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Ethanol is Here to Stay

One of the items that will continue with President Obama is the search/continuation of renewable fuel sources. Currently we use ethanol in our gasoline to help reduce pollutants that are deposited into our air and to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Both have been working; tons of pollutants have stopped being emitted and our oil imports have dropped from 60% of total consumption to 45% (Ethanol Industry Ready for RFS Fight).

Most ethanol blended gasoline is at 10% (E-10) however, E-15 has been approved by the EPA which is starting to grow in popularity. E-85 is also available for flex-fuel vehicles. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the US produced almost 14 billion gallons of ethanol (corn based) for 2011 and will be about the same for this year. It should also be noted that farmers were able to meet both ethanol and food needs this year through smart farming practices.

What does all of this mean? Ethanol is good for the environment as it burns cleaner. We have reduced our need to import oil by 15%. Unfortunately, ethanol blended fuels is very bad for fuel system components. As was discussed in previous blogs, ethanol absorbs water from whatever it can. Once the ethanol has absorbed .5% water (about ½ ounce of water), the ethanol/water mix drops out of the gasoline. This is called phase separation. The water/ethanol mixture is very corrosive to the fuel system parts and will destroy parts very quickly.

Since ethanol is here for the foreseeable future, B3C Fuel Solutions has developed several products that will prevent this from happening. Ethanol Shield protects the fuel system by preventing the ethanol from phase separating as well as stabilizes the fuel and treats the plastic and rubber parts. New for this season is our awarding winning tank snake. The tank snake is used in a gas tank to absorb water out of the fuel and it also releases anti-oxidants and fuel stabilizers into the fuel.

As noted above, always keep the fuel stabilized as one never knows how long a piece of equipment will sit not being used. Using the new Tank Snake will ensure that any moisture that is in the gas or enters the fuel tank is absorbed. The Tank Snake also releases a stabilizer and antioxidants to keep the fuel fresh for the next use. For optimal protection, use Ethanol Shield in the gas as well. This will provide the Gold Standard in fuel protection. Ethanol Shield will provide fuel stabilization for up to 3 years as well as provide protection against ethanol related issues.