What is Bio Ethanol E85?
Bio-ethanol E85 is a fuel which is a mixture of 85% ethanol (an alcohol) and 15% petrol / gasoline. The bio-ethanol can be made from bio-mass plant crops such as cereals, sugar beet, sugar cane and wood. As these plant crops grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which then partly offsets the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced during the burning of the bio-ethanol fuel in the car’s engine. Different bio-fuels were considered for this research project, bio-methanol, bio-ethanol and biobutanol. E85 bio-ethanol was the finally chosen as the fuel as its characteristics allowed the engineering project team to enhance the engine performance. The fact that this vehicle uses a pressure charged engine provided even more opportunity to exploit the performance characteristics of a high-octane fuel. Ethanol has a high octane rating, which allows an optimum timing for engine ignition and has a fast flame speed in the cylinder, so the fuel burns faster, increasing the efficiency
