Quote:
Originally Posted by roosterk0031
With ethanol's lower energy density than diesel, would that mean it has a much higher efficiency?
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Not so sure about it having a much higher efficiency. Fuel consumption by volume is around 50% higher, but it's due to the lower energy density of ethanol. Considering that for spark-ignited engines the rule-of-thumb gives a 30% higher consumption by volume with ethanol, I'm inclined to believe there is no increase in thermal efficiency on compression-ignited ethanol engines compared to their Diesel counterparts.