E10 on its way

[Paul-R]

Presumably a similar source as the band INXS had?

[myglaren]

That always looked like Inkses to me

[NewcastleFalcon]

Well, GTL is an acronym for gas to liquid so I suppose XTL may mean X to liquid. What's X? Well that's unknown...

Yes I think that hits it on the head Paul. GTL gas to liquid, CTL Coal to Liquid , and BTL Biomass to Liquid are well used acronyms in synthetic fuels, so as the feed source for XTL synthetic diesel can be either renewables or fossil material or a mixture of both, the X bit is unspecified. The EU's European Committee for Standardization labeling info does state that XTL stands for synthetic diesel and indicates that it is not derived from crude oil.

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

XTL - Crystals to liquid - made from fairy dust.

[van ordinaire]

thus squaring the circle - & returning to "E"

[xantia_v6]

There is a bit of E85 "Super Ethanol" in France, about 1000 pumps in 2018 if my translation of this is right

https://ethanol.ovh/stations-superethanol-e85/

Good old E.Leclerc seem to have it at some of their outlets.

Now for a bit of colateral knowledge gaining.....what do the French do with it?

REgards Neil

Not very much...

It has been a commercial failure. Some new cars (including some PSA models) are available with a flexi-fuels option, but it seems that very few have been sold.

There are also conversion kits (of varying quality) avialable for most common engine types, I considered converting one of my Citroen V6s, but the nearest E85 pump is 50 km from where I live in France, so not really a viable option.

[myglaren]

Dollywobbler investigates.

[myglaren]

Just filled up with what purports to be E10 (Sainsburys). Seems OK but only driven a mile from the petrol station

Will be a while evaluating, MOT and service tomorrow and son will have the car back on Tuesday until the end of the month, after which it is going on holiday to Wales.

Almost washed it but then common sense* prevailed.



*laziness.

[bobins]

It's extremely easy to remove the ethanol from E10 petrol (or indeed E5 if you want) at home - you just need some suitable containers and some water. Whether everyone would do it safely and whether the "But what if....?" health and safety crowd would be happy is another matter

[mickthemaverick]

It's extremely easy to remove the ethanol from E10 petrol (or indeed E5 if you want) at home - you just need some suitable containers and some water. Whether everyone would do it safely and whether the "But what if....?" health and safety crowd would be happy is another matter

I'm sure that is the case bobins but wouldn't that be swimming against the tide? Surely the object of increasing the ethanol is to reduce emissions so surely removing the ethanol would put the emissions back to where we don't want them to be?

[bobins]

I can see some of the reasoning behind adding ethanol, but being as it contains less 'energy' than straight petrol, you need to burn more of it for the same power output. You also have to take land out of food production to make the plants to make ethanol. There's also the degrading effect it has on older vehicles - there is a balance point between scrapping an old banger because its time has come and the ethanol has tipped the balance, and having to spend extra money to keep a half-decent classic going because it's feeling the effects of ethanol. I can see the reasoning behind running cars with ethanol in towns and cities - less so for rural areas. As Dollywobbler says - putting ethanol in petrol shouldn't be the answer, getting people to drive less should.
A lot of the small engined machinery I use definitely suffers from moisture in the fuel which causes carb issues. I try to reduce the problem by running the carb dry when I've finished, and if I lend kit out I ask that it be returned with as near an empty fuel tank as possible. I've had to clean out many people's carbs for their small engines as water has sat in the fuel and corroded them.

[myglaren]

There may be a case for removing the ethanol and bottling it but only if it were a cheaper way to get it than buying vodka.
As long as the car runs I don't care.

I used to have a problem with water getting in to the tank on a Hillman Imp and used to add meths to 'soak up' the water.

[NewcastleFalcon]

The pump handle says one thing, the chatty bit of paper says something else, so not entirely sure whether BB Micra received its first drink of E10 or not or whether it doesn't arrive until Sept 1st

E10 or not E10 that is the question

The gov.uk website gives the 2005 BB Micra this assurance

REgards Neil

[myglaren]

Mine said E10 last fillup, 31st July.
Perhaps just preparing - or scaring.

[NewcastleFalcon]

E10 on its way, today's the day it officially arrives although the pumps at Sainsbury's have been labelled up for a while now.

Dont think Nissan are taking too many risks saying that E10 is compatible with their 15 to 20 year old engines. If it knacks up the 16 year old BB £100 Micra doing 4,000 miles a year, I'll not be signing up to a class action lawsuit.

Regards Neil