Quote:
Originally Posted by JRMichler
Let's play with numbers. E10 gasoline is 10% ethanol, and (I believe) most cars lose about 2% gas mileage with E10 compared to E0 with the same octane rating. If we could remove the ethanol from E10 using zero energy, then we would end up with 90% as much fuel as we started with. The result would be 2% better mileage on the remaining fuel minus 10% for the 10% less fuel, or a net loss of 8%.
Homedepot lists acetone at $17 per gallon on their web site.
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You are right in that those are things to consider - are the economics worth it.
Some studies already indicate that the production of ethanol takes more energy than it produces - so (if true) that would be a net loss rather than a net gain. We'll see how that story plays out politically.
I think ethanol might have far more impact than 2% on gas mileage. And the assumptions you make would have to be replaced with hard factual data.
There is also some study that indicates that a little diesel in the gasoline might be more efficient that ethanol. That is also something worth investigating and testing (in my opinion).