Yeah.... but you need to "feed" the Algae something... Algae doesn't just grow on trees you know... or does it...?


Fadi... I have visited a corn ethanol plant just like the one featured in that T.V. show. ( I saw the show last month. ) If you have any particular questions... I'll try to answer. ( actually, back in 2006 I worked at a place that made ethanol... it's all the same basic process no matter where you go ) And I can tell you no part of the corn is wasted.

New plants have zero liquid discharge into the environment, ( they only "lose" water to evaporation...) and there is zero solid waste ( other than those pizza boxes... ya know... "lunch" ) going from the plants to landfills. And the REALLY REALLY good newer plants also have zero CO2 ( or close ) discharge. All the CO2 is captured and made into dry ice, or trucked away as refridgerated liquid for eventual carbonated soda. -John

I was talking to the guy at the ethanol station and he said that in claifornia there is no 0% ethanol. The lowest is 5.75%. However, it is still much better than E10.

Have any of you taken any extra steps (ie. replacing the fuel line) to protect your car from ethanol? I asked a worker at flexfuel conversion site and their reply was simply: Ethanol will wear down your rubber fuel line, but you don't need to worry about it, because it won't happen for about 10 years.

I would like to convert my HCHII to run on E85, but I am worried about the fuel line. Anything else I should be worried about?

Speaking only to the algae issue: Algae is pretty much like corn in that it makes its own food because a lot of species are photosynthetic. In one sense they're important for O2 production. I guess with some tinkering of their DNA they might produce ethanol as waste product, as opposed to the usual O2.

But not to worry, we need ethanol more than O2.

[tongue-in-cheek][yeah, but with all the global warming already going on, soon we'll have all that land under the Canadian/Alaskan tundra to grow corn on. And as soon as we get rid of all that pesky ice covering up that sweet soil in Antartica, even more land for corn![/tongue-in-cheek] lol

There still is a long was to go, but it looks like we're certainly at the dawn of a new era.

-Fadi

1991 Mazda Miata to beat Corvettes at the track
1999 Dodge Ram to climb through rocks and brush
2004 Honda Civic Hybrid to make up for the other 2

I'm 50 miles into a new blend with no problems, light, or warnings so far.
I put in 7.5 gallons of E85 with 6 gallons of E10 and I had 1.5 gallons of plain 'ol gas left in the bottom when I started.

Assuming the E85 is actually 85% ethanol, this = a 46.5% ethanol mix.
Assuming the E85 was really 70% ethanol ( minimum allowed in winter ) this comes out to be a 39.0% mix.

So without testing I can say I have at least 39% and at most 46.5%.

Following my Long-term fuel trim with a ScanGauge:
E45? runs about +14% at 65 miles per hour.
E30 runs about +8% at 65 miles per hour.
E10 runs about +3.5% at 65 miles per hour.

Per a 2004 ed. Ford manual (for MY2005), a MIL lamp trips if LTFT > 25%. ( +/- )
Per a 2006 ed. Ford manual (for MY2007), a MIL lamp trips if LTFT > 28%. ( +/- )
Per a 2007 ed. Ford manual (for MY2008), a MIL lamp trips if LTFT > 29% or -33%.

The E85 was $2.229 and the E10 was $2.869.
The blended tank cost $2.549 which is a 11.2% discount.

I'm about 80 mi into my tank with approx. E29 and it is WAY better than E10. It's just like regular gas (which is E5.75 in Cali)

Just stumbled across this article:
http://www.ethanol.org/news/index.php?newsid=25

Good article. It seems to confirm some of what you experiment-driven folks are discovering - E10 sucks, and E20-E30 or more may be the "best" mix. Interesting stuff.

Steve

STOP terrorism - Drive a HYBRID

Vehicles:
350 miles a week ------------ 2006 HCH II, Magnetic Pearl, w/NAVI (born on May 25, 2006)
350 miles a month ---------- 2003 Mazda Tribute ES-V6
350 miles a year (for now) - 1986 Mercedes 560SL

Are these legible enough? I'm trying png vs jpg since jpg is not good for text. -John









If you don't like my bright colors, too bad!
I spent a lot of time on tedious study and it was finally time to have some fun!
Hope you enjoy the data, and can put it to good use.
The data were collected with a ScanGaugeII and I had to record the data with pen and paper.
I mixed the fuel manually by blending E10 with E85. ( which turns out, IS E70 in winter )
I have to assume the E10 was really 10% and the E85 was really 70%.
Still no warning lamps or unexpected behavior with E40 in my non Flex Fuel car.
It does smell like boiling corn on the cob when I pull into the garage, but that's an expected behavior.
-John

Thanks for all the info. Too bad it doesn't smell like corn. I was behind a car that ran on vegetable oil and it smelt like fast food.