NEW JERSEY motorists are embroiled in a fight about the gasoline in their tanks. Environmental, medical, and health officials are still investigating the impact of oxygenated gasoline, which was introduced in the state last year, on a small group of motorists who have complained of health issues as a result of it.
On Nov. 1, service stations in the state’s eight southern counties began pumping the cleaner-burning gasoline intended to cut carbon monoxide emissions and help the state comply with the 1990 Federal Clean Air Act.
Oxygenated gasoline comprises a natural gas or grain alcohol additive that raises the oxygen concentration of the fuel, resulting in more complete combustion in the engine and lower carbon monoxide emissions.
Some motorists complained of nausea, dizziness, headaches, and burning throats and nasal passages when oxygenated gas was marketed last year, from October to April in northern counties and November to March in southern areas. Others said that the addition decreased their car’s fuel economy and caused poor engine performance, as well as increased the price of gasoline by 6 or 7 cents per gallon.
What is the difference between gasoline that has been oxygenated and gasoline that has not been oxygenated?
The main difference between oxygenated and non-oxygenated gasoline is that when oxygenated gasoline is ignited, it creates less carbon monoxide and soot, whereas non-oxygenated gasoline produces more carbon monoxide and soot during combustion.
We utilize gasoline in our vehicles on a daily basis. Gasoline is available in two types: oxygenated and non-oxygenated. The oxygenated version has numerous advantages over the non-oxygenated form.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Distinctions
2. What is the Difference Between Oxygenated Gasoline and Regular Gasoline?
Non-oxygenated gasoline is a type of gasoline that has been depleted of oxygen.
4. Comparison of Oxygenated and Non-Oxygenated Gasoline in Tabular Form
5. Conclusion
Is it true that oxygenated gasoline is better?
Oxygenated fuels burn cleaner and emit less emissions than ordinary gasoline. The highest combustion efficiency is seen in alcohol and ether. The octane number and oxygen content of alcohol and ethers are higher than that of gasoline.
What does “oxygenated gasoline” mean?
Oxygenates are oxygen-containing fuel additives, commonly in the form of alcohol or ether. Oxygenates can help to improve fuel combustion and hence minimize emissions. Some oxygenates also increase the octane rating of gasoline. In regions where carbon monoxide levels exceed federal air quality limits during the winter, the Clean Air Act requires the use of oxygenated gasoline. Carbon monoxide emissions from gasoline-fueled automobiles tend to rise in cold weather without oxygenated gasoline. The states conduct winter oxygenated gasoline programs.
What type of fuel is referred to as oxygenated fuel?
From 1992 until 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States had the ability to require that minimum quantities of oxygenates be added to vehicle gasoline on a regional and seasonal basis in an effort to minimize air pollution, particularly ground-level ozone and smog.
Furthermore, in 2006 and 2007, North American automakers promoted E85, a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, as well as their flex-fuel vehicles, such as GM’s Live Green, Go Yellow campaign.
Vehicles capable of running on 85 percent alcohol blends receive an artificial 54 percent fuel efficiency boost over vehicles not equipped to run on 85 percent alcohol blends under US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements.
Alcohols have a cleaner combustion by nature, but due to their lower energy density, they cannot provide as much energy per gallon as gasoline.
Much of the gasoline marketed in the United States contains up to 10% oxygenating agent.
This is referred to as oxygenated fuel, and it is also referred to be reformulated gasoline (though this is not totally accurate, as there are reformulated gasolines that do not contain oxygenate).
Prior to the government mandating the use of ethanol, the most prevalent fuel additive in the United States was methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE).
Is premium gas oxygenated or non-oxygenated?
Q I’d want to ask you a question concerning fuels. I’m aware of the distinction between premium gas including ethanol and premium gas containing no ethanol. This is also known as “racing fuel,” according to my sources. I’ve been using non-ethanol premium fuel in my small engines, such as snow blowers, trimmers, lawn mowers, and leaf blowers, since it became more widely accessible in recent years.
Because of the high octane and greater burn temperatures, I recently read that premium non-ethanol gas can damage or decrease the life of small engines. Is this correct? Because it is alcohol-free, I believed it would be a superior fuel. My automobile, as well as my motorcycle, run better on it. What type of gasoline is best for small engines?
A It’s a compromise. The main advantage of premium non-oxygenated gasoline in any engine that isn’t used on a regular basis is the reduced risk of moisture contamination, which causes phase separation and corrosion. The drawback is that the higher octane rating isn’t required in most compact engines. Longer hydrocarbon molecules are used to “build” higher-octane fuels, which burn more slowly. The slower burn rate of low-compression engines, which are typical of most tiny engines, might result in greater carbon deposits from unburned fuel.
But, as I have stated, it is a trade-off. As a trade-off for reducing the risk of moisture and/or phase separation with oxygenated fuels that sit in the tank for any length of time, I’m willing to de-carbonize my small engines on a regular basis.
Adding SeaFoam to the fuel can help prevent these issues, but non-oxygenated fuels, in my opinion, are a preferable choice for any engine that is used seasonally or intermittently.
Is premium 92-octane non-oxy gasoline considered “racing fuel”? Not at all. Racing fuel has an octane rating of 100 or higher and can only be dispensed into approved fuel containers, not straight into the fuel tank of a licensed vehicle. This fuel is intended for use in motorsports events, as its name suggests.
Q My Ford F-150 4×4 is a 1997 model with 150,000 miles on the 4.6-liter engine. The engine has had a knock that sounds like diesel since I’ve had it. Many others have told me about it, and I’ve heard injectors, lifters, and pistons slap before. But I know it’s not one of these issues; piston slap disappears with heat, and the higher the temperature, the more visible the knock.
Before my oil change, I added SeaFoam and ran it through the engine for 500 miles, as well as adding fuel conditioner and injector cleaner to a couple of tanks of petrol none of which worked. Before I got the truck, someone else had removed the valve cover on the passenger side, but they couldn’t fix it.
I read on various Internet sites that a few people had the same issue, but that the noise was described as a tick and that it went away when they changed the PCV valve. Please assist me before this becomes a more serious issue.
A Begin by attempting to pinpoint the exact source of the knock. You can identify the noise using a professional automotive stethoscope or a DIY one (a long wooden dowel or screwdriver). Touch the tip of the “tool” to your ear, then run it along the top of the valve cover, the side of the cylinder head, and the side of the block. You’ll hear the knock under the valve cover if it’s coming from the valve train. You might be able to pinpoint the specific valve or rocker arm that’s causing the noise by working your stethoscope from front to back on the valve cover.
It could be a combustion knock (ping or detonation) or a carbon buildup creating combustion chamber deposit interference between the top of the piston and the combustion chamber if the knock is most noticeable from the side of the cylinder head. As the engine heats up, such noise usually vanishes.
If the knock comes from the block’s side, it could be a wrist-pin knock from the connecting rod’s top. If the sound is lighter, it could be piston slap caused by a small amount of extra clearance on the piston skirt. As the engine heats up, piston slap may or may not disappear. By disabling that cylinder while the engine is running, you can sometimes confirm piston slap or wrist-pin knock. The loudness may fade if there is no combustion force on the top of the piston.
My Alldata automotive database found service bulletin 00-26-1 from December 2000, which recommends looking for a “dislodged” roller finger follower that keeps the pushrod in touch with the rocker arm in the valve train. Maybe that’s what the prior owner was looking for when he removed the valve cover.
Is it safe to drive my car on non-oxygenated gas?
Q: Your post on diesel fuel in gasoline engines piqued my interest. I buy ethanol-free gasoline in the summer at our lake house. It’s in my boats, lawn tractors, mowers, trimmers, and other small engines. It’s been suggested to me that it’s a better fuel for these uses. I always have a few gallons left at the end of the summer. Instead of storing it for the winter, I put it in my 2011 Honda CRV. Am I causing any harm? Can you comment on whether non-ethanol gas is suitable for these purposes?
No, you are not causing any damage to your Honda or any other gasoline-powered car by using non-oxygenated gasoline. In reality, I believe that today’s gasoline engines would prefer non-oxy fuel because it has a lower risk of moisture buildup and/or corrosion and provides far higher fuel mileage.
I believe it is critical to recognize that gasoline engines were built to run on…wait for it…gasoline! Carmakers have been able to design engines that can run on and tolerate ethanol-blended gasoline because to advances in technology.
It is also my view that the usage of ethanol as an octane enhancer in gasoline came about as a result of the early 1980s ban on tetra-ethyl lead. Tetra-ethyl lead was a low-cost octane booster that also served as a “heat sink” or lubricant for better combustion heat transmission from the exhaust valve to the valve seat and cylinder head. Unfortunately, it was discovered after decades of use that tetra-ethyl lead is also a hazardous substance that harms the environment.
Although there is no danger in utilizing oxygenated fuels in current engines, they are unsuitable for seasonal equipment and small engines. Because of the risk of phase separation (water and gas) and corrosion, oxy-fuels do not like to sit for long periods of time.
Q: My daughter owns a 2002 Ford Taurus with a 3.0-liter engine that has only 59,000 miles on it and is in excellent shape. The automobile is stalling, and she is having trouble with it. The car stalled after being in the shop for the heater core to be cleansed, coolant to be changed, and hoses to be replaced. It began stalling when she was braking, but has since evolved to stopping occasionally when she is stopped at a stoplight. The automobile always starts right up again. The Ford dealer claimed there were no codes and that the fuel pressure was normal, ruling out a problem with the fuel pump or filter. Do you have any suggestions?
A: I realize this may seem self-evident, but a leaking or malfunctioning brake booster vacuum hose, check valve, or booster would result in this exact circumstance. It would cause a considerable vacuum leak whenever the brakes were applied, whether driving or stopping, and might cause a stall.
Q: In terms of Chrysler minivans burning oil, the biggest oil guzzler I ever owned was my 1977 Mazda Cosmo, whose rotary engine used a quart of oil every 15 miles. That automobile, on the other hand, was a blast to drive.
The apex seals on the three-lobe rotor were the problem with early rotary engines and their epitrochoid-shaped combustion chamber. These seals were designed to seal the tips of the rotor to the combustion chamber wall while the rotor spins inside the eccentric-shaped combustion chamber. As the apex seals wore down, the sealing action decreased, and more oil was left in the combustion chamber, which was then burned. Due to a lack of appropriate compression, the initial symptom of worn apex seals was extended crank times when cold.
The Wankel rotary engine is a brilliant piece of engineering, with its light weight, few moving parts, great power output, and long service life thanks to modern materials and engineering.
Is the gas in the pump oxygenated?
Many of today’s gasolines are oxygenated, which means alcohol has been added. “May contain up to ten percent ethanol,” it says right on the pump.
What is the purpose of the alcoholethanol in the first place? That is an excellent question.
Oxygenated gasoline has a number of advantages, including lowering air pollution and reducing dependency on nonrenewable resources. It’s also capable of producing more horsepower. ” According to Zachary Santner, technical specialist at Sunoco Race Fuels, gasoline with 10% ethanol contains around 3.7 percent oxygen. “The extra oxygen will boost your engine’s efficiency, resulting in more horsepower.” However, the engine will require higher fuel volume, resulting in a decrease in mpg.
Will a carbureted engine, on the other hand, automatically change to take advantage of the higher efficiency? Probably not, although the Sunoco Race Fuels website has some useful information on the topic:
Is it true that oxygenated gas burns faster?
It’s straightforward to develop horsepower within an engine by introducing as much oxygen and fuel as possible into the cylinder bore. Now, this may be a rudimentary explanation, but the oxygen portion of the equation is a huge part of it. You can bring more oxygen into the engine using oxygenated fuels, which help increase horsepower during the combustion process, in addition to a larger induction system.
Oxygenated fuels were developed in response to the requirement for a fuel that would aid in the reduction of emissions in areas of the country where pollution was a problem. The addition of more oxygen to the mixture, known as reformulated fuels, causes the air-fuel ratio to lean out, assisting in the more efficient combustion of all the fuel. Racing fuel firms, like many other businesses, saw these fuels as a method to increase horsepower and performance on the track.
In a racing situation, oxygenated fuels allow more oxygen and fuel to be fed to the engine, resulting in greater heat energy being produced inside the cylinder. The oxygenated fuels, like the reformulated fuel format, have a significantly faster and more efficient burn rate. The extra gasoline that an oxygenated blend may bring in helps the engine produce more power, but it also means that more fuel must be provided to the engine to avoid damage.
Although oxygenated fuels aid in the production of higher horsepower generally, this is rarely visible at the power curve’s top. These fuels provide power in the low to mid-range of the power curve, increasing the amount of torque produced by an engine. When your engine builder designs an engine to run on oxygenated fuels, this power generation must be considered.
Engines using power adders, according to Ron Finney of Renegade Race Fuels, can benefit from oxygenated gasoline as well.
“While oxygenated fuels are often not required in these applications because the power adder is capable of delivering much more air to the engine, they can still be beneficial in the combustion process.” Making maximum power, as we all know, is the outcome of burning as much fuel as possible in a given amount of time. This is when oxygenated fuels come in handy. They combust more efficiently than non-oxygenated fuels because they contain more oxygen, resulting in more fuel being burned in the cylinder and more power to the wheels.
Visit the Renegade Race Fuels website to discover more about oxygenated fuels and which ones are best for your needs.
What is the difference between oxygenated gasoline and reformulated gasoline?
Oxygenated fuel is regular gasoline that has been mixed with an oxygenate to obtain a specific oxygen content by weight.
RFG is a gasoline formulation that contains fewer chemical components that contribute to the development of ozone and air pollutants. During the summer, it does not evaporate as quickly as regular gasoline. It could contain oxygenates, which improve the efficiency of gasoline combustion and lower carbon monoxide emissions.
