Ethanol Levels in Fuel

[Kenyon]

Not sure if this has been done for a while. I was looking into whether you can get fuel in the UK with limited amounts of ethanol in it.

I understand Shell V Power has up to 5% and BP won't confirm (or they haven't as yet).

So Esso came up trumps - their Synergy Supreme Plus Unleaded 97 does not have ethanol in at all in most of the UK. Unless you are in Devon or Cornwall, the Teesside area or Scotland that is. The same info is in their FAQs but thought I would email and ask it is still current. Response below, which came back within a couple of hours.

Thought this might be of interest.

"Thank you for contacting Esso Customer Care.

The majority of unleaded 95 Octane petrol sold in the UK contains 5% ethanol as required under the Government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO).

There is currently no requirement for renewable fuel (such as ethanol) to be present in super unleaded (97 grade petrol).

Esso super unleaded petrol (Synergy Supreme+ Unleaded 97) is ethanol free (except in Devon, Cornwall, the Teesside area and Scotland) and we have no current intention to add ethanol to Synergy Supreme+ in other areas of the UK.

We would therefore advise anyone who has concerns about the presence of ethanol in petrol to use Synergy Supreme+ – providing they do not fill up in Devon or Cornwall, the Teesside area or Scotland."

[Lightweight_911]

Very interesting ...

[haasad]

It is, I never really experienced any ethanol related issues until my boat outboard refused to run properly this year, the viton tips on the float vavlves had gone solid and refused to seal and the hollow plastic floats appeared to weigh 3\4 grams more then new ones despite not having any leaks. We can only assume the high ethanol levels in the 95 Ron fuel it uses have caused the problem. Like wise my Healey float valves had the same problem causing float bowl over flows......

[hot66]

All I do is make sure I always use v-power as I gather although it has ethanol it is at the lower rate ... my local fuels are all fed from Teesside

[Ashley James]

Fuel vaporisation is a nightmare with old R-R&B and elusive in that it comes and goes depending on heat and humidity, traffic jams and fuel. Therefore "experts" think they've fixed it when they haven't and then announce to all causing more problems.

In amongst all this we've been told that ethanol varies between 5 & 20% in ordinary fuel depending on where it has come from. Also we're finding that most old cars need to be about 10% richer through the range to run properly and develop full power. My Bentley and my Healey both had to be re-needled. This suggests the ethanol content might be evaporating.

Usually vapourisation occurs in traffic jams in hot weather or on start up after a stop for fuel. The cure is a return feed to the tank.

[Kenyon]

I did hear back from BP just. Their reply below is below. The crux of it is:

"...the inclusion of bioethanol in our BP Ultimate Unleaded supply chain is an evolving situation and we are therefore unable to give you categorical assurances as to its absence or presence."

Helpful that they came back on this to confirm.

"Bioethanol is present in nearly all regular unleaded petrol being sold by fuel suppliers in the UK today. Bioethanol is also becoming increasingly present in the UK’s super-unleaded (premium/higher octane) petrol too; this is because, in compliance with the UK government’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, fuel suppliers have been required to increase the quantity of bio fuels in their transport fuels since 2008. As a consequence, the inclusion of bioethanol in our BP Ultimate Unleaded supply chain is an evolving situation and we are therefore unable to give you categorical assurances as to its absence or presence. However we can assure you that – as required by the The Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 – the content of bioethanol in our BP Ultimate Unleaded petrol may contain up to 5% ethanol and diesel fuels up to 7% biodiesel. Currently there are no plans to increase the ethanol content.

All BP fuels, Regular and BP Ultimate, contain special ingredients which have cleaning and protection properties for the engine. BP Ultimate has been rigorously tested on a wide range of vehicles, covering hundreds of thousands of miles, in various conditions. Its advanced formula offers a wide range of benefits compared to ordinary fuels, including better fuel efficiency and enhanced performance, , all of which give long term benefit and value to the consumer and their vehicle.

BP does not supply 100% bioethanol as a retail fuel in the UK."

[haasad]

Agree, the Healey was re needled by Pete Lander at Sigma. My 911 was plumbed with a fuel return via a bleed valve to help prevent vapourisation in the webers. As you say it'd be a good mod for other cars too.

[911hillclimber]

I used to run my 911/3.2T on any old green stuff until the last year when it ran differently in a worsening way, just not as it used to be.
Now run it on V power as I do the Boxster and the Lola race car.
Day and night improvement in the 911, other two have always been on V Power.
Once ran the Boxster on she'll unleaded and that was not good...

[RichardBTek]

I did see a YouTube demo for removing it once. Not ideal in the large quantities most of us would need to fill up with though.

[Kenyon]

The demos on how to take the ethanol out got me thinking. And the reason I thought it might be easier to email the petrol firms and just ask.

So the one's I saw the guy (usually somewhere in the Mid West of US) added water in proportion to the ethanol content to a drum of fuel (which had a tap at the bottom). Left it to allow the ethanol and water attract and separate from the fuel. Then drain off the ethanol / water.

I wondered if you might end up with water in the fuel and decided to leave it!