100 Octane 5% Ethanol

Shell in Australia now offer four types of unleaded fuel, Regular 91 RON ,Premium 95 RON ,Optimax 98 RON and now Extreme 100 RON with 5 % Ethanol (E5) . Renault say all petrol engine vehicles since 2001 will operate satisfactorily on E10 but Renault does not recommend its use. Do you in the UK have Ethanol blended fuels over there ?
Regular 110 cents per litre
Premium 115 cents per litre
Optimax 120 cents per litre
Extreme123 cents per litre
Do you think the E5 blend is ok for our engines. Adding Ethanol has several advantages it is clean burning, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and is cheeply produced from sugar cane , but car companies warn that overuse of Ethanol can cause earlier deteriation of some engine components ,mainly fuel system particularly if there was water in the fuel.

What would you use if you had this choice ?

Have you looked into part toluene mix with normal pump gas? Far cheaper, and you can do it yourself.

Even small percentage mixes can reap up to 110octane (and further). It causes no ill effects to the engine (normal fuel contains a certain percentage of toluene)

The F1 turbo Renaults ran 80% toluene and 20 percent 'filler' (simply because they were not allowed to run 100 toluene so they had to make the extra percentage up as a 'filler' substance!

Do a search on the net..

as Dave says above if you use 80% toluene you are only running around 100 -110 RON depending on the chemical makeup of the "filler"

Toluene is a pure hydrocarbon (C7H8). i.e. it contains only hydrogen and carbon atoms. It belongs to a particular category of hydrocarbons called aromatic hydrocarbons. Complete combustion of toluene yields CO2 and H2O. This fact ensures that the entire emission control system such as the catalyst and oxygen sensor of your car is unaffected. There are no metallic compounds (lead, magnesium etc), no nitro compounds and no oxygen atoms in toluene. It is made up of exactly the same ingredients as ordinary gasoline.

Toluene is denser than ordinary gasoline (0.87 g/mL vs. 0.72-0.74) and contains more energy per unit volume. Thus combustion of toluene leads to more energy being liberated and thus more power generated. This is in contrast to oxygenated octane boosters like ethanol or MTBE which contain less energy per unit volume compared to gasoline. The higher heating value of toluene also means that the exhaust gases contain more kinetic energy, which in turn means that there is more energy to drive turbocharger vanes. In practical terms this is experienced as a faster onset of turbo boost.

Toluene has a RON octane rating of 121 so if you mix it with regular fuel you can only go so far, you can buy racing fuel of around 118 to 120 RON but it aint cheap we bought some for the drag car and experimented with different mixes for the track car and worked out a decent mix of 109 RON if you mix half and half with 98 RON.

I've tried to source toluene but that's more expensive per 25 ltr drum than race fuel, unless some one has a contact in Hydrocarbon chemicals and can source it cheaply

[stephendell]

The highest RON we have at the UK pumps is Greenergy 99RON which is sold at Tesco.

Greenergy supplies the new 99 Octane Super Unleaded petrol now on sale at selected Tesco forecourts. This performance fuel has the highest octane rating (RON) of any petrol currently on sale at UK forecourt chains and contains an enhanced additive package to help remove engine deposits and ensure smooth engine running.

The fuel contains a specially formulated mix of high quality petrol components, carefully blended to achieve 99 Octane. These typically include 5% bioethanol, a renewable but also high-octane product.

Here's the full breakdown of the mix: http://www.greenergy.com/products/techn ... octane.pdf

Here's where to buy it:
http://www.greenergy.com/products/99_oc ... tions.html

the stuff they used in the F1 cars was 84% toluene and 16% heptane which has a Ron Rating of Zero, thus giving a total RON rating of 102 for the mix.

Here's where to buy it:
http://www.greenergy.com/products/99_oc ... tions.html

So Northampton would be closest for me I think

[Alpineandy]

Toluene

IIRC, aka rocket fuel.

[mettersl]

Gents,
Have I missed something here?

On a standard engine is there any benefit of using this fuel or does it only benefit you if you are running higher boost (as a way of preventing knock and therefore the ECU retarding the ignition)?

The owners manual on my 610 says the car does NOT benefit from more than 95 RON. When I found this, I went back to normal fuel (95). I noticed no difference in performance.

I'd rather spend my money on improving (err more honestly fixing) it than fuelling it!

Lee

I think you'll find running higher octane than 95 (say Optimax at 98) will be beneficial. In fact Fifth Gear ran a test and showed that on high performance engines 98 allowed significantly more power without alteration.
Octane boosters can work....I have used Tetra boost (£20 a can) which takes Optimax up to 101....I got it from a guy who runs a historic F! car and regularly wins so he must have some idea.

Gents,
Have I missed something here?

On a standard engine is there any benefit of using this fuel or does it only benefit you if you are running higher boost (as a way of preventing knock and therefore the ECU retarding the ignition)?

The owners manual on my 610 says the car does NOT benefit from more than 95 RON. When I found this, I went back to normal fuel (95). I noticed no difference in performance.

I'd rather spend my money on improving (err more honestly fixing) it than fuelling it!

Lee

You are right. The A610 for instance is lower compression and is mapped, even in the worst conditions, so as not to pink on 95 octane.

If you wound the boost up it would be a different matter, or run more ignition advance...

tried Tescos 99 ron...... in my Merc 230 petrol. yep seems ok, engine ran smoother and seemed a bit more responsive when i booted it up the A14....