The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 149
Sometimes, it's claimed that ethanol damages plastics. However, you can store
ethanol in ordinary plastic water bottles. Aromatics (benzene, toluene, and Xylene), the substances used to replace ethanol in E0, are far less compatible
with different types of plastics. See a comparison chart at http://www.plasticsintl.com/plastics_chemical_resistence_chart.html. The CPLabSafety website confirms ethanol's compatibility with plastics with the charts at
https://www.calpaclab.com/chemical-compatibility-charts/.
DOES ETHANOL SUCK WATER OUT OF THE AIR?
No, absolutely not. It is a ridiculous myth. I wrote and published an extensive
paper on this issue, which you can find in this book under the title “Ethanol Does
NOT Suck Water Out Of The Air.”
SPECIAL UPDATE - September 29, 2019
The other day I was reminded of another category of small internal combustion
engines that have been used for years by hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people around the world on a regular basis. These small 2-stroke and
4-stroke internal combustion engines prove once again that alcohol fuels are
safe to use, and that the corrosion problems and debris problems blamed on
alcohol fuels are either non-existent or overly exaggerated. These engines are
the IC engines used in model cars, airplanes and boats. The engines are miniature versions of full-size engines, and they work in exactly the same manner
as their larger counterparts. The fuel they use consists primarily alcohol (in this
case, methanol). The volume of methanol typically runs from about 95% to 60%.
This would be equivalent to M95 to M60 (think E95 to E60). The RC fuel usually
also contains some nitro - nitromethane - for starting and a small amount of oil
for lubrication. The need for the oil is like the use of 2-stroke oil in other small
engines such as those in lawn equipment, go-karts, and some ATVs.
RC internal combustion engines, which are simply miniaturized versions of fullsize engines, are NOT susceptible to methanol corrosion. There is a difference
between methanol and ethanol...ethanol is compatible with more materials than
methanol...ethanol is even less corrosive than methanol.
RC internal combustion engines do experience problems, but the problems are
exactly the same as the problems caused by petroleum oil and gasoline. If the
engines are not regularly cleaned (many people say after each use) the oil gets
