Route 66
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The Environmental Protection Agency will announce later today that it has approved the use of a 50 percent higher concentration of corn-based ethanol in gasoline for vehicles made after model year 2000.
Although corn farmers who benefit from increased demand and government subsidies related to ethanol production may have little to complain about, every major automaker, as well as many environmentalists, cattle ranchers, food companies, various other groups and many consumers have voiced strong concern about the pushing of corn use in fuel, as pointed out by the AP.
What harm can a little corn do?
The damage to engines, as pointed out by automakers and other groups, is that the caustic effects of ethanol can cause aspects of the engine, particularly rubber, to deteriorate and fail. Other critics point out that owners of pre-2001 vehicles will be burdened with having to find stations that carry the lower mixture of ethanol or risk damage to their vehicles.
Another issue is that ethanol burns hotter in vehicles than gasoline, which increases exhaust gas temperature, and thus wears out catalytic converters more quickly. The net result can be malfunctioning catalytic converters, which creates the opposite effect of what was intended by using ethanol in the first place – higher emissions.
If and when owners identify that the ethanol has ruined their catalytic converters, they are then stuck with large repair bills as the converters use expensive metals that create high replacement costs.
Although corn farmers who benefit from increased demand and government subsidies related to ethanol production may have little to complain about, every major automaker, as well as many environmentalists, cattle ranchers, food companies, various other groups and many consumers have voiced strong concern about the pushing of corn use in fuel, as pointed out by the AP.
What harm can a little corn do?
The damage to engines, as pointed out by automakers and other groups, is that the caustic effects of ethanol can cause aspects of the engine, particularly rubber, to deteriorate and fail. Other critics point out that owners of pre-2001 vehicles will be burdened with having to find stations that carry the lower mixture of ethanol or risk damage to their vehicles.
Another issue is that ethanol burns hotter in vehicles than gasoline, which increases exhaust gas temperature, and thus wears out catalytic converters more quickly. The net result can be malfunctioning catalytic converters, which creates the opposite effect of what was intended by using ethanol in the first place – higher emissions.
If and when owners identify that the ethanol has ruined their catalytic converters, they are then stuck with large repair bills as the converters use expensive metals that create high replacement costs.
