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Analysis of Ethanol Fuel Blends
Abstract:
In the last three years, three quality surveys on ethanol-blended fuels intended for use in flex-fuel vehicles have been published. Two of these surveys cover Flex-Fuel quality, and the third encompasses the quality of mid-level ethanol blends (MLEBs) from blender pumps. The purpose of these surveys was to report on the quality of the fuels and provide a snapshot in time of fuel quality.
This study examines the larger picture portrayed by these surveys and looks for broader trends in fuel quality. The analysis found that compliance with vapor pressure specification limits for Flex Fuel improved from 40% to 66% in Class 1, from 31% to 43% in Class 2, and from 12% to 30% in Class 3 between 2008 and 2010. Failures on other critical properties, such as acidity, pHe, water, and inorganic chloride were less than 6% in these studies.
The 2010 Flex Fuel samples readily met the ethanol content specification, with 88%, 92%, and 95% compliance for Classes 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In contrast, the 2008 Flex Fuel samples met the ethanol content specification only 28%, 58%, and 83% of the time for Classes 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Analysis of the MLEB data set revealed statistically identical vapor pressures for gasolines containing 10 vol% ethanol (E10) and E20 and E30 blends.