Will You Soon Fill the Tank with E20?

Proponents of ethanol want to move the common blend of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol alcohol up to 20% ethanol to further reduce oil consumption and grow the market for the grain alcohol, according to a report in USA Today. While E85 (an 85% ethanol blend) still faces hurdles to becoming a widely used fuel, E10 can already be found at gas stations across the country.

The question is, can producers up the blend to E20 without doing damage to vehicles? Studies conducted by the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State University say yes. Despite a lot of skepticism surrounding ethanol’s continuing rise as the fuel of the future, many states, including Minnesota, have laws that mandate a certain percentage of fuel used be ethanol. Ethanol must account for 20% of Minnesota’s fuel consumption in the “next few years.”

Still, there is some doubt surrounding a 20% ethanol blend. For instance, one of the problems facing the widespread use of E85 is that ethanol corrodes engine parts and pipelines, so it’s difficult to ship and requires vehicles to have special parts in their fuel systems. Some wonder if upping ethanol content to 20% will do similar damage to engines.

The USA Today article raised some of the issues associated with moving to a 20% blend by citing tests in Australia where E20 damaged 40% of the tested vehicles’ catalytic converters, leading to “unchecked tailpipe emissions.”

E20 must pass muster with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before it can become a legal fuel. Used without approval, it could potentially void a vehicle’s warranty. The next step will be a study by the Renewable Fuels Association to pinpoint the impact of E20 on both vehicles and the environment.

Gasoline Could Go from 10% Ethanol Up to 20% (USA Today)