crop derivative fuels

[tamore]

i know absolutely nothing about this, which is why i've posted it here.....

my question is, how much modification would the different tvr engines need to run on the ethanol based fuels (eg e85 or whatever it's called)?

with all the current 'green' hype, i can't understand why every ounce of surplus grain crop isn't turned into fuel for vehicles.

[dnb]

For the Rover based ones, you'd need a set of bigger injectors and an aftermarket ECU (certainly a remap and tweak to the ignition timing as the absolute minimum). After that, you can chase additional performance from some engine work because ethanol is a high octane fuel

All I need is a good stable supply of ethanol.

[badger_boy]

Well the alcohol content of the ethanol is corrosive to most rubber parts so they would have to be changed.

You'd also probably invalidate your warranty.......but that may not really be an issue.

[cossiemetro]

they could never grow enough even if the whole country was full of fields of the stuff

[J.T.]

tamore said:

with all the current 'green' hype, i can't understand why every ounce of surplus grain crop isn't turned into fuel for vehicles.

Simple really - huge capital cost of building plants - anywhere from £50m upwards. Brazil & the USA are a long way ahead of UK due to govt funding and long term (or lack of in UK's case)planning

For info, world wheat stocks vs usage are at 40 year low at 20% (10 weeks consumption) hence recent sharp increases in price. If you converted all surplus wheat into fuel and we had a world wheat harvest similar to 2006 then consumption would outstrip supply by approx 25 million tonnes i.e. lots of hungry people!

Ethanol production is possible from corn, sugar cane/beet etc too with price vs conversion efficiencies (as well as location) being determinant factors.

JT