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["Don Bowen" <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

> It doesn't matter what you make the ethanol out of -- corn, switch
> grass, sugar cane, or whatever -- it contains the same energy, which
> is much less (about a third less as Lynda says) than gasoline.

Gasoline is around 120,000 BTU/GAL, stoichimetric ratio is 14.70:1
Ethanol is around 80,000 BTU/GAL, stoichimetric ratio is 9.00:1
Methanol is around 60,000 BTU/GAL, stoichimetric ratio is 6.45:1

So you can see from the above that any alcohol will give less energy and
requires more fuel.  Two of the many reasons why alcohol as motor fuel is a
fools game.

> I'm far from an expert on this (especially on this list where experts
> abound) but the problem with E85 has to do with corrosion and fuel
> injection.

That problem has been mostly solved.  Alcohol is highly corrosive and
special plastics and seals have been developed to deal with it.

Don Bowen  KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html