The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 246
further confirms it. And it's why gasoline in a diesel engine doesn't just get 10
or 15% fewer MPG than diesel, it will get no MPG.
The following excerpt is from a Paper to the American Society for Environmental
History, Annual Conference March 26-30, 2003 By William Kovarik, Ph.D.:
“Studies of alcohol as an internal combustion engine fuel began in the
U.S. with the Edison Electric Testing Laboratory and Columbia University
in 1906. Elihu Thomson reported that despite a smaller heat or B.T.U.
value, "a gallon of alcohol will develop substantially the same power in an
internal combustion engine as a gallon of gasoline. This is owing to the
superior efficiency of operation..." (New York Times Aug. 5, 1906) Other
researchers confirmed the same phenomena around the same time.
“USDA tests in 1906 also demonstrated the efficiency of alcohol in engines and described how gasoline engines could be modified for higher
power with pure alcohol fuel or for equivalent fuel consumption, depending on the need. The U.S. Geological Service (USGS) and the U.S. Navy
performed 2000 tests on alcohol and gasoline engines in 1907 and 1908
in Norfolk, Va. and St. Louis, Mo. They found that much higher engine
compression ratios could be achieved with alcohol than with gasoline.
When the compression ratios were adjusted for each fuel, fuel economy
was virtually equal despite the greater B.T.U. value of gasoline. "In regard
to general cleanliness, such as absence of smoke and disagreeable
odors, alcohol has many advantages over gasoline or kerosene as a fuel,"
the report said. "The exhaust from an alcohol engine is never clouded
with a black or grayish smoke." USGS continued the comparative tests
and later noted that alcohol was "a more ideal fuel than gasoline" with
better efficiency despite the high cost.”
In the "Ethanol Vehicle Challenge 1998" tests were conducted on ethanol-optimized Chevrolet Malibus versus stock Chevy Malibus. The tests showed that
most ethanol optimized vehicles tested on the dynamometer exceeded the fuel
efficiency of the stock Malibu, with the best schools showing efficiency improvements of 13 to 15%. In the city portion of the dynamometer testing, all the vehicles demonstrated a higher fuel efficiency than the stock Malibu. SEE: Ethanol
Vehicle Challenge 1998.
Additionally, tests and studies conducted by Matthew Brusstar of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency show that ethanol-optimized engines deliver
greater MPG. SEE: Economical, High-Efficiency Engine Technologies For
