E10 Ethanol, bad for your engine & economy? [MERGED]

[mazdamazda]

Is Alcogas / Ethanol + Gasoline mixture safe for our cars?

San Carlos City to produce ethanol in 2007
THE SOUTHERN BEAT By Rolly Espina
The Philippine Star 04/19/2005

The announcement did not come from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but the good news about the P1.5-billion ethanol plant that will be operational by the second half of 2007 came from Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

But he made the announcement during the President’s recent weekend visit to Negros Occidental.

This was a much-awaited solution to the sugar industry’s product diversification move. It is expected that the project will lessen the country’s almost total dependence on imported fossil fuel.

The project will be undertaken by Dronzeoak Philippines, headed by Jose Ma. Zabaleta, the executive director of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association and a sugar planter from the San Carlos mill district.

The project will be supported by the National Development Corp. and a foreign investor.

Actually, the local firm is named the San Carlos Bioenergy, which is now in the process of being incorporated. In the San Carlos milling district, most sugarcane farmers had reportedly agreed to convert their sugarcane plantations to produce ethanol which will be processed through conversion of pure sugarcane juices into alcohol.

San Carlos Milling Co. was closed several years back. Thus, the 400,000 metric tons of cane from the district’s 6,000 hectares have to be transported nearly 100 kilometers away to Victorias Milling Co., the Lopez Sugar Corp. mill in Sagay City and the Bais Sugar Central in Bais City, Negros Oriental.

According to Yap, Petron has reported that it is ready to mix ethanol with its gasoline. The plan is to mix either five to 10 percent of ethanol (often called here alcogas) with gasoline.

As planned, the distillery will process up to 1,500 tons of sugarcane juice to produce 100,000 liters of ethanol and generate nine megawatts of power.

Zabaleta said that the P1.5-billion plant will provide an additional 200 industrial jobs to the local community. It will be located at the San Carlos Eco-Zone. This was approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and will pave the way for the duty free processing of products for the domestic and export markets.

In addition, the plant will reportedly produce 50 tons of CO2 daily for the beverage industry, Zabaleta said.

The possibility of putting up other ethanol plants in Negros Occidental seem a bit problematic. The first hurdle is convincing sugar producers that ethanol is a more viable alternative to sugar production which is subject to the seasonal flux of millgate sugar prices.

The second problem is the standard mill-planter ratio of production which is placed at 70-30 instead of outright sale of farm produce as practiced in other countries.

In short, there are obstacles that must be hurdled. There is also the question as to which areas should be devoted primarily to ethanol and whether the present higher-yielding cane varieties are best-suited for ethanol production.

[Mojo]

its about time.

yung negros gumagawa na ng ethanol since 1960s pa, ull be surprised pag nag search ka sa internet about ethanol, lumilitaw ang negros sa mga old sales brochures sa mga foreign website

[ghosthunter]

from what I have read, ethanol/gasoline blend gives less milage than regular gasoline.

[RafRaf]

just sharing (from Manila Standard)...

400 pumps to sell ethanol
By Alena Mae S. Flores

Four new oil players have agreed to sell ethanol-blended gasoline in at least 400 service stations nationwide starting next month.

Energy Undersecretary Peter Anthony Abaya said Flying V, Seaoil, Unioil and USA 888 will put up additional pumps to jump-start the DoE’s National Fuel Ethanol Project aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on expensive imported oil.

“The oil companies, instead of blending a minimum 5 percent ethanol to gasoline, will be actually using a higher 10 percent blend. The companies will be initially importing 25 million liters of ethanol for this purpose but eventually, when the ethanol bill is passed and the infrastructures are in place, oil companies will be getting ethanol supply from local producers,” Abaya said.

Malacañang recently issued an executive order lowering the tariff on ethanol to 1 percent from 10 percent to encourage investors to establish ethanol production facilities.

Abaya is optimistic big oil players like Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Caltex Phils. Inc. will follow suit.

Ethanol is an alternative energy resource produced from crops such as corn, grain sorghum, wheat, sugar and other agricultural crops. It can be used as a transportation fuel as a blend to gasoline, a component of reformulated gasoline or a primary fuel with gasoline as blend.

Flying V is looking at investing in an ethanol plant in the next three to five years to support government’s thrust toward alternative fuels.

“Right now, we’re looking at ethanol, which is also under a government program but that’s on a medium term. We’re already conducting studies on ethanol,” Flying V president Ramon Villavicencio said.

He said Flying V has started talks with equipment suppliers, raw materials sources and financing firms.

Flying V joins other companies that have expressed interest to put up an ethanol plant, including the group of British firm Bronzeoak Phils. and Bukidnon Sugar Milling Corp. (Busco), which earlier expressed interest to put up their respective fuel ethanol plants in Bukidnon province in the next three years.

The two groups are conducting feasibility studies for establishing ethanol plants in Bukidnon.

A plant with a 25-megawatt capacity requires an investment of P1.5 billion, Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri said in an earlier interview.

Under the government’s National Fuel Ethanol Program, private entities are encouraged to invest in the production of biofuels and distribution of biofuel blends.

The program aims to intensify the use of biofuels in the transport sector by blending a minimum of 5 percent bioethanol fuel into all gasoline-fed motor vehicles.

Zubiri said the government wants to raise the percentage of bioethanol blend to 10 percent by 2010 but “we have to first come up with the supply.”

The Philippines needs about 400 million liters of ethanol by 2010, requiring about 20 ethanol plants across the country by that time.

“We have to come up with ethanol mills, otherwise we defeat the purpose of energy independence, otherwise, we will have to import,” he said.

Zubiri said he would push for the approval of the Ethanol Bill because “nobody wants to start building the plants unless the law is in place.”

[jimaroquai]

Yup, have read that too. Problem is...for how much will it be offered to the public?

[theveed]

yup, while mura ang price/barrel ng ethanol, the cost of making it feasable for public consumption will cost a lot, so will public education of the product, sa consumer din babagsak ang cost.

Don't forget that andyan na lahat ng equipment/standards/process ng regular fuel processing, so costs for that are substantially lower than something newly developed.

[Karding]

yup, while mura ang price/barrel ng ethanol, the cost of making it feasable for public consumption will cost a lot, so will public education of the product, sa consumer din babagsak ang cost.

Don't forget that andyan na lahat ng equipment/standards/process ng regular fuel processing, so costs for that are substantially lower than something newly developed.

di ko alam kung totoo ba na mas mahal pa ang pag-gawa ng Ethanol or hindi, pero this is what I found.

Ethanol's Energy Balance:

The Claim: Recent news reports have falsely claimed the ethanol production process is inefficient, actually using more energy than ethanol provides as a fuel.

The Truth: Ethanol contains at least 77,000 BTUs of energy, while only 35,000 BTUs of energy are required to make it. Ethanol's energy balance is clearly positive

Ethanol is a homegrown fuel that results in job creation, increased farm income, improved air quality, and greater energy independence by reducing imports of foreign oil.

In 2004, U.S. ethanol facilities set new production records and consumers used more than 3 billion gallons of ethanol in their automobiles. 2005 looks to be another record-setting year.

http://www.ethanol.org/PressRelease71905bhtm.htm

Flexible Fuel Vehicle as mentioned by yebo:
http://www.ethanol.org/ACEFFVs.htm


AFAIK, Ethanol use can be dated as far back as Henry ford's time...1880s. Kaya nalimita ang pag gamit ng Ethanol ay dahil sa na din sa Tax. Oil shortaged in WWI and WWII rekindled the use of ethanol. (hint: WWIII)
http://www.siu.edu/~readi/grains/fac...production.pdf


This is the greates thread I have ever read. Well, aside from KHAOS

[naruto]

ok lang kaya yan sa kahit anong gasoline engined car?

[BlueBimmer]

sabi sa news magkakaroon daw ng ethanol available sa gas stations starting october..

if 2loy 2loy ang increase ng fuel..i foresee a drastic drop in resale value of big engined cars n suvs..hehe

[buknoy2002]

ang tanong ko e

ok lang ba sa lahat ng cars?
and magkano per liter
and me difference ba sa performance? baka mura pero me knock naman...