E85 NorCal Availability

[Test Driver]

Hello,

Can someone here direct me as to where I could find E85 in the northern California area. I'm in the Santa Rosa vicinity and would like to buy a barrel of the stuff.

Thanks.

[Forbes]

Test Driver:

E85 is simply a mixture of gasoline and ethanol (ethyl alcohol). According to ASTM D 5798-09b, the proportion of ethanol in the mix can be from 75% to 85%. Many sources point out that the blending octane number of ethanol is sufficiently high that refiners take advantage of this, so the gasoline component in pump ethanol is pretty rubbishy stuff.

Thus, you can easily make your own E85 by buying some cheap unleaded regular and adding ethanol to suit. (Ethanol is a common industrial product; look in your local yellow pages, or Google.)

No Smoking while dispensing/mixing!

Regards,
Forbes

[Test Driver]

Hey Forbes,

Thanks for replying.

I've checked around for an industrial supply store for straight ethanol already. There does not seem to be much of that around the Santa Rosa area. There's lots of industrial supply type stores but none that stock it. At this point, I'm considering buying a 55 gal drum and filling it up in Oakland or the surrounding area.

[MCoach]

Forbes, Test Driver,

actually that standard has been superceded by ASTM D5798-15. Ethanol minimum content has been lowered by request to a minimum of 51%. So you pull fuel from a pump that will have 51-85% ethanol and can still be labeled as E85. It varies seasonally at that too.

Getting denatured alcohol with the maximum ethanol content possible, usually around 98-99% and splash mixing with gasoline (I don't remember what octane level is best to mix with to match the specs, premium probably) to match the Sonoco E85-R specs are probably your best bet other than buying a barrel of that fuel itself (which I believe is the fuel supplied to the competition for the E85 choice).
There are some products labeled as denatured alcohol from industrial suppliers which are closer to 90% ethanol content, 9.5% methanol content, and the rest dyes and stuff, so make sure you know the specs on what fuel you are getting or else your calibration could be off when moving to competition fuel.

When in doubt of any ethanol fuel content, run it through an ethanol sensor to verify content before calibrating on it.

[Forbes]

MCoach,

Thanks for the update/correction; I shall amend my records.

Forbes

[MCoach]

Yeah, I just don't want to see you guys calibrating on "E85" with something dumb like 51% ethanol and thinking everything is dandy, and then show up to competition and start pumping 34% more ethanol through your system and expecting the same outputs.
It sucks to see that happen to teams that spend a long time on their engine calibration, show up to competition and the damn thing won't run at all. Stuttgart (...or was it Graz?) and a few of the teams that have turned to our lord and savior, Alcohol, were having issues with that in the past wasting hours in the pits because "E85" is not always E85.

You don't need to have a flex fuel sensor on the car (However, Continental makes a nice cheap, high quality one if you want one), it just helps to have one on hand to check ethanol content at home, in the kitchen, and at the track to know things are right.

That's all. Just looking out for your sanity. :P

[Test Driver]

Thanks for the posts.

My question was really geared for pump E85. I'm far removed from formula now and I'm working on some straight E85 pass cars in the area. We managed to change the engine map and they run ok on pump 93 gas. They're just weak but we'll make due.

[MCoach]

Thanks for the posts.

My question was really geared for pump E85. I'm far removed from formula now and I'm working on some straight E85 pass cars in the area. We managed to change the engine map and they run ok on pump 93 gas. They're just weak but we'll make due.

No problem, I just figured you were posting as an advisor at this point. :P

[Drew Price]

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/ethanol_locations.html