When the waiver petition to use E15 year-around was filed, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Mid-Level Ethanol Blends Program conducted a study for 2 years, led by Oak Ridge Lab, to assess the impact of E15 and E20 on internal combustion engines used in automobiles.

The study concluded that using E20 as a phase-in to higher blends would be compatible with virtually all vehicles in the road today.

Oak Ridge Lab took it a step further and tested a modified Ford 150 light truck using a 98 RON E25 blend. They validated that the E25 blend increased power, improved efficiency in the range of 6% and reduce CO2 emissions.

While aromatics were not a component of the testing at Oak Ridge Lab, work at the Clean Fuels Development Coalition (“CFDC”) and EPA’s own data shows that clean, high-octane ethanol also replaces aromatic compounds which fall under EPA regulation of air toxics. General Motors, among others, has concluded aromatics are the source of 98% of the fine particulates from gasoline combustion.

According to Brian West, an automotive engineer who led the vehicle testing for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Mid-Level Ethanol Blends Program, “we should be talking about much higher volumes of ethanol in terms of blend rates”

Mr. West notes that vehicles today are safer, more durable, have more power and better fuel economy, and dramatically lower emissions due to the robust systems and the calibrators’ ability to micromanage the powertrain. They can handle blends well in excess of the current E10-E15 and in so doing provide substantial emission reductions.

West said, “I felt that bioethanol could do so much more. Bioethanol boosts octane and allows improved engine efficiency.”

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