The great rethink of ethanol

Washington Examiner ^ | Dec 19, 2017 | Wayne Allard

[george76]

For the first time in years, there is an emerging consensus that the biggest racket in national politics deserves to end.

Earlier this month, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and 10 other Republican senators held a luncheon summit at the White House with President Trump with the goal of drastically reforming the Renewable Fuel Standard, the federal mandate that annually funnels $13.5 billion from the wallets of American fuel and food consumers into the coffers of agribusiness giants.

Before the national nightmare of Obamacare, there was the RFS, the most sweeping and intrusive federal intervention in the American economy undertaken in modern history. Enacted under President George W. Bush in 2005 and expanded in 2007, the RFS requires that biofuels, mainly ethanol, be increasingly mixed with gasoline in greater proportions each year until 2022.

Every November, the EPA is required to announce that it is mandating even higher levels of ethanol in our fuel supply. Recently, the Trump Administration and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt bravely defied cronyism by freezing the current RFS levels for 2018 — a first step in relieving Americans of this Washington-built burden.

What was the thinking behind this monumental government directive, this freakish experiment in state-planning that arbitrarily picked winners and losers? Its proponents — namely Big Corn and hard-line environmentalists

...

Burning ethanol adds more hydrocarbons to the atmosphere than burning gasoline and, in turn, creates more air pollution. Meanwhile, fertilization from increased corn acreage is driving nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into lakes and streams. Blends excessively high in ethanol are destroying engines and fuel systems while the forced diversion of corn into the fuel markets is raising the cost of food.

[redgolum]

You don’t put ethanol in Diesel.

Biofuels, yeah, but that is what diesels have been running on for a long time.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Don’t the Mexicans need the corn? Don’t the tree huggers and enviro whackos care about the environment?

[cicero2k]

Prediction: Trump will put us on a path to wean us from ethanol in 2018, perhaps to zero requirement by 2024. This gives the farmers time to adjust and puts that much money back in the economy where it can expand.

[Sequoyah101]

The biggest, nay only, problem with getting rid of this incredibly stupid and wasteful mandate that I can think of.

[cymbeline]

“and it ruins small engines”

I’ve used ethanol-infused gas in my lawnmower, weed eater, chainsaw and lawn edger for years. No problems that I know of. My cars have run fine and no mechanic has mentioned ethanol.

I’m against the use of ethanol as a fuel but jeez, where are the complaints from the ordinary guy?

[ryderann]

“Cows shouldn’t eat to much straight corn. To many starches. Corn that has been digested via ethanol (DDG) or other corn processing makes for a much better feed.”

True. Cows much prefer corn that been “working” in the silo for several months.

[Timocrat]

I buy only non-ethanol gas from a local station. It's a little more expensive but because pure ethanol only has 2/3 the energy content of pure gasoline it actually works out that the unadulterated gas lasts longer. Try looking at this webpage to find a gas station near you that sells pure gasolinePure gas

[Proud_texan]

Been using the Truefuel and my small engine repairs have dropped to zero but on the most positive note I can think of in a very long time the local Murphy gas station (central Texas) just had a major overhaul. When they reopened I noticed 3 nozzle; diesel, one for the various grades of ethanol and....a non-ethanol nozzle. They seem committed as every pump is this way.

Octane is regular (89?)and price is that of premium ethanol.

A lot cheaper than the canned stuff!

[NorthMountain]

When ethanol was first introduced in gasoline, most engines were made with soft (rubber/plastic) parts that were incompatible with ethanol. It rotted the soft parts. Using other types of rubber/plastic solves the problem. For my own part:

1) I have never had any trouble with any 4-cycle engine of any size (weedeater to V-10) related to ethanol content in the fuel.

2) I have two 2-cycle engines. I have had trouble with the fuel lines rotting in both of them.

FWIW

[RegulatorCountry]

A modern engine designed for ethanol will generally run well on it but mpg is impacted a fair amount, try ethanol-free in the correct octane and mpg will increase 20-25%. Other than that, the black mold or whatever that starts growing behind the fuel door is the only other issue with it. People deny it strenuously but it's the same stuff that grows all over buildings in towns with breweries and distilleries, parts of Kentucky have a big problem with it as do some towns in Scotland and Ireland.

I gave up on trying to run lawnmowers and weedeaters on ethanol fuel though, I kept having to take the mowers into the shop. Started buying ethanol free at the local marina on the lake, paid through the nose too, no problems since. Ethanol-free is much more widely available now and not at marina prices, still a premium over ethanol of same octane but not much, maybe ten cents a gallon more.

[tomkat]

Very interesting .. thanks for the insights !

(but ..not cars fits better on a bumper sticker ;-)

[American in Israel]

Reduced life in small engines, and the fuel begins to form wax in 90 days. None of the loggers will burn it, a good chainsaw is over $700 bucks niw.

[RegulatorCountry]

I guess we’re fortunate to have everything from 89 octane to 93 in ethanol-free here, can even get 100 from a few tracks and airports, very expensive for that though, no real reason other than entertainment in turbo cars with programmable ECU tuners.

[JayGalt]

The dearth of protests has relate to the hopelessness of protests to change the mandate.
There is plenty of data on the damage the ethanol mandate is doing.
E85 fuel in “flex-fuel” vehicles may increase ozone-related mortality, asthma, and hospitalizations.
http://e360.yale.edu/features/the_case_against_ethanol_bad_for_environment

[Robert A Cook PE]

2.85 per gallon yesterday for ethanol-free gasoline, 2.18 for corn-fed gas to feed the Iowa presidential race winner.

[Bigg Red]

And it’s not a good idea to burn food.

[Bigg Red]

And I am betting we have FReeper volunteers willing to test the substance at the end of the stated period of storage.

[NorthMountain]

A modern engine designed for ethanol will generally run well on it but mpg is impacted a fair amount, try ethanol-free in the correct octane and mpg will increase 20-25%.

My pickup has a "flex-fuel" engine. When a nearby gas station installed "E-85" pumps, I tried it. I got about a 30% reduction in the price of a tankful of fuel, and about a 25% reduction in miles per tank. Not terrible economics for local driving, but I wouldn't use it for road trips. In practice, I just don't use it at all. Not worth the hassle.

I gave up on trying to run lawnmowers and weedeaters on ethanol fuel though,

Your experience is different from mine. In 4-cycle small engines, E-10 "regular" works just fine for me.

[RegulatorCountry]

Run the math on 20% and 25% improvement on mpg, many times it works out to pay extra for ethanol-free. Not all vehicles experience that much of a difference between the two fuels, seems to be the larger engines. The price difference isn’t that great here, though.

[spintreebob]

Trump was ambivalent in the primary.
Cruz was aggressively anti-welfare to Agribusiness in the primary and won Iowa.
Trump saw the light and moved off the fence to join Cruz.