a guy dream a bit, alright?

Patrick


Al Gietzen wrote:
>
> Sugar cane is grown here.
>
> Basically only grows well in the tropics.
>
> You can make ethanol out of what ever you want. It will never make 
> sense. Your gas mileage will drop by what ever percent ethanol you use 
> because there is less energy in ethanol than gas.
>
> That would suggest using 100% ethanol your mileage would be zero; when 
> actually it would drop by about 15%. Last years race, the Indy cars 
> ran on 100% ethanol – worked rather well.
>
> The big difference is by using the entire cane stalk you can get 
> better than 4 : 1 energy back for energy in. Brazil produces large 
> quantities of ethanol; and does it efficiently.
>
> Al
>
> Bill B
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] 
> *On Behalf Of *Al Gietzen
> *Sent:* Saturday, February 12, 2011 7:04 PM
> *To:* Rotary motors in aircraft
> *Subject:* [FlyRotary] Re: Ethanol
>
> So I guess we are starting this all over again? Perhaps we could all 
> just point out to Mr Westenhaus that it is not a question of whether 
> ethanol works as a fuel - of course it does. What is absurd is to 
> produce ethanol from corn kernels where the overall energy used (in 
> the form of petroleum fuel) to produce the corn and the ethanol is 
> only about 4% less than the energy obtained from the ethanol produced.
>
> As Lynn said at the beginning – without taxpayer subsidy it would die 
> in a hurry.
>
> Now if we could produce the ethanol from sugar cane, as they do in 
> Brazil; it would make sense.
>
> Al
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] 
> On Behalf Of Finn Lassen
> Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 11:02 AM
> To: Rotary motors in aircraft
> Subject: [FlyRotary] Ethanol
>
> Now if we could just get a 6th option: 87 unleaded E-0:
>
> http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Biofuels/Ethanol-Works-and-is-Here-to-Stay.html
>
> Finn
>
> --
>
> Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/
>
> Archive and UnSub: 
> http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/flyrotary/List.html
>


-- 
Patrick