Ethanol in fuel

[Bear of Little Brain]

The test kit has arrived, so I'll be testing in the next day or so. Came across this on YouTube, which gives some idea of the process.


Pondering Shed's comments, I wandered off to look at a couple of other vids on YouTube. here are a couple that I found informative (but not necessarily conclusive):

I think the test kit shown at the end is the same as the one I've got.

Both of these concentrate on small engines, although the second also talks about boat engines.
These definitely support Shed's recommendation about draining your fuel system.
I'll carry on with this investigation, though, because I intend to keep my Rappie for many years and am concerned about long term effects. The corrosion and degradation may be slowed down by draining the system for storage but I would still expect it to be happening over the years of actually being used. Forewarned is forearmed.
More to follow

[Bear of Little Brain]

Went and got a fresh 'can' of BP Ultimate from the local BP station in Findon Valley (on the A24 north out of Sunny Worthing). Still in a state of shock over the price. Putting fuel in the car never had quite the same effect as a measly 5 litres and paying cash. But, hey, I got Double Nectar Points. This petrol had better be worth it.

Okay. So I just finished my ethanol-in-fuel test on this liquid gold. You may recall from one of the posts above that BP had sent me an email saying that their Ultimate fuel was ethanol-free except in the South West (of England). The test kit from Frost's (see above) arrived a couple of days ago (next day delivery, I think – definitely arrived very quickly). Here is my run-down:

First, the kit

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From left to right: instruction leaflet; small bottle of dye; plastic bottle with screw-on nozzle top; calibrated Check Tube with rubber stopper. Front: protective gloves (I didn't need to use them). Back: Fairly sturdy cardboard box to keep the kit in (survived the post undamaged).

Now the fuel and a syringe

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The syringe is "5ml Oral Liquid Syringe". I bought mine at the pharmacy at my local doctors' surgery. This syringe enabled water to be introduced into the Check Tube in a controlled fashion.

At this stage I should have included another, smaller syringe in the photo, or a dropper, because you will need to be able to put two or three drops of dye in the Check Tube later in the test. I did not have a dropper to hand so I used a 1.0ml syringe that I did have.


Next: the test…

[Bear of Little Brain]

First, fill the Fuel Check Tube with water to the indicated line. I used the 5.0ml syringe for this. It squirted a bit, so I used a screwed-up sheet of paper kitchen roll to carefully remove the water droplets that were on the side of the tube. I'm not sure just how accurate the kit actually is but I figured that I should be as accurate as possible.

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Okay, I was slightly low.
Next, add the petrol/gasoline to its indicated line:

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Bit low again.
Next add two or three drops of the dye (I used two here). No photo at this stage, because the dye sank to the bottom.
Now place the stopper in the Check Tube and shake. The instructions say for 10 seconds, but I must have done it for at least twice that.
The Check Tube was then placed on the work surface and left for 1 to 2 minutes, as per the instructions. It must have been more like five minutes or more by the time I took this photo:

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You can tell that this is the test result, because the water is now dyed blue. (Using a purple background was probably not the best choice .)
Note that the water level is exactly the same!!! (And the meniscus has disappeared in the presence of fuel rather than air.)
So what does this mean?
BP Ultimate from my local BP outlet contains NO ETHANOL
Had there been any ethanol in the fuel, it would have been separated out and absorbed by the water, hence the final level of the water would have been higher.

[Bear of Little Brain]

Final comments on this particular test:
Here is a photo showing the small syringe that I used as a dropper. I have placed a £1 coin in for scale.

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Although I have determined that my local BP Ultimate is ethanol-free, there is the very unlikely possibility that the test is faulty, so I'll cadge some ordinary ethanol 'enhanced' petrol soon and repeat the test.

PS: I was able to pour quite a lot of the fuel sample back into the can, because the water remains quite separate. Of course, the same would apply if the fuel had contained ethanol. One caveat: the amount I poured back was a small percentage of the total amount in that can. I have seen comments and YouTube videos suggesting that this process of separation is actually a way of getting the ethanol back out of your fuel, as long as you are prepared to make the effort. Others have commented that you may also, unintentionally, remove other additives that may be have been placed in for other, beneficial, effects. For now, I have an ethanol-free local supplier so I won't have to bother my little head about that… yet

[Bear of Little Brain]

Here's a short YouTube video which illustrates the process quite nicely:
[youtube][/youtube]

[shedmonkey]

The problem with deliberately seperating the ethanol is that the base fuel is a lower octane then regular unleaded and the ethanol brings it up to the correct octane. So performance will probably suffer. I must admit i have seen lots of seperated fuel but never deliberately made ir happen ,i am usually trying to stop it happening. I look forward to the regular test thanks Bear

[vassilis67]

Thanks for sharing all the info.

[Bear of Little Brain]

Second test: Murco 95 octane
(I don't know the actual Murco designation, as my daughter got me a jar full when she put fuel in her car yesterday and only made a note of the octane rating.)

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Water level:

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Fuel level

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[Bear of Little Brain]

Add three drops of dye and shake as per instructions; allow to settle:

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Shock, horror! No change, therefore no ethanol! What is going on?
Well, it turns out that my daughter may have chosen a fuel supplier that still does not have ethanol added.
My first reaction was that my test was faulty, but that seemed really unlikely, so I googled "Ethanol in Murco fuel". Lo and behold:
As a company Murco do not have Ethanol in any of their products at this moment in time, however some of our garages are supplied from non-Murco terminals so in this case the Ethanol content would be 5%.
I hope this is of some use to you. (My emphasis.)
http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/top ... rom-murco/
This was September 2011.
My conclusion: the quest for an ethanol-containing fuel in order to prove my test kit continues. In the meantime:
It is possible that your UK Murco fuel remains ethanol free.
More to follow…

[Bear of Little Brain]

On Shed's point about lowered octane rating:
Apologies – I had seen this mentioned several times during my initial research but forgot to mention it.
Those that had made this comment had also suggested using an octane booster.

[snapdragon]

This is a brilliant piece of science for the public (read Raptor owners) good

[Bear of Little Brain]

At last, a result…
Tesco 95 octane unleaded:

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[Bear of Little Brain]

Water:

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Fuel:

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three drops of dye, shake, and leave to stand:

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That looks like about 4% ethanol, given my usual inability to quite get the levels to the line.

[Bear of Little Brain]

So far:
BP Ultimate and Murco: Ethanol-free, at least in Worthing West Sussex, UK
Tesco: 4% ethanol

More as it happens…Please contain your excitement.

[shebee]

Thank you!