ACU going green!
By TMX Archives on 1st Dec 06
THE ACU is leading the way in the UK motorsports world by encouraging the use of greener fuels.
In a project which, we're told, has been in development for the past two years, the ACU is planning to ‘unilaterally'modify its existing fuel specifications for the 2007 season to include the use of E85 Bioethanol – effectively a blend of 85 per cent bioethanol and 15 per cent of petrol and oils.
Bioethanol is essentially a member of the alcohol family and is a renewable energy source which can be produced by the biological fermentation of carbohydrates derived from plant material – sugar, starch and cellulose. Wheat and sugar beet generate the largest yields though it is also possible to produce bioethanol from wood and sawdust.
In order to escape the government's alcohol duty, bioethanol must be mixed with other products to make it unpalatable, so to use it as a fuel, it is mixed with petrol – to aid starting and cold-running – and also some lubricants.
Alcohols burn dry, so lubricants are necessary in the mix to avoid engine wear.
There are a number of benefits, in addition to the fact that it is a renewable resource and lessens our dependence of hydrocarbon fuels – petrol.
Bioethanol powered engines run cooler, and as a result produces less NOx – oxides of nitrogen – considered as pollutants.
Exhaust emissions are largely non-toxic and bio-degradable, and there is a significant contribution to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
A number of the car companies – namely Ford, Volvo and Saab – have recently launched models, described as ‘Flexible Fuel Vehicles', designed to be able to use a number of fuels, including E85 Bioethanol.
There's only a couple of slight flies in the ointment. One is that E85 fuel has an octane rating of 108, compared to the current ACU/ FIM limit of 102 octane for unleaded fuel. As such, the ACU Fuel Regulations will have to be rewritten. The second is an issue of availability – or, more accurately, a lack of it! According to the most recent figures from the UK Petrol Industry Association, of the 9,764 petrol stations across the UK, E85 fuel is only available at 234 sites – so E85 is not really what could be described as generally available in this country.
However, that could be down to the ‘chicken and egg' scenario. Fuel companies are not likely to invest on the installation of E85 pumps unless there is a demand for the product, and therefore a return on that investment.
Following enquiries of the ACU, the most exciting aspect of E85 fuel was tagged at the bottom of a response from Dave Luscombe, the ACU's Business Development Manager. He claims that the introduction of E85 fuel will signal a reprieve for two-stroke engines. It is claimed a switch to E85 Bioethanol would help most two-stroke engines to meet the more stringent Euro 3 emission standards which are due to come into force over the next couple of years.
Dave writes: "Extending this new technology into two-strokes will remove all of the environmental issues that have seen ‘strokers' banned or discouraged in recent years. Bio-fuel with bio-degradable oils, no harmful emissions, no environmental damage and none of the four-stroke noise issues. Sounds too good to be true.”