Originally Posted By: chad8
It has been around since 1993. Composed of 85% lab grade ethanol and 15% proprietary ingredients , mainly butyl acetate. I want to use it as a fuel stabilizer and varnish remover in boat motors.
Ethanol is not something I would normally want to put in my gasoline.
Damage from acetobacter bacteria
Ethanol issues
Some of the claims for this product are dubious.
"Removes water from tank and prevents fuel line from freezing"
Yes, if you take a tank of 100% gasoline, add a small quantity of ethanol, run the engine until the tank is nearly dry, and then refill with 100% gasoline. The ethanol combines with water and with gasoline, so it carries the water into the combustion chamber. Ethanol is what they used to sell as "dry gas".
However, if you leave it in the tank, ethanol attracts water, and you'll wind up with more water rather than less in the tank.
"Boosts octane by 9.2 points"
In general ethanol should provide a modest increase in octane in gasoline. By how many points depends on the measurement method and the gasoline to which it is added. 9.2 points comes from thin air.
"Improves engine performance and power"
In general probably not.
"Reduces emissions by 35% or more"
Possibly in a carburated vehicle. See "oxygenates fuel".
"Increases fuel mileage by 23% or more"
Ethanol has fewer BTUs of energy by volume than gasoline. You can't increase fuel mileage by reducing the energy contained in each gallon of fuel.
"Oxygenates fuel"
In order to understand what this means you need to understand what a stoichiometric air/fuel mixture is.
In a combustion reaction, oxygen reacts with the fuel, and the point where exactly all oxygen is consumed and all fuel burned is defined as the stoichiometric point.
With more oxygen (overstoichiometric combustion), some of the oxygen stays unreacted.
If combustion is incomplete due to lack of sufficient oxygen, some of the fuel remains unreacted.
The ratio for gasoline is 14.7:1. Each unit of gasoline by mass requires 14.7 units by mass of oxygen, or 6.8% fuel by mass.
The ratio for ethanol is 9:1. Each unit of ethanol by mass requires 9 unites of oxygen by mass, or 11.1% by mass.
In other words, ethanol is a lower energy fuel than gasoline.
As you add ethanol to gasoline in an engine which has a fixed fuel/air delivery system, such as an engine with a carburetor, your mixture becomes increasingly overstoichiometric (explained above). This is what "oxygenates" means.
In engines which have variable fuel/air delivery with a feedback loop, such as most automobiles today, this doesn't happen because the system modifies the fuel/air ratio to obtain a stoichiometric mixture.
"Don't Dump your Old Fuel (up to 10 years old) Just Add (DLEF)"
This is directly contrary to experience, which is that ethanol-containing gasoline breaks down faster and with more dire consequences than gasoline without ethanol.
"Easier starting"
Actually the contrary is true. First, as noted above, vehicles with a fixed fuel/air ratio delivery system will run "lean" with added ethanol, which makes starting harder. In addition ethanol is less volatile than gasoline, which also makes starting harder.
"Eliminates engine knocking caused by low grade fuel"
As noted above ethanol can provide a slight increase in octane. In modern engines with knock sensors this is basically meaningless.
"Removes dirt, gums, & varnishes from fuel system"
And adds water.
"Helps prevent rust and corrosion"
As noted, to the contrary.
Save your money. You're already getting more ethanol than you need in the gasoline you buy, and the refinery is already adding the additives to clean the fuel system and offset the ill effects of ethanol.