Why India MUST push for Ethanol blended petrol - Rediff.com (India)

[Bill USA]

Oil represents 30% of India's export bill and they are getting worried about the rising price of oil..

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jul/27/slide-show-1-why-india-must-push-for-ethanol-blended-petrol.htm

The EBP programme is primarily based on indigenously produced ethanol from sugarcane molasses, which, besides augmenting fuel availability in the country, would also provide better returns for sugarcane farmers.

Further, ethanol is environment-friendly as it enhances combustion of petrol, resulting in lower emission of pollutants.

With reduced dependence on crude oil consumers can pay less for petrol and enjoy the benefits of a clean and healthy environment.

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Another performance benefit from ethanol is its high octane addition to fuel. Of all the commercially viable octane boosters possible, nothing delivers more punch than ethanol. The populace still feels the ill effects of the tonnes of poisonous lead that are spewed into urban environments because of the poor decision to accept lead over ethanol as the octane additive of choice.


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[inademv]

1. Aren't there still people starving in India?

And doesn't ethanol have a net energy loss for usage?

[laser_red]

4. so what? India has lots of energy, but little oil .nt

[RC]

2. The engine has to be built to use ethanol efficiently.

All octane is is a rating of anti-knocking. Ethanol has less energy than gasoline, therefore adding 10% or whatever ethanol to gasoline reduced gas mileage, which wipes out any savings in gas consumption.
If you want to burn ethanol efficiently, you need to design the engine from the ground up. Advancing the spark ain't enough. Especially with today's low compression engines.

[Bill USA]

3. Ethanol Boosting Systems engine 30% better mpg with 5% ethanol. turbo-charging & direct injection

Ethanol Boosting systems did what you said. They designed an engine specifically to take full advantage of ethanol's high octane property (relative to gasoline). the result is 30% improvement in fuel efficiency while using 5% ethanol (directly injected) and 95% gasoline. Of course, you can blend ethanol with the gasoline too.

http://www.ethanolboost.com/Technology%20and%20applications.htm

However, Honda sells two FFVs, in Brazil only, that get comparable fuel efficiency with most ethanol blends (20% to 100%) as with gasoline. They probably pull this off by using variable valve timing to alter compression ratio along with appropriate ignition advance.

http://e85.whipnet.net/flex.cars/honda.ffv.html

[Fledermaus]

5. They use leaded gas?