Posted on 04/02/2013 10:46:47 PM PDT by neverdem
The word “gasoline” no longer characterizes the stuff we put into our cars. Owing to regulations forced on the refining industry, “Frankenol” might be more accurate.
This government-engineered, market-distorting fuel is a blend of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol (E10). Originally conceived to breathe life into the fledgling U.S. ethanol industry and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, continued tinkering with the renewable fuel standard (RFS) has turned the program into a nightmare.
The RFS requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into the nation’s fuel pool annually. Last year, they were responsible for blending a minimum of 13.2 billion gallons. This year, the figure stands at 13.8 billion gallons. By 2022, the RFS mandate will require 36 billion gallons.
To document compliance, refiners track the RINs (renewable identification numbers) applied to every gallon of ethanol purchased, or they buy paper RINs, which are credits paid to ethanol producers. In either case, refiners have to spend real money to comply with the law.
In creating the RFS program, the government assumed that gasoline demand would continue to rise. It was wrong.
With more fuel-efficient vehicles, a lackluster economy and higher prices at the pump, gasoline demand has declined to the lowest level in 18 years.
As a result, refiners are stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place: They have had to reduce fuel production because demand is down, yet they have to comply with the increasing ethanol mandate. This means they are buying more ethanol credits in the form of RINs but purchasing fewer gallons of ethanol. As a result, millions of gallons of corn-based ethanol are sitting in storage tanks, while the price of RINs has climbed 20-fold in the past 90 days. Industry analyst Byron King says the RIN credit gimmick has...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
sigh...
spell correct doesn't fix stupid
Corn is for eating not to be burned in an engine and it ruins every thing we all depend upon for chores. Insane!
LOL!
I found the answer and it’s worse than the question.
It involves adding water to the gas in a complicated storage container with a bottom mounted drain and agitating the whole mess repeatedly until the water and alcohol settle to the bottom and then draining that off.
There’s an optional additional step involving some kind of additive that causes what’s left to clump into goo that you fish out.
The heck with all *that*.
;D
Thanks!
Will tell hubby!
No but it does break down, open air or in your tank. Over time the ethanol breaks down and separates and that’s when you start getting water building up in your tank. It will pull in moisture from the air and make water. Which is why they can’t transfer in a pipeline.
That was a concern utilizing older pipelines that likely had water separate out the petroleum mix and accumulate in low points. Proper maintenance (sweeping with scrapper pigs, etc) has minimized that concern.
New pipelines dedicated to ethanol from the start don’t have that issue.
Kinder Morgan completes ethanol pipeline between New Jersey and New York
http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2012/04/04/kinder-morgan-completes-ethanol-pipeline-between-new-jersey-and-new-york/
April 4, 2012
An Ethanol Pipeline Begins Service
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/an-ethanol-pipeline-begins-service/
December 10, 2008
Head over to your local airport.
None of the avgas has alky.
100LL might be a bit hard on the cat conv on your car, but your OPE will love it.
Coincidentally, we almost lost our Yukon to the stuff recently.
We’ve been using the Taurus to save gas for months and the Yuke had lots of “mystery water” in the tank which froze up and caused all kinds of trouble.
It’s better, now but this explains where all that water came from.
It’s not just the ethanol, but if the tank isn’t full, there’s always condensation in the inside of the tank that forms, so that’s a second source of water right there. That’s one that can be avoided by a full tank though.
You can always put some de-icer in the tank, and also sta-bil into the tank if its going to be sitting awhile.
It was totally full when it stopped running.
Luckily, Himself is a motorhead and after ripping everything apart, he found the water issue.
Lots of gas treatment got poured in and after he got the gas lines thawed out, it ran again.
[I keep telling him to *not* keep buying the ‘great deal’ gas at the VA state line truck stop]
then it probably took years to build up that much.
Beats me.
He’s been buying gas there for years so maybe.
I’m just glad it’s running again.
yeah, it’s good to be able to fix that. not many people know how to safely mess with the fuel system.
He’s built and run his own drag bikes and cars for longer than I’ve been alive.
When summer comes and he starts obsessively ‘fine tuning’ the fuel injection computer program on my bike, I wish he didn’t know ~anything~ so I could just ride in peace...LOL
:-)
Thanks for the ping!
Ethanol decreases mileage 12%. That is a NASCAR number when they were forced to use it.”””
As a life-long bookkeeper, I have kept track of mileage in every vehicle I owned as an adult.
When the Ethanol was mandated, EVERY vehicle I had then or have had since went down a MINIMUM of 10%. Therefore, I am burning more fuel, which causes more pollution.
Same thing with paint decreed by the enviros.
When I was a kid, almost every major paint brand advertised that the product they made was good as exterior paint for 20 years. I particularly remember Dutch Boy brand of paint.
Now-—no such advertising, and the life of paint is 3-4 years at best.
Heres some calculations:
Let’s say that a gallon of old style paint had 1000 hydrocarbons released when it was used......(numbers for calculation purposes only)
That paint would last 18 to 20 years on your house exterior.
Say the current paint only releases 700 units of hydrocarbons.
Enviros will crow to the moon that they are saving the planet!!!
But—the paint doesn’t last as long.
IF I have to repaint every 5 years, I am doing 5 cycles of paint in 20 years. The first time I paint is the zero year, then 5 years, another 5 years, etc. That is 5 times I have painted.
The old paint would put the zero year & the 20th year into play, for a total of 2000 hydrocarbon units.
The new paint takes 5 cycles of paint times 700 units of hydrocarbons, for a total of 3500 units of hydrocarbons.
All these calculations do not include extra repairs & maintenance due to failing paint quality.
For all of you who have had to paint & repaint over and over again, thank an enviro.
Also-— I could buy good paint in the 60’s & 70’s for around $6 a gallon. Now—plan on paying very close to $30 a gallon. For paint that lasts a far shorter time!!!!!
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