"By creating and stoking a debate about corn ethanol as a fuel, your attention is diverted away from its primary role as an anti-knocking additive."
"Knocking occurs when gasoline burns unevenly inside an engine’s cylinders, resulting in unpleasant noises, reduced range, and accelerated engine degradation. The solution was to upgrade the octane rating of gasoline – a standard measure of a fuel's ability to withstand compression in an ICE without detonating – and a frantic search occurred for a suitable chemical additive that could solve the problem."
The alternatives to ethanol to solve knocking (and that have been used in the past) are basically pretty terrible.
1) TEL (Tetraethyl lead) - spread poisonous lead oxide particles from tailpipes of every vehicle (eventually banned)
2) MBTE (Methyl-tert-Butyl Ether) - dangerously toxic water pollutant that is water soluble (also banned)
Which leaves us with Ethanol.
"..blending modest concentrations of ethanol with gasoline not only solved knocking, but it also produced an outstanding motor fuel by the technical measures that mattered."
Thanks for that. I have heard about this but haven't looked deeply into it, so I may be wrong, but I always suspected that it's not really needed in the vast quantities that it is currently produced in. I mean, is every other country also using so much ethanol in their fuel?
To me it has always felt a bit like a bit of a cover story, like, there's truth in there, but it's taken much further would be supported by the technical merits of the matter.
But as I said, I may be wrong, and maybe at some point I'll dig deeper into it.
As things stand, what will probably save us from burning food is likely to be EV.. There's so much inertia in the system.
I think you are probably correct that the amount of ethanol that would be required for its anti-knocking effect would be a lot less than what is actually blended in today. Until I had read that Doomberg article, I did not know that the addition of ethanol had other benefits besides lower gasoline consumption.
"Challengers like Rivian, meanwhile, have run into manufacturing bottlenecks due to chip shortages and supply chain disruptions."
>>🤔🤔 It seems that Rivian is falling further and further behind. Perhaps they should just look to partner with the existing ecosystem, before they become a relic.😬💀
Re: Ethanol:
https://doomberg.substack.com/p/in-praise-of-corn-ethanol
"By creating and stoking a debate about corn ethanol as a fuel, your attention is diverted away from its primary role as an anti-knocking additive."
"Knocking occurs when gasoline burns unevenly inside an engine’s cylinders, resulting in unpleasant noises, reduced range, and accelerated engine degradation. The solution was to upgrade the octane rating of gasoline – a standard measure of a fuel's ability to withstand compression in an ICE without detonating – and a frantic search occurred for a suitable chemical additive that could solve the problem."
The alternatives to ethanol to solve knocking (and that have been used in the past) are basically pretty terrible.
1) TEL (Tetraethyl lead) - spread poisonous lead oxide particles from tailpipes of every vehicle (eventually banned)
2) MBTE (Methyl-tert-Butyl Ether) - dangerously toxic water pollutant that is water soluble (also banned)
Which leaves us with Ethanol.
"..blending modest concentrations of ethanol with gasoline not only solved knocking, but it also produced an outstanding motor fuel by the technical measures that mattered."
The more you know.....
Bill
Thanks for that. I have heard about this but haven't looked deeply into it, so I may be wrong, but I always suspected that it's not really needed in the vast quantities that it is currently produced in. I mean, is every other country also using so much ethanol in their fuel?
To me it has always felt a bit like a bit of a cover story, like, there's truth in there, but it's taken much further would be supported by the technical merits of the matter.
But as I said, I may be wrong, and maybe at some point I'll dig deeper into it.
As things stand, what will probably save us from burning food is likely to be EV.. There's so much inertia in the system.
Thanks for sharing! Cheers 💚 🥃
I think you are probably correct that the amount of ethanol that would be required for its anti-knocking effect would be a lot less than what is actually blended in today. Until I had read that Doomberg article, I did not know that the addition of ethanol had other benefits besides lower gasoline consumption.
Keep up the great work!
"Challengers like Rivian, meanwhile, have run into manufacturing bottlenecks due to chip shortages and supply chain disruptions."
>>🤔🤔 It seems that Rivian is falling further and further behind. Perhaps they should just look to partner with the existing ecosystem, before they become a relic.😬💀