What is E85 Ethanol?
E85 is the term for motor fuel blends of 85 percent ethanol and just 15 percent gasoline. E85 is an alternative fuel as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy. Besides its superior performance characteristics, ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline; it is a completely renewable, domestic, environmentally friendly fuel that enhances the nation's economy and energy independence.The horsepower a given engine has when using E85 is comparable or slightly higher than gasoline. Depending on composition and source, E85 has an octane rating of 100 to 105 compared to regular gasoline's typical rating of 87 for regular and 93 for premium. This allows it to be used in higher compression engines.
I added this portion of the page in due to the lack of information being given to the public about ethanol production. The constant comments about the use of corn and how we are starving other countries needs to come to a halt. Only animal feed grade corn is used in producing ethanol and the corn is not consumed by production. Only the starch is extracted, leaving a high grade feed.
Ethanol no longer comes from strictly corn as many people believe. In years to come, corn will become obsolete in the ethanol market. Corn simply provided the foundation for further research in developing alternative fuels and will be slowly phased out. Only the future can tell how much ethanol we will use in our everyday life, but I believe it is here to stay for quite some time. Ethanol is now being produced from the following materials.
- Switch Grass
- Whey Permeate
- Bald Tires
- Flat Soda / Beer
- Garbage
- Algae
- Wood Chips
- Lawn Clippings
- and basically any other organic material.
Thank you.
Douglas J Cottrell
Web Admin / Technical Director
Djcottrell@driveflexfuel.com