How to remove ethanol from fuel

[carbmon]

Without getting into the pro/con of ethanol, there's an article in Motorcycle Consumer News, December, 2012, pp. 32-33 about how to easily remove ethanol from E10 fuel yourself using water and the phase separation properties of that fuel.

The article does point-out that the removed ethanol 'was' 113 octane so needs to be replaced with an octane booster.

An interesting read if nothing else.

Just FYI   

[Greg]

And so what do you replace it with? I'm not aware of anything that is on the market that is cheap in the quantities you would need.

[carbmon]

And so what do you replace it with? I'm not aware of anything that is on the market that is cheap in the quantities you would need.

Good question/point.

I'm not suggesting any practical application for the process.  I just found it an interesting demonstration of how much affinity the ethanol component has for water and how easily & quickly the water/ethanol emulsion separates from the gasoline and stratifies once exposed to H2O.

With fairly high atmospheric humidity here, at least now I've a better understanding about the source of the sludge I found in the carb-bowl of my occasional use Ruckus paddock scooter last time I cleaned the carb (and then flushed the tank).  I’m hoping that a more practiced use of Stabil and regular ‘tween race running helps with that situation.  With no manual petcock it’s impractical to run that sucker dry for storage & hard to get to the carb-bowl drain buried under bodywork.

[Buckethead]

And so what do you replace it with? I'm not aware of anything that is on the market that is cheap in the quantities you would need.

Diesel. It's just a matter of ratio.

[carbmon]

And so what do you replace it with? I'm not aware of anything that is on the market that is cheap in the quantities you would need.

Toluene?  A high-octane component of gasoline already ... only $20 +/- to replace the ethanol octane in 5 gallons of gas 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/octane-booster-info-124750.html

As for diesel ... by definition it won't raise the octane rating of gasoline (see first source above) though it has some properties that aid in preventing detonation ... it also has some properties that make it scary for use in gasoline engines except in Very small quantities.

[Buckethead]

As for diesel ... by definition it won't raise the octane rating of gasoline (see first source above) though it has some properties that aid in preventing detonation ... it also has some properties that make it scary for use in gasoline engines except in Very small quantities.

Sorry.

I had my chemistry backwards.

Ethanol is more volatile than octane.

You're going to need something to THIN the remaining gas, not thicken it.

[Kev M]

Carb, why don't you just add an inline petcock to the ruckus?

[carbmon]

 

Ethanol is more volatile than octane.

You're going to need something to THIN the remaining gas, not thicken it.

I’m not sure that volatility is the property of particular concern and not following what you mean by “thin”.

True, the chemical ethanol has a higher vapor pressure @20C(and octane rating) than the chemical octane but I don’t find a direct relationship between volatility and octane rating (toluene has a lower vapor pressure @20C than ethanol but a higher octane rating).

Pull the 100 +/- octane (R+M/2) ethanol out of E-10 blended regular 87 octane fuel and the octane rating of the remaining gas is less than 87.  So, you need to replace the ethanol with something that has a higher octane than the ‘bare’ gasoline, in the proper ratio, to achieve the desired total octane rating of the ‘re-blended’ fuel.

Carb, why don't you just add an inline petcock to the ruckus?

Just doesn’t seem worth the hassle.  The tank is under the floorboard with a close-coupled electric pump and a short hidden hose to the carb.  The darned thing is reliable as heck and starts fine after sitting 30 days +/- between races where it’s used; I think I just gotta get a better storage/maintenance routine for the bit longer off-season, like taking it out for a play ride every once in a while to move the Stabil-ized gas through the system.

If you’ve put a manual petcock on a Ruckus 50, I’d like to see a pic, though.  You can email me through this forum.

[Speeddog]

VP makes a small engine fuel that may be just the ticket:

http://www.vp-sef.com/index.php/products

Not cheap, but neither is your time at the races where you don't want to be messing with the pit transport.

[carbmon]

LOL, nope, not gonna support VP running the Ruckus pit bike (even though the trackside VP vendor is a valued class-sponsor and contingency provider for our organization) 

To clear up some maybe misconceptions ...

I had to clean the Ruckus carb once after 2 1/2 years of ownership - I can live with that considering how poorly I treat it (lack of use is criminal abuse of any engine, IMHO).  Its an absolutely reliable scoot trackside.


I'm a long-time race official, not a racer.  So yes, time is of the essence at the track but still, I'm not in that special group holding a competition license.  I do need reliable transport though, our typical 2-day event of endurance and sprint races puts 600+ bikes on the grid under 24 green flags.  Check it out at www.cmraracing.com