Efforts to increase ethanol concentrations in gasoline face UL hurdle
A decision made last month by Underwriters Laboratories could put a big speed bump in efforts by states like Minnesota and the USDA and EPA to increase concentrations of ethanol in gasoline beyond the current maximum of 10 percent. Many states and municipalities require UL listings for fuel pumps. The UL ruling on E85 pumps specified that existing pumps certified to the UL87 standard are certified only for concentrations up to E10. That means that concentrations like E15 and E20 can't be dispensed from those pumps. Minnesota has mandated that gasoline blends in the state should be increased to 20 percent by 2015 and many in the ethanol industry had thought that the UL87 standard applied to blends up to E15. The main part of the decision was actually related to E85-pump components. UL rescinded its earlier approval of certain components which means pumps with those parts can no longer be used. There have not been any known safety incidents with these pumps. However, pumps in areas that require UL certification will have to be shut down. It's unknown how many pumps will be affected by the decision.
[Source: Ethanol.org via Green Car Congress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CNCMike 11:21AM (2/09/2009)
I detect a distinct odor of crude oil.
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jharlan 11:24AM (2/09/2009)
The older cars less affluent people drive don't handle ethanol that well. They better be careful with what they mandate. Less affluent people might think this is another effort by the globalists to drive the masses into mass transportation against their will.
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Carney 11:41AM (2/09/2009)
I don't understand why the ethanol lobby is attempting this. It will cause significant pushback and spread resentment against ethanol in general, when ethanol and other alcohols are precisely what we need most right now.
As jharlan warns, it may well lead to more damaging myths about ethanol spreading too. The public has already been infected with a wide array of factually and provably false but perniciously widespread and tenacious memes, such as how ethanol supposedly harms the environment and raises food prices. We certainly don't need more out there.
Most of all, there's a much easier and more effective strategy available:
Advocate mandating that all new cars sold in America be fully flex fueled, able to run equally easily on gasoline or any alcohol fuel (methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, etc.) With flex fuel becoming a standard feature like seatbelts, pushing E20 will be a battle of the past. Every new car on the road will be able to run on E85 or even E100, etc.
The automakers might resist it but they are very politically weak right now. It's only a $100 per car cost to them anyway which they can either pass on to consumers (a rounding error that no one will notice) or deduct as a business expense.
Ordinary people aren't going to care, since a flex fuel car is nearly indistinguishable from any other - just with some improved materials for the fuel tank and fuel line a sensor to determine the fuel mix, and a reprogrammed fuel injector. They suffer no loss in performance, and can continue to fuel up on gasoline if they want. If they do use E20 or high alcohol blends or pure alcohol, no problem: flex fuel vehicles are specifically designed to handle such things, unlike ordinary cars.
That's the battle that's far more worth fighting, not just for the ethanol lobby, but for everyone who wants us to break free of oil.
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Steve-O 12:56PM (2/09/2009)
I do not generally agree with "mandates" for anything...but realistically, Carney is correct. Cars sold in the United States already come with many "mandates" so why not this one?
Carney is correct because the solution to this is simpler that what they are trying to accomplish here. Why would they have to worry about this so called "blending wall" if every car NEW could run on alcohol up to 85%. The ethanol producers get what they want, the public gets to choose ehatever blend they wish to, E20, 30 40 85 etc with the blender pumps, and we use that much less oil from other parts of the world.
Flex fuel technology is here and inexpensive...let's "get 'r done!"
Sorry about that!
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MikeW 2:20PM (2/09/2009)
How about using some of that oil from the Bakken formation?
If Minnesota wants to increase the ethanol concentration, what about the AKI?
If all grades of gasoline will have 15% ethanol, what would the AKI (R+M / 2) of the grades be?
I wouldn't mind 87,90,93, or 87,91,95
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MikeW 4:37PM (2/09/2009)
85AKI-0% ethanol
86-5, 87-10, 88-15, 89-20, 90-25, 91-30, 92-35, 93-40, 94-45, 95-50, 96-55, 97-60, 98-65, 99-70, 100-75, 101-80, 102-85, 103-90, 104-95, 105-100
?
So two tanks & a blender pump?
tito livio 11:30AM (2/10/2009)
A bit of electronics and you run on gasoline or alcohol at any proportion. In Brazil there is a tetrafuel car, and all cars are flexfuel. You use the better and cheaper for you.
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