Almost six years ago, when I was re-hired to write for Ethanol Producer Magazine, somewhere along the line, I got the vague idea that the fuel mileage loss thing wasn&rsquo;t the fault of ethanol, but something that could be improved on if vehicle engines were optimized to fully harness the octane of ethanol.
In the last nearly half a decade, I didn&rsquo;t hear a whole lot about this concept. Maybe I wasn&rsquo;t listening in the right places, but it seems to me that this topic wasn&rsquo;t really talked about much until little bit more recently, with the work to roll out E15 becoming a reality.
Some of you may already know about this, but in case not, I want to point to work that work began in late fiscal year 2013 on this topic, which is ongoing thanks to the U.S. DOE&rsquo;s Bioenergy Technologies Office. The DOE-sponsored scoping study examines the potential of high octane fuel, in other words mid-level ethanol blends, to look into the potential to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. &ldquo;The goal is to provide information about the benefits of bringing this new fuel to the market, barriers to its adoption, and strategies for introducing it,&rdquo; according to information published by the DOE about <a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/hof" target="_blank">the High Octane Fuel Study.</a>
The study is being competed by experts at the Argonne National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, building on other work funded by the DOE at these national labs. According to a source at ORNL, although most of the work has already been published, additional reports will come out within the next year.
As part of the High Octane Fuel Study (HOF), researchers are looking at gasoline blended with between 25 to 40 percent ethanol. See the webpage, which I linked to above, for more information. However, I wanted to highlight a couple things under the &ldquo;pertinent findings and outcomes&rdquo; heading. &nbsp;
1. &nbsp;&ldquo;Most legacy FFVs offer a performance benefit (i.e., improved acceleration) using HOF with no engine modifications required.&rdquo;
2. &nbsp;&ldquo;E25 and E40 would achieve volumetric fuel economy parity with today&rsquo;s E10 with a 5 and 10% improvement in vehicle efficiency, respectively (i.e., fuel economy would be the same using HOF as today&rsquo;s vehicle using E10, and so every gallon of ethanol used in HOF would displace a full gallon of gasoline.)&rdquo;
3. &nbsp;&ldquo;Fuel efficiency gains of up to 10% over E10 were demonstrated in vehicles with turbocharged, direct-injected engines. Operating engines in more efficient but more knock-prone conditions&mdash;through downspeeding, downsizing, and increasing the compression ratio&mdash;improves efficiency with HOF. The exact fuel economy benefit will vary depending on ultimate engine/vehicle design and driving conditions.&rdquo;
The website also provided links to articles, reports and presentations given on this topic. I&rsquo;m specifically providing links to the ones published in 2015.
"<a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/system/files/Compatibility%20Assessment%20of%20Plastic%20Infrastructure%20Materials%20with%20Test%20Fuels%20Representing%20E10%20and%20iBu%2016_Kass.pdf" target="_blank">Compatibility Assessment of Plastic Infrastructure Materials with Test Fuels Representing E10 and iBu16</a>"
"<a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/system/files/1/High%20Octane%20Ethanol%20Blends%20for%20Improved%20Vehicle%20Efficiency%20_West.pdf" target="_blank">High Octane Ethanol Blends for Improved Vehicle Efficiency</a>," presented to Hudson Institute
"<a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/system/files/1/Higher%20Ethanol%20Blends%20for%20Improved%20Efficiency_West.pdf" target="_blank">Higher Ethanol Blends for Improved Efficiency</a>," presented to the National Ethanol Conference.&nbsp;I happened to be there for this presentation and it was very good.
"<a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/system/files/1/Increasing%20Biofuel%20Deployment%20through%20Renewable%20Super%20Premium_Theiss_McCormick_Han.pdf" target="_blank">Increasing Biofuel Deployment through Renewable Super Premium</a>"
"<a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/system/files/1/Stolark_FactSheet_High_Octane_Fuels_061115.pdf" target="_blank">High Octane Fuels: Challenges &amp; Opportunities</a>"
"<a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/system/files/1/Thomas_Effects%20of%20High-Octane%20Ethanol%20Blends%20on%20Four%20Legacy%20Flex-Fuel%20Vehicles%20and%20a%20Turbocharged%20GDI%20Vehicle.pdf" target="_blank">Effects of High-Octane Ethanol Blends on Four Legacy Flex-Fuel Vehicles, and a Turbocharged GDI Vehicle</a>"
To continue the list of what was published in 2015, I dug into the two with the most recent published dates. "<a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/system/files/1/C%20Johnson_NREL_High-Mid%20Level%20Ethanol%20Blend%20Mark%20Assessment.pdf" target="_blank">High-Octane Mid-Level Ethanol Blend Market Assessment</a>" is a 107 page report published in September.&nbsp;The conclusions section starts on page 73. Briefly, the report concluded that while potential benefits are substantial, so are the barriers to create a market for high octane fuel. The report also concluded that the adoption scenario will differ depending on whether the high octane fuel is E25 or E40. &ldquo;Using E40 instead of E25 has the advantage of requiring fewer vehicles to displace the same amount of petroleum but also has the disadvantage of much higher infrastructure investment costs.&rdquo;
Another presentation given Aug. 18 is called an "<a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/system/files/1/Overview%20of%20High%20Octane%20Fuel%20Engine%20and%20Vehicle%20Efforts_West.pdf" target="_blank">Overview of High Octane Fuel Engine Vehicle Efforts.</a>"&nbsp;It was compiled by Brian West of ORNL and Mike Viloa of General Motors and summarized several engine-based and vehicle-based projects. Although several of the projects were still under way, those that are complete show some very interesting results.
Here are a few of the high points from that presentation. One study of high octane blends found that three out of four legacy FFVs show acceleration and improvement with E30. The study also found that if half the FFVs on the road today filled up with E30 only half the time, those vehicles would consume half a billion gallons more ethanol. Another study, looking at a 1.0 liter, three-cylinder turbo GDI engine in an E15-compatable Ford EcoBoost Fiesta concluded that if regular 87 octane gas with no ethanol is blended with 15 percent ethanol, the ethanol boosted octane as well as improved engine performance and efficiency. &nbsp;
Again, a full list of articles, reports and presentations is <a href="https://bioenergykdf.net/hof" target="_blank">available at the website</a>.&nbsp;You can also read more about the project details and pertinent findings. I&rsquo;m interested to hear more, once the full project is completed in 2016.

OK, so I admit I exaggerated just a wee bit in my headline. But it's not an exaggeration to say that, one, I find it very interesting and, two, if you haven't checked out what's been happening with the high octane fuel study, you really should.

Blog: High octane study results blew me away

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