In addition to the fact you cannot run your old school rotors using ethanol, here are some of the political considerations as to why some service stations dilute their petrol with ethanol :
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According to Australian Institute of Petroleum executive director Bryan Nye, blending 20 percent ethanol cuts between two and four cents a litre from the wholesale price of a litre of petrol. While excise is paid on ethanol, as it is on petrol, the 38-cents-per-litre tax is exactly matched by the 38-cents-per-litre Federal Government subsidy for ethanol producers, introduced last year.
Australia's largest ethanol producer is the Manildra Group, a grain-business giant. Since 1992 it has produced ethanol from the waste stream of its factory at Bomaderry, near Nowra on the NSW south coast. The factory's prime role is to extract starch, gluten, and other useful products from wheat. About two-thirds of the 60-million litres of ethanol produced by Manildra each year is blended with petrol.
Businessman Dick Honan, head of the Manildra Group, has donated large amounts to the Liberal Party, as well as smaller sums to Labor and the Democrats. Interviewed by ABC radio's AM program last October, Honan denied that donations were intended to influence the government.
"This government can't be bought at all," Honan said. "We are not in the business of trying to buy favours."
Last year Manildra went into the petrol business. In a joint venture with a privately owned oil company called Park Petroleum, it formed Manildra Park Petroleum. This company claims to be the largest supplier of blended petrol/ethanol to independent fuel retailers in the Sydney and Wollongong regions.
When, last October, the Sydney Morning Herald commissioned an analysis of petrol sold by nine independent outlets in the Sydney's south and south west, it found samples from three contained more than 20 percent ethanol, and three others more than 10 percent. Most of the six retailers were reportedly unwilling to comment to the SMH, but two named Manildra as their supplier.
Above 10 percent ethanol, you enter the danger zone. Ethanol is both corrosive and a solvent. It eats away at fuel lines and fuel-delivery-system components. It can also loosen gunk in fuel lines, leading to blockages, and in older engines - especially those with carburettors - lead to cold-start problems and misfiring.
Keep it at 10 percent and the vehicle manufacturers are reasonably happy, although you'll get slightly decreased fuel economy. On top of this, ethanol's environmental credentials turn out to be rather dubious. Theoretically, ethanol should burn a little cleaner than petrol and generate less carbon dioxide. The reality, according to CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), is that the differences in tailpipe hydrocarbon emissions between premium unleaded and premium unleaded with the 10 percent ethanol are negligible.
The same CSIRO study also found that the carbon-dioxide emissions are marginally lower. But what the study didn't say is that these tailpipe gains are potentially offset by the high CO2 penalty levied in growing the grain or sugar to make the ethanol.
A 2001 study by Cornell University in the US found that growing an acre of corn for conversion to ethanol required 529 litres of fossil fuels. Similar studies on the energy consumption of the sugar-to-ethanol process haven't been done. The same Cornell study, again based on corn conversion, found that 70 percent more energy is needed to produce 3.8 litres (1 US gallon) of ethanol than is contained in the ethanol itself.
Put it all together and there aren't many good reasons for adding it to petrol. Car manufacturers aren't keen on it, even though they are reluctant to go on record saying it, while the environmental costs appear much higher than the sugar-cane growers, ethanol producers, and both groups' supporters in parliament will own up to.
What can the motorist do? Our recommendation is to buy from the major brands. BP, for instance, guarantees the quality of the fuel sold under its name. If fuel bought from the company can be shown to have caused a problem, BP will pay to have affected parts replaced. If you must buy from independent retailers, seek an assurance that their products are ethanol-free. If their answer is unconvincing or they can't tell you, don't buy.
