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OT-butanol in auto engines

Was reading on some of the alternate energy sites the use of butanol in auto engines- seems to be a pretty close analog for gasoline. I went to see the msds on the stuff and they mentioned that butanol affects aluminum, copper and copper alloys. How bad? Would you have to completely change out ALL parts that have those materials?, There was one website that stated they ran the stuff in a mid 90's car (a buick as I recall) with no mods. Just curious as they seem to be able to get the butanol from waste products using a fairly old (but not often used) fermentation process. Pat

Reply to
patrick mitchel
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A really good web site :

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butanol has a REALLY low vapor pressure. Seems to me it would cause REALLY hard starting at low temperatures. Ethanol has 6 times higher vapor pressure at 100 C than butanol. I can't believe any metal would be attacked by an alcohol. It may be hydroscopic, but most fuels used today (with ethanol, etc. mixed in) are hydroscopic, already. I'd really like to know if they had any starting problems on that car. It could certainly be fixed, with a little pre-heater for starting, or whatever, if it was a problem. The physical properties look real good as a fuel!

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Reply to
David Billington

Jon Elson wrote: ...

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Those fuels are hygroscopic -- not hydroscopic. Of course if you were trying to find out how much water was in some fuel, you'd be more likely to use a hydrometer ("instrument for determining the specific gravity of liquids") than a hygrometer ("instrument used to measure the moisture content of a gas").

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an amusing line about "non-word" hydroscopic:

"The similar sounding but unrelated non-word hydroscopic is sometimes used in error for hygroscopic."

-jiw

Reply to
James Waldby

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