Ethanol and conversion
Allmänt - Frågor om etanol i allmänhet
E85 är en blandning av 85 % etanol och 15 % bensin.
Vintertid har bensinbolagen valt en 70-75% halt av etanol (d.v.s. en högre bensininblandning) i "E85" för att bla. underlätta kallstarter. Perioden detta bränsle finns i pumparna är ung från 1 nov- 1 april men varierar i olika delar av landet.
Därför har vinterblandningen ett högre literpris.
E85 finns på flesta större mackar och utbyggnad sker kontinuerligt.
Har du allmäna frågor om etanol och dess produktion mm hänvisar vi till följande site där du finner mycket av svaren.
http://www.baff.info
Etanol har kritiserats på många punkter där mycket bygger på antagande och tänkta problem. Det finns mycket artiklar som bemöter denna mestadels felaktiga kritik.
http://www.automotorsport.se/nyhetsmall.asp?version=90101
http://www.automotorsport.se/nyhetsmall.asp?version=89876
Förutom nämnda länkar ovan finns mycket bra artiklar i bla. AutoMotor & Sport. Bla. i Nummer 15 /17 Juli 2008/ där mycket om etanolproduktionen utreds och mer fakta på bl.a. www.baff.info
[ direct link ]
Exhaust emissions - From E85 vehicles
An ethanol vehicle with a certified conversion kit must comply with the same requirement as for petrol. And the requirements during a certification test are the same, regardless of the age of the vehicle.
A certified kit is tested on petrol as well as E85 – newer vehicles from the manufacturers are tested only on petrol and are still allowed for use with for example E85.
Ethanol fuel has lower energy content and therefore the fuel consumption is 25-35 % higher, which leads to increased CO and HC emissions.
The regulations do not take into consideration that the CO emissions (quickly transformed to CO2) from E85 are 70 % renewable (part of the circulation) and that our analyses show that 90 % of the HC emission are fairly harmless alcohol emissions.
The emission requirements can be found in several FAQ under Engine.
[ direct link ]
Fuel - Type of fuel and fuel consumption with ethanol
För information see http://en.bsr.se/faq/fuel/
[ direct link ]
Power increase - Conversion and power increase
Power and torque before and after can be found under respective tuning step/conversion.
For certified conversion kits peak power is limited according to Swedish legislation to a maximum of 5 % more than the original peak power. However, there is some room for power/torque modification in the other motor speed range.
Type approval is carried out using a power measurement method similar to the EU standard car manufacturers will use during power certification for type approval.
Figures may vary due to testing methods.
More about this test here: http://www.bsr.se/docs/RRI-20080801.pdf
Since most customers only study peak power we are not presenting any figures for type approved conversion kits, since these ethanol conversions are mainly conversion kits, not tuning kits.
If you focus too much on high torque figures and high power effect, the actual purpose of the conversion kit is lost, since the aim is to be more environment friendly.
BSR has calibrated the software to achieve a considerable torque improvement up to peak power motor speed and in the range used most for acceleration and overtaking. BSR’s software will never give a lower effect than the corresponding original software.
A certified conversion kit can therefore give a substantially improved performance.
[ direct link ]
Benefits - Benefits for converted vehicles
A vehicle with a certified conversion kit can benefit from a number of advantages as an "environment car" in Sweden.
[ direct link ]
Durability - Can vehhicles and engines stand E85?
Some people claim that ethanol is aggressive to some material, such as fuel tanks, feed pipes, hoses, valve seats, aluminium, etc. The car industry has stressed this rather intensively. Their ambition is to mainly sell new flexifuel cars where they claim to have replaced delicate material with more durable material.
Ford maintained when introducing their Ford Focus Flexifuel that this was not due to damages, but just “to be on the safe side”.
Unfortunately the risks with ethanol are often mistaken for methanol, which is aggressive to some kinds of rubber. Most materials in modern engines that can stand petrol can also stand ethanol (i.e. alcohol).
BSR has performed about 20 ethanol projects since 1997, where some project vehicles have run up to 250 000 km on E85. We have stripped down several engines and checked the parts, hoses, cables etc. and compared them to corresponding petrol vehicles. We have not seen any tendencies to damages, increased wear and tear or leakages.
For the racing cars we have noted even less damages and wear and tear compared to petrol cars.
Naturally this requires correct conversion and calibration of the engines. If performed inaccurately damages may occur regardless of fuel type.
Ethanol can attract water and this can affect material prone to corrosion. Modern cars often have plastic tanks and other metals are mainly composition metals that will withstand water.
More information under Warranty and Insurance under Conversion http://sv.bsr.se/e85/warranty/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Ethanol conversion kits for diesel engines?
In April, 2008 BSR introduced the world’s first ethanol powered diesel car. The project has attracted a lot of media attention, but we would like to stress that this is a concept car constructed to show that ethanol is a good fuel for diesel engines as well.
For this project we used E95 that consists of 95 % ethanol and 5 % ignition booster (glycol). This fuel is not yet available on the market.
The future will tell if the diesel conversion kit is a product to develop, today there are no diesel conversion kits ready for use.
More information http://sv.bsr.se/news/219/
http://sv.bsr.se/news/220/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Available conversion kits?
BSR develops certified conversion kits and E85 tuning kits for several makes of cars. The kits can be found on our web site http://sv.bsr.se/e85/kits/
We mostly work with newer cars, from 2001 and popular engines, mainly from Saab, Opel, and Cadillac. We are also developing kits for Volvo, Audi, Seat, VW and Skoda. Other makes of cars can be considered in the future.
If you are interested, please enter your details here: http://sv.bsr.se/e85/interest/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - What is a BSR conversion?
To convert an engine from petrol to ethanol requires a great deal of development work.
- Like tuning it mainly involves changes in the engine's control unit, on a large number of parameters. More information under each tuning kit and Info Ex http://sv.bsr.se/moreinfo/1/
- Ethanol has lower energy content than petrol and therefore more fuel is consumed. The extra requirement is not linear, but is affected by a number of factors, such as surrounding temperature, engine temperature, load, motor speed. To ensure function and driveability in the full range and the durability of the engine the entire engine control program requires total recalibration, regarding fuel and ignition.
- Cold starts require substantially more fuel and the catalyst converter must be started quickly as well to eliminate as much exhaust emissions as possible. It is also important to reduce exhaust emissions so the vehicle complies with requirements during the entire test cycle necessary for certification of the vehicle/conversion. See FAQ http://sv.bsr.se/faq/115/ and http://sv.bsr.se/faq/85/
Emissions must also be acceptable in the whole engine operating range.
- Conversion also requires inspection of distributor capacity. Some engine types require distributor change and then the control program must be calibrated for this and for petrol as well.
- To allow the vehicle to use either E85 or petrol or an optional blend requires a complete system modification and the control program is converted to “flexi fuel”. Behind this technology is several years of development work and our technicians made it possible to implement this technology for some newer control systems. Other control systems cannot handle the required information and for this we developed a technique called MFV. This consists of an extra fuel sensor and a control unit to handle information from the fuel sensor.
- Other requirements are that the OBD system, i.e. the vehicle’s internal diagnosis system must operate as original even after the conversion.
- Peak power increase can only be 5 % more than original for certification. By utilizing the properties of E85, the higher octane rating (104) it is possible to get a considerably higher torque in the mid-ranges, which will improve acceleration significantly without affecting peak power.
- Fuel system components must be checked to see that they can stand ethanol.
- This is only a brief explanation of the vast work behind BSR’s conversion systems.
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Which kits will be certified?
BSR is developing certified conversion kits for a several makes of cars. These are presented at http://sv.bsr.se/e85/kits/
E85 tuning kits are available for a number of cars.
Customers who purchased E85 tuning systems earlier can update these when a certified conversion kit is developed for your car. More information http://sv.bsr.se/e85/uppdatering/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Can other cars be converted?
Each type of engine involves a great deal of development work.
Therefore we do not take on individual projects, but we can take on commission work where the customer covers the development and certification costs. This is very time-consuming and expensive.
We get these kinds of commissions from car importers which mean that they can supply brand new “converted” vehicles.
If you are interested, enter your details here: http://sv.bsr.se/e85/interest/
[ direct link ]
Legislation - Regarding exhaust cleaning
Information concern swedish customers only.
[ direct link ]
Engine pre-heater - Is it necessary?
The vehicle will always benefit from installing an engine pre-heater.
BSR’s conversions can manage cold starts without pre-heater down to approximately -15 C or colder with E85, but an engine pre-heater will facilitate during cold starts and help reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions during start-up.
This goes for petrol vehicles as well as for E85.
[ direct link ]
Update to type approved program
Customers who installed BSR tuning or E85 tuning earlier can update their vehicles to type approved conversion kits when this is developed. More information http://sv.bsr.se/e85/uppdatering/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Are "simple" conversions effective?
On the market today there are several so-called conversion kit sold cheaply. They give promises of instantly turning your car into an environmentally friendly vehicle.
Unfortunately these conversion kits can be risky, for the environment as well as for the vehicle's durability. These kits are not likely to meet the requirements of the current national conversion legislation (from July 1, 2008), for vehicles from 1993, or newer.
There are several "Flexi Solutions", that are composed of an attachment unit connected to the injectors giving an estimated fuel concentration. Unfortunately the engine and the ECU functions are not that uncomplicated.
The need for more enriched fuel when using ethanol or ethanol blends is not constant; the engine's fuel requirements vary depending on load, R.P.M, temperature and a number of other conditions.
The fact that the lambda (claimed by the manufacturers of these conversion kits) can regulate the fuel requirements is not quite true. The lambda can only regulate the fuel within a limited “window” regarding R.P.M and load etc. Outside of this window the fuel blend ratio (fuel/air) mainly depends on the values programmed into the ECU. If there are larger lambda value variations within the lambda window the ECU will be unable to adjust the fuel amount fast enough.
This can damage the engine, especially in the high load area where it is crucial that the vehicle gets the correct amount of fuel.
Another important issue is starting properties where the vehicle basically starts on the petrol content of the fuel (for ethanol blends). Some simpler systems do have a starting function (fuel enrichment) but to comply with exhaust emission standards it not good to just supply the engine with a fixed amount of fuel.
The risk of high exhaust emissions is enhanced, especially for NOx emissions if the combustion temperature is not correct.
The OBD function cannot work properly when attachments are connected to the ECU. In many cases the engine warning light will go on which means that the emergency program is operating.
Incorrect fuel blends can also be harmful for several important exhaust cleaning components, such as the catalytic converter.
On the market there are also Fuel Pressure Regulators that claim to give the correct amount of fuel when using E85 or mixing fuels. The problem with this solution is similar as with the above mentioned flexifuel solutions. And, an increased pressure can increase the risk of leakage and an altered injector situation which is negative for combustion as well as for function.
There are a number of risks involved with simpler conversions and BSR would advise you not to use these. If simpler solutions worked, naturally these would be a part of our product range.
[ direct link ]
Ethanol vehicles - Can I use an ethanol blend in my petrol car?
We strongly advise against experimenting with E85 mixes in petrol cars not converted, or manufactured as "Flexifuel".
Even is the car starts and runs on a certain ethanol blend there is a great risk that the engine is not getting enough or the proper amount of fuel in all load situations or rpm. (According to other answers on this FAQ.)
As long as going within the lambda regulated area the risk of damage is small using a 10-15% blend, but using a higher percentage and going outside of this area, the risk for engine damages is greatly increased.
Some emissions are also transformed negatively, such as increased NOx levels, which is negative for the environment since it is very acidy and can create health risks.
[ direct link ]
E85 är en blandning av 85 % etanol och 15 % bensin.
Vintertid har bensinbolagen valt en 70-75% halt av etanol (d.v.s. en högre bensininblandning) i "E85" för att bla. underlätta kallstarter. Perioden detta bränsle finns i pumparna är ung från 1 nov- 1 april men varierar i olika delar av landet.
Därför har vinterblandningen ett högre literpris.
E85 finns på flesta större mackar och utbyggnad sker kontinuerligt.
Har du allmäna frågor om etanol och dess produktion mm hänvisar vi till följande site där du finner mycket av svaren.
http://www.baff.info
Etanol har kritiserats på många punkter där mycket bygger på antagande och tänkta problem. Det finns mycket artiklar som bemöter denna mestadels felaktiga kritik.
http://www.automotorsport.se/nyhetsmall.asp?version=90101
http://www.automotorsport.se/nyhetsmall.asp?version=89876
Förutom nämnda länkar ovan finns mycket bra artiklar i bla. AutoMotor & Sport. Bla. i Nummer 15 /17 Juli 2008/ där mycket om etanolproduktionen utreds och mer fakta på bl.a. www.baff.info
[ direct link ]
Exhaust emissions - From E85 vehicles
An ethanol vehicle with a certified conversion kit must comply with the same requirement as for petrol. And the requirements during a certification test are the same, regardless of the age of the vehicle.
A certified kit is tested on petrol as well as E85 – newer vehicles from the manufacturers are tested only on petrol and are still allowed for use with for example E85.
Ethanol fuel has lower energy content and therefore the fuel consumption is 25-35 % higher, which leads to increased CO and HC emissions.
The regulations do not take into consideration that the CO emissions (quickly transformed to CO2) from E85 are 70 % renewable (part of the circulation) and that our analyses show that 90 % of the HC emission are fairly harmless alcohol emissions.
The emission requirements can be found in several FAQ under Engine.
[ direct link ]
Fuel - Type of fuel and fuel consumption with ethanol
För information see http://en.bsr.se/faq/fuel/
[ direct link ]
Power increase - Conversion and power increase
Power and torque before and after can be found under respective tuning step/conversion.
For certified conversion kits peak power is limited according to Swedish legislation to a maximum of 5 % more than the original peak power. However, there is some room for power/torque modification in the other motor speed range.
Type approval is carried out using a power measurement method similar to the EU standard car manufacturers will use during power certification for type approval.
Figures may vary due to testing methods.
More about this test here: http://www.bsr.se/docs/RRI-20080801.pdf
Since most customers only study peak power we are not presenting any figures for type approved conversion kits, since these ethanol conversions are mainly conversion kits, not tuning kits.
If you focus too much on high torque figures and high power effect, the actual purpose of the conversion kit is lost, since the aim is to be more environment friendly.
BSR has calibrated the software to achieve a considerable torque improvement up to peak power motor speed and in the range used most for acceleration and overtaking. BSR’s software will never give a lower effect than the corresponding original software.
A certified conversion kit can therefore give a substantially improved performance.
[ direct link ]
Benefits - Benefits for converted vehicles
A vehicle with a certified conversion kit can benefit from a number of advantages as an "environment car" in Sweden.
[ direct link ]
Durability - Can vehhicles and engines stand E85?
Some people claim that ethanol is aggressive to some material, such as fuel tanks, feed pipes, hoses, valve seats, aluminium, etc. The car industry has stressed this rather intensively. Their ambition is to mainly sell new flexifuel cars where they claim to have replaced delicate material with more durable material.
Ford maintained when introducing their Ford Focus Flexifuel that this was not due to damages, but just “to be on the safe side”.
Unfortunately the risks with ethanol are often mistaken for methanol, which is aggressive to some kinds of rubber. Most materials in modern engines that can stand petrol can also stand ethanol (i.e. alcohol).
BSR has performed about 20 ethanol projects since 1997, where some project vehicles have run up to 250 000 km on E85. We have stripped down several engines and checked the parts, hoses, cables etc. and compared them to corresponding petrol vehicles. We have not seen any tendencies to damages, increased wear and tear or leakages.
For the racing cars we have noted even less damages and wear and tear compared to petrol cars.
Naturally this requires correct conversion and calibration of the engines. If performed inaccurately damages may occur regardless of fuel type.
Ethanol can attract water and this can affect material prone to corrosion. Modern cars often have plastic tanks and other metals are mainly composition metals that will withstand water.
More information under Warranty and Insurance under Conversion http://sv.bsr.se/e85/warranty/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Ethanol conversion kits for diesel engines?
In April, 2008 BSR introduced the world’s first ethanol powered diesel car. The project has attracted a lot of media attention, but we would like to stress that this is a concept car constructed to show that ethanol is a good fuel for diesel engines as well.
For this project we used E95 that consists of 95 % ethanol and 5 % ignition booster (glycol). This fuel is not yet available on the market.
The future will tell if the diesel conversion kit is a product to develop, today there are no diesel conversion kits ready for use.
More information http://sv.bsr.se/news/219/
http://sv.bsr.se/news/220/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Available conversion kits?
BSR develops certified conversion kits and E85 tuning kits for several makes of cars. The kits can be found on our web site http://sv.bsr.se/e85/kits/
We mostly work with newer cars, from 2001 and popular engines, mainly from Saab, Opel, and Cadillac. We are also developing kits for Volvo, Audi, Seat, VW and Skoda. Other makes of cars can be considered in the future.
If you are interested, please enter your details here: http://sv.bsr.se/e85/interest/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - What is a BSR conversion?
To convert an engine from petrol to ethanol requires a great deal of development work.
- Like tuning it mainly involves changes in the engine's control unit, on a large number of parameters. More information under each tuning kit and Info Ex http://sv.bsr.se/moreinfo/1/
- Ethanol has lower energy content than petrol and therefore more fuel is consumed. The extra requirement is not linear, but is affected by a number of factors, such as surrounding temperature, engine temperature, load, motor speed. To ensure function and driveability in the full range and the durability of the engine the entire engine control program requires total recalibration, regarding fuel and ignition.
- Cold starts require substantially more fuel and the catalyst converter must be started quickly as well to eliminate as much exhaust emissions as possible. It is also important to reduce exhaust emissions so the vehicle complies with requirements during the entire test cycle necessary for certification of the vehicle/conversion. See FAQ http://sv.bsr.se/faq/115/ and http://sv.bsr.se/faq/85/
Emissions must also be acceptable in the whole engine operating range.
- Conversion also requires inspection of distributor capacity. Some engine types require distributor change and then the control program must be calibrated for this and for petrol as well.
- To allow the vehicle to use either E85 or petrol or an optional blend requires a complete system modification and the control program is converted to “flexi fuel”. Behind this technology is several years of development work and our technicians made it possible to implement this technology for some newer control systems. Other control systems cannot handle the required information and for this we developed a technique called MFV. This consists of an extra fuel sensor and a control unit to handle information from the fuel sensor.
- Other requirements are that the OBD system, i.e. the vehicle’s internal diagnosis system must operate as original even after the conversion.
- Peak power increase can only be 5 % more than original for certification. By utilizing the properties of E85, the higher octane rating (104) it is possible to get a considerably higher torque in the mid-ranges, which will improve acceleration significantly without affecting peak power.
- Fuel system components must be checked to see that they can stand ethanol.
- This is only a brief explanation of the vast work behind BSR’s conversion systems.
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Which kits will be certified?
BSR is developing certified conversion kits for a several makes of cars. These are presented at http://sv.bsr.se/e85/kits/
E85 tuning kits are available for a number of cars.
Customers who purchased E85 tuning systems earlier can update these when a certified conversion kit is developed for your car. More information http://sv.bsr.se/e85/uppdatering/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Can other cars be converted?
Each type of engine involves a great deal of development work.
Therefore we do not take on individual projects, but we can take on commission work where the customer covers the development and certification costs. This is very time-consuming and expensive.
We get these kinds of commissions from car importers which mean that they can supply brand new “converted” vehicles.
If you are interested, enter your details here: http://sv.bsr.se/e85/interest/
[ direct link ]
Legislation - Regarding exhaust cleaning
Information concern swedish customers only.
[ direct link ]
Engine pre-heater - Is it necessary?
The vehicle will always benefit from installing an engine pre-heater.
BSR’s conversions can manage cold starts without pre-heater down to approximately -15 C or colder with E85, but an engine pre-heater will facilitate during cold starts and help reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions during start-up.
This goes for petrol vehicles as well as for E85.
[ direct link ]
Update to type approved program
Customers who installed BSR tuning or E85 tuning earlier can update their vehicles to type approved conversion kits when this is developed. More information http://sv.bsr.se/e85/uppdatering/
[ direct link ]
Conversion - Are "simple" conversions effective?
On the market today there are several so-called conversion kit sold cheaply. They give promises of instantly turning your car into an environmentally friendly vehicle.
Unfortunately these conversion kits can be risky, for the environment as well as for the vehicle's durability. These kits are not likely to meet the requirements of the current national conversion legislation (from July 1, 2008), for vehicles from 1993, or newer.
There are several "Flexi Solutions", that are composed of an attachment unit connected to the injectors giving an estimated fuel concentration. Unfortunately the engine and the ECU functions are not that uncomplicated.
The need for more enriched fuel when using ethanol or ethanol blends is not constant; the engine's fuel requirements vary depending on load, R.P.M, temperature and a number of other conditions.
The fact that the lambda (claimed by the manufacturers of these conversion kits) can regulate the fuel requirements is not quite true. The lambda can only regulate the fuel within a limited “window” regarding R.P.M and load etc. Outside of this window the fuel blend ratio (fuel/air) mainly depends on the values programmed into the ECU. If there are larger lambda value variations within the lambda window the ECU will be unable to adjust the fuel amount fast enough.
This can damage the engine, especially in the high load area where it is crucial that the vehicle gets the correct amount of fuel.
Another important issue is starting properties where the vehicle basically starts on the petrol content of the fuel (for ethanol blends). Some simpler systems do have a starting function (fuel enrichment) but to comply with exhaust emission standards it not good to just supply the engine with a fixed amount of fuel.
The risk of high exhaust emissions is enhanced, especially for NOx emissions if the combustion temperature is not correct.
The OBD function cannot work properly when attachments are connected to the ECU. In many cases the engine warning light will go on which means that the emergency program is operating.
Incorrect fuel blends can also be harmful for several important exhaust cleaning components, such as the catalytic converter.
On the market there are also Fuel Pressure Regulators that claim to give the correct amount of fuel when using E85 or mixing fuels. The problem with this solution is similar as with the above mentioned flexifuel solutions. And, an increased pressure can increase the risk of leakage and an altered injector situation which is negative for combustion as well as for function.
There are a number of risks involved with simpler conversions and BSR would advise you not to use these. If simpler solutions worked, naturally these would be a part of our product range.
[ direct link ]
Ethanol vehicles - Can I use an ethanol blend in my petrol car?
We strongly advise against experimenting with E85 mixes in petrol cars not converted, or manufactured as "Flexifuel".
Even is the car starts and runs on a certain ethanol blend there is a great risk that the engine is not getting enough or the proper amount of fuel in all load situations or rpm. (According to other answers on this FAQ.)
As long as going within the lambda regulated area the risk of damage is small using a 10-15% blend, but using a higher percentage and going outside of this area, the risk for engine damages is greatly increased.
Some emissions are also transformed negatively, such as increased NOx levels, which is negative for the environment since it is very acidy and can create health risks.
[ direct link ]
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