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Show GasoGioB Limitations ;ifor granted as an A even inexhaus-rA inexhaus-rA energy is to-priority to-priority in the rionomy and in the :!y lives of its ! ilSES and effects of I -:j energy shortfall ell documented, j rosed solutions j . .current efforts to i ar energy shortage riily directed at re-; re-; dependence upon i whatever its ulti-sl ulti-sl form takes. lextender is known .a fuel mixture for itation engines :Wc unleaded gaso-Wi gaso-Wi ethyl alcohol .'production of alco-: alco-: stilled spirits, the for ethanol in this (generally corn, itr grains and cer-&)' cer-&)' also be utilized. I, short on fossil developed a major (producing ethanol -cane as feedstock. tsi to Brazil, in the -'ol-for-gasohol is re- on the scene and production. 1 itself is avail-J avail-J about 3 of the "5,000 service sta- ihegasohol outlets lidwest where con-'as con-'as established by itn vehicles. F0R gasohol to-tput to-tput of some 60 - of ethanol year-: year-: Nation of up to :': gallons by mid- 'e projected 1985 'iasohol goal, us-feedstock, us-feedstock, it will -! twice the cur-:'or-food produc tion. Even this will attain only a near-token 10 reduction in the consumption of gasoline. IN ADDITION to the tenfold increase in corn, a factor must be included to provide the energy for conversion of the corn into alcohol. As to the conversion process pro-cess itself, the technology is well known, but the cost of production in terms of energy is about equal to the energy value of the end product, thus resulting in a zero gain in this respect. IN FINANCIAL terms, the combined cost of production of ethanol and unleaded gasoline gaso-line on a 10-90 basis will exceed ex-ceed the cost of the gasoline by itself. " It should be noted, howev- " er, that what is in effect a production pro-duction subsidy comes from many states and the federal government in the form of various va-rious tax exemptions. TO THE motorist at the gasohol pump this means paying only a few cents more per gallon over the price of straight unleaded. As to energy value, gasohol has about 3 less BTU content con-tent per gallon than does gasoline gaso-line alone. ESSENTIALLY, this would mean that gasohol will not reduce re-duce gasoline requirements' by the desired 10. This is based on present-day automobile engine en-gine combustion and carburetor carbure-tor systems not generally designed de-signed to fully accommodate gasohol. So, even though gasohol is considered to be of higher octane content, performance may not be up to expectations. ' Future engine design will undoubtedly un-doubtedly compensate for present pre-sent gasohol shortcomings. SIMILAR qualifications govern engine exhaust emissions emis-sions with the use of gasohol, depending on the type of engine, en-gine, carburetion, and calibration. calibra-tion. However, there is no que-sion que-sion but that gasohol has a place in the national energy profile. Although, of course, it does have some limitations and problems of cost, it is in fact further developed than are synthetic fuels, for example, from shale or tar sands. THESE PROCESSES are at this time still in the wings, but will undoubtedly make a valuable valu-able and economical contribution contribu-tion to our energy resources. In the interim, gasohol should naturally be pressed forward to the fullest practical degree. |
