Fanman

Corn ethanol is a terrible idea, but moreso because of it's low energy output. Sugar cane, switchgrass, algae are up to 7X more effective in energy output & are quite a bit more viable alternatives. But because the corn lobbying group pays the US congress you are not likely to see it anytime soon. What sucks is that Brazil has been doing cane ethanol for 20 years. We could easily license their technology & we would not have to even spend the start up R&D costs associated with "new" technology.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

That will never happen.

They're burning food as fuel. GG to this country.

yeah u can say Sugar Cane as food too, but I dont think most ppl on earth will eat Sugar Cane everyday, even tho its tasty.

bsteimel

iTrader: (5)

Octane rating is not related to power. Octane rating is the resistance of that fuel to detonation. Hyrdogen and ehtanol have high octane ratings but contain less power producing materials then gasoline.

Methanol injection adds more power but not directly though the burning of the methanol. Most injections systems are water and methanol mixture. The water cools the intake mixture allowing for more compression of air and oxygen molecules. The cooling also effects internal components allowing for higher rpms and the turbos and such. The methanol burns, yes, but the benefit comes from upping the octane rating of the mixture so therefore you can compress the gasoline more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_(engines)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

zoom44

fixed for clarity