This month the main thrust of this column is on the addition of Ethanol in the petrol that we all use in our cars.

Ethanol is a form of modified alcohol, [ethyl alcohol and undrinkable], that can be used as fuel. In fact, Henry Ford ran the model ‘T’ on pure ethanol from 1906 to 1908.

Pure ethanol has been used in Brazil since the late 1970s for neat ethanol vehicles and more recently for flexible-fuel vehicles, while 75 per cent ethanol has been used as a winter blend in some American states, going to a maximum of 85 per cent ethanol in some parts of the US and some European countries.

This is all well and good when used in engines designed to use ethanol in high concentrations.

However, the EU has decreed [under the guise of the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation] that pump petrol will contain up to 10 per cent ethanol, in all probability by the end of this year.

In Malta, we seem to be using a mix of seven per cent ethanol. At 10 per cent, motorists must be made aware of the ethanol content, but for lower percentages, there is no obligation to keep us informed.

Fermenting and distilling starch and sugar crops, in fact almost any fruit and vegetable matter and waste, can produce ethanol and cuts the unpleasant emissions in direct proportion to the amount added. Good news so far.

However, while having the virtue of being a renewable fuel source and totally desirable in modern engines, the downside is that it is extremely corrosive, partly because of the high oxygen content, which of course turns iron into rust. Left untreated, the majority of local petrol vehicles manufactured before 2007 will have components readily attacked by ethanol, and although the following list is not exhaustive, it’s pretty frightening.

On older vehicles with a rubber connection in the fuel filter, it can melt away in as little as six months. The sealant used in old petrol tanks can be attacked, allowing rust and then petrol to leak from the smallest hole.

Hydrogen bonding makes ethanol hydroscopic to the point where it readily absorbs moisture from the air. This means in humid countries like Malta, we get more water than we thought possible in the fuel.

Apart from iron pipes, tanks, etc, ethanol attacks rubber and copper fuel pipes and brass fittings.

Moving parts in fuel pumps, including rubber diaphragms, if fitted, get damaged. The residue of the various reactions blocks fuel filters most rapidly.

Rubber petrol pipes will break down and crack. Carburettors and the jets inside them will become corroded and if cork is used in the carb, that will also be attacked. So, apart from metals including aluminium and magnesium alloys, beware of polyurethane, fibreglass-reinforced polyester and epoxy resins and a range of interesting PVC type products.

All is not quite lost, for the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs conducted a test programme with various manufacturers to come up with a corrosion-proof additive; of immense interest to us in Malta is the fact that we have an agent for one supplement in the form of Millers Oils, and they provide VSPe Power Plus, VSPe and EPS.

Obviously, all the relevant additives should be available on all petrol station forecourts and not only in Marsa, as is the case today.

Ethomix from Frost ART Ltd and ethanolmate from Flexolite, which seems to be currently unavailable in Malta, also carry the ‘A’ rating from the FBHVC.

As far as driveability is concerned, ethanol will alter the mixture ratio and unadjusted vehicles will run weak.

This may have a disastrous, long-term effect and the Orbital Engine Company in Australia conducted tests and identified the formation of heavy deposits on inlet valves and increased deposits on piston crowns in some vehicles.

So far, a promised list of vehicles that could be affected has not been published; we feel this is vital as we probably have 40 per cent of all local petrol-engined cars affected to some degree.

The issue of Dawret il-Qawra and Triq it-Trunċier, both of which end at Qawra Point, was tackled more than once. Congratulations go to the mayor who finally got the various trenches filled in properly, with the help of Graziella Galea, an architect with Transport Malta, and her father MP Ċensu Galea.

We really should have the best-kept roads on the two islands, because these two really know the subject to a T.

Sources: The Aston Martin Owners Club, The Stag Owners Club, The MG Owners Club, The Vintage Motor Cycle Club, Cohline Hoses [which should be represented in Malta in the near future].

A typical classic car engine that will need an anti-ethanol additive immediately.

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