Ethanol in Diesel

[milehiscott]

I went to fuel up at a Conoco in Aurora yesterday and the pumps had all of the usual 'It's winter, so we put Ethanol in the fuel, anti-pollution, blah, blah' stickers on them. Then I noticed that the diesel pump had one also.

Do they really put ethanol in the diesel?!?!

Isn't that going to have a similar reaction as gas in the fuel?



I wonder if it was simply an employee that was told to put the stickers on. So they were placed on all of the pumps.



I got fuel at a different station just because I didn't know what was going on.



Scott

 

[RonaldLarson]

Wow!!!!!

Ethanol in diesel? Ethanol is "rubbing alchohol", and very thirsty as well as dry. It attracts water and has no lubricating qualities. Death for an injection pump. No, I doubt there was any in that station's tanks, but you were sure wise to pass them up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ron

 

[formula]

Ethanol is definitely NOT "rubbing alcohol". Rubbing alcohol is isopropanol, also called 2-propanol.

Ethanol is H3C-CH2OH, it's in your beer and liquor and makes you drunk and gets you in trouble (maybe that's just me )

Isopropanol H3C-CHOH-CH3 is lethal if ingested, (so is ethanol, for that matter, if you drink enough of it) Just wanted to clear that up. As for putting ethanol in diesel fuel, anything less than pure ethanol (absolute, no water) would hardly be miscible in such an oil as diesel fuel. Not the mention that it's lubricity is basically nothing.



Sean

 

[mhenon]

E-diesel

Yea... they are putting ethanol in diesel fuel. It's being tested by several in some states but I didn't know it was commercially available yet.

Up to 15% ethanol is being tried to lower emisions. There is also a "water" in diesel fuel mix that does the same thing for emisions.

Anyway, it's true!

 

[formula]

Yikes, I'd better watch out for that. My poor VE pump needs all the lubrication it can get.



Sean

 

[gitchesum]

The diesel fuel does not get the ethanol. The ethanol is being used in place of the MTBE that is currently being used. My understanding is that is it an oxygenate for the gasolines.

The 17 y/o store clerk was probably told by his 18 y/o manager to put the stickers on all the pumps.



I know that E-diesel is being tested in other parts of the country. Supposedly, it runs just as good as an engine on regular diesel but it uses 3-5% more fuel.

I wouldn't worry about lubricity. When the low-sulfur diesels are refined, they do loose some lubricity. But,before you put it in your truck, several additives are used to replace the lubricity of the fuel.



The emulsion diesel is currently being used in SoCal for large contract accounts. It's not hitting the pumps yet either. The stuff we sell is called Proformix.



This info is for Southern California. I don't know about the rest of the country

 

[fest3er]

Originally posted by formula

Ethanol is definitely NOT "rubbing alcohol". Rubbing alcohol is isopropanol, also called 2-propanol.

Ethanol is H3C-CH2OH, it's in your beer and liquor and makes you drunk and gets you in trouble (maybe that's just me )

Isopropanol H3C-CHOH-CH3 is lethal if ingested, (so is ethanol, for that matter, if you drink enough of it) Just wanted to clear that up. As for putting ethanol in diesel fuel, anything less than pure ethanol (absolute, no water) would hardly be miscible in such an oil as diesel fuel. Not the mention that it's lubricity is basically nothing.



Sean

Huh. I *used* to know what 'miscible' means.



Fest3er

 

[Shovelhead]

Miscible substances... ..... liquid substances that dissolve in any amount in each other.



I'm still struggling to keep up with the 4 and 5 letter words.

 

[Wayno]

Emulsion Diesel is being use right here in Texas, by the State of Texas in the Houston District and the Beaumont District ( and probably in Dallas ) Its made by Luberziol and is call Purinox's and it's about the most smoking sinking s#!t I have ever had to burn in a vehicle and I don't burn it in my own either!!!!!!!!