they started adding ethanol to gasoline in 1980.
they started adding ethanol to gasoline in 1980.
when did they start adding ethanol to gasoline?
1980
e20 contains 20% ethanol and 80% gasoline, while e25 contains 25% ethanol. these blends have been widely used in brazil since the late 1970s. as a response to the 1973 oil crisis, the brazilian government made mandatory the blend of ethanol fuel with gasoline, fluctuating between 10% to 22% from 1976 until 1992. due to this mandatory minimum gasoline blend, pure gasoline (e0) is no longer sold in brazil. a federal law was passed in october 1993 establishing a mandatory blend of 22% anhydrous ethanol (e22) in the entire country. this law also authorized the executive to set different percentages of ethanol within pre-established boundaries, and since 2003, these limits were fixed at a maximum of 25% (e25) and a minimum of 20% (e20) by volume. since then, the government has set the percentage on the ethanol blend according to the results of the sugarcane harvest and ethanol production from sugarcane, resulting in blend variations even within the same year.
common ethanol fuel mixtures
the future use of corn ethanol as a main gasoline replacement is unknown. corn ethanol has yet to be proven to be as cost effective as gasoline due to corn ethanol being much more expensive to create compared to gasoline. corn ethanol has to go through an extensive milling process before it can be used as a fuel source. one major drawback with corn ethanol, is the energy returned on energy invested (eroi), meaning the energy outputted in comparison to the energy required to output that energy. compared to oil, with an 11:1 eroi, corn ethanol has a much lower eroi of 1.5:1, which, in turn, also provides less mileage per gallon compared to gasoline. in the future, as technology advances and oil becomes less abundant, the process of milling may require less energy, resulting in a eroi closer to that of oil. another serious problem with corn ethanol as a replacement for gasoline, is the engine damage on standard vehicles. e10 contains ten percent ethanol and is acceptable for most vehicles on the road today, while e15 contains fifteen percent ethanol and is usually prohibited for cars built before 2001. however, with the hope to replace gasoline in the future, e85, which contains 85% ethanol, requires major engine modifications before an engine can last while processing a high volume of ethanol for an extended period of time. therefore, most older and modern day vehicles would become obsolete without proper engine modifications to handle the increase in corrosiveness from the high volume of ethanol. also, most gas stations do not offer refueling of e85 vehicles. the united states department of energy reports that only 3,355 gas stations, out of 168,000, across the united states, offer ethanol refueling for e85 vehicles.
corn ethanol