Luke Cruff, an engineer with Ricardo (www.ricardo.com), spoke yesterday at the ACE Ethanol Conference on his "Ethanol-Boosted Direct Injection" (EBDI) project that aims to make E85 have closer to the same efficiency as gasoline. "Ethanol has very good performance potential," Cruff said, saying there are some "very positive properties we can use."
He noted that E85 keeps the engine cooler on the intake, and helps keep knock under control. On the expansion, E85 keeps temperatures lower as well. Gasoline is significantly hotter. These are the primary reasons you get better thermal efficiency with ethanol.
E85 has 33% lower heating value than gasoline, but in an EBDI engine, they've achieved performance of only 22% lower heating value. Cruff said that a properly executed EBDI engine can make more low-end torque than diesel.
He said that everyone is looking at how to get more performance from an engine, and that this new technolgoy "opens up a whole new area of discussion."
Flexible fuel vehicles are not designed for ethanol and they don't run very well on it, Cruff said. "More mileage is possible," he concluded.
Join an online discussion on this topic at the Ethanol Collective social network: www.ethanolcollective.com. Look for the "I Use Ethanol" discussion forum.