I can't speak for the US but anywhere else in the world I've looked into there are mandatory stabilizers and anti-corrosion inhibitors to be added at a given treat rate for ethanol content, so I would expect them have some kind of additive! Surprised to hear maybe that is not the case in the US.
I've done some experimentation myself recently to ascertain what the tolerances are. My only issue right now is getting hold of Anhydrous ethanol as it's very controlled in the UK; I can get it in Germany but struggling with logistics right now. I am hoping to get some soon.
Anyway, here's some findings on my crude garage-lab over the past few days:
Additive - Lucas Ethanol additive at 1.7ml/ litre.
Ethanol - 96.6% Hydrous Ethanol (3.4% water), denatured with 2% denaturants added.
Methanol - 99.95% Methanol
Gasoline - 99RON with 5% Ethanol, 5% MTBE, 35% Aromatics.
Commercial E85 - Renegate "E85 Pro".
- Renegate E85 PRO - no phase separate even at 5% water added and cooled to -18C
- E62 (60% EtOH 40% Gas) - no phase separate even at 5% water added and cooled to -18C
- "E62" equiv. (30% EtOH 20% MeOH 50% Gas) - 2% water caused phase separation cooling from 0C to -18C, 5% separated at room temp
- "E62" equiv. (30% EtOH 20% MeOH 50% Gas) plus additive - 2% water fine at -18C but 5% water is cloudy at 0C and separated cooling to -18C
My conclusion is that the additive is effective at combatting phase separation, but probably not really neccesary. 2% is over 1l of water in a tank of fuel! And only when using Methanol does it even become a problem at 5% or less. Which is like 3 quarts of water in US measurements, one hell of a lot of contamination.
My next step is to leave samples of these blends exposed to our nasty humid air for about 6 weeks and then re-test, I don't think it will vary too much but we will see.
I mixed 10% water into a sample and made E62 from it (no MeOH) and with a bit of additive it remained stable at 20C. At 10C there was a thin film of separation and it became cloudy on agitation. Also worth noting that ANY water about about 0.1% in Gas samples caused separation, no the idea of condensation forming in the tank is really far-fetched, the only way water is getting in is from the humid air and I read one study where it took approx 200 days of warm humid temps and would then need a very cold winter's night to phase separate. Technically possible but not for anyone leaving their tank of E85 for months on end.
I've also got some copper strip corrosion tests set up but so far even the 100% Methanol control test hasn't made even a hint of tarnish, see how they look in a month.
The lubrication point is one I'm not too sure on, the only issue on injection I can see is valve wash and this could be valid. However I'm inclined not to add anything for that as I've seen a few failures probably caused by heavier lubricants causing injector gunk. A proper additive could be beneficial, it's hard to say. I figure with most lower-load conditions using DI and only more open-throttle situations making heavy use of the port valves it is even less of a concern.
I'm more comfortable running E85 longer term including my own home-brew blends from Hydrous Ethanol. I'd prefer to get hold of Anhydrous simply for more head-room. I'll use the additive, it's a low treat-rate and proven to be effective in at least one area it claims. The studies I've seen on DCI-11 corrosion inhibitor suggests that will be massively effective at long-term protection of components also, for that alone it's worth while.
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Originally Posted by Huey52
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