In brief:
- Australians are being encouraged to use ethanol-laced fuels as petrol prices soar.
- Australia currently offers E10 fuels, but could look at E15 or E20, levels on offer in countries like the United States.
Australians are being encouraged to use ethanol-laced fuels to combat soaring petrol prices, as the government considers boosting production.
According to the fuel monitoring website Motormouth, on Wednesday, the average price of diesel passed $3 in every capital city besides Darwin.
As more than 500 petrol stations run dry of at least one type of fuel, the national cabinet will reconvene next week to decide the next steps.
The government has made several tweaks to fuel standards, from changing diesel standards to increasing sulphur levels, and released emergency reserves into the market, but faces pressure to do more to boost supply.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen confirmed that an increase in the ethanol level in fuel supplies is under consideration.
"There’s suggestions around ethanol, which we’re looking at, but I’m not in a position to announce them, or indeed say that they might happen, because you’ve got to work these things through carefully," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
"Could it play some potential role? Many things could.”
Australia currently offers E10 fuels, but could look at E15 or E20, levels on offer in countries like the United States.
What is ethanol inside E10 fuel?
Ethanol is a grain alcohol that can be used as a petroleum replacement.
It's made from the byproduct of the production of sugar cane, wheat or sorghum feedstock grain.
E10 is a biofuel that contains a 10 per cent mixture of ethanol and is generally cheaper to produce. This is reflected in its price at the bowser.
The latest NRMA fuel price report revealed average E10 at 227.6 cents per litre, Premium 95 at 245.5 and Premium 98 at 254.3 cents per litre.
How can it affect your car?
Ethanol has a high octane rating, giving it the ability to resist engine knock and allowing it to burn better than gasoline.
Bioenergy Australia CEO Shahana McKenzie told SBS News the high-octane burning is why it's used for a lot of supercar racing.
The highest of these is E85 — a specialty biofuel offered in a limited number of stations for compatible cars — which McKenzie says allows you to "accelerate very quickly".
Ethanol is considered hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs water and causes corrosion, often leading to damage in older engines or cars.
It also runs through the fuel tank and can loosen any scale or buildup that is already in there.
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury busted assertions that it would drastically reduce your mileage, referring to tests on three vehicles a few years ago.
"We found one was pretty much the same, there was a slight decrease compared to the petrol in another and a slight increase in one," he told SBS News.
"It was all very much within the margin of error, it's not like people were losing hundreds of kilometres on a tank."
He said motorists should check their hubcaps but concludes "most cars in Australia can use E10, and if they can, we would encourage people to use it."
Could we boost production?
McKenzie said Australia's two ethanol refineries are not operating at their capacity, allowing the industry to support scaling up.
She estimates that if the government were to mandate more ethanol to enter the market, close to half a billion litres of additional annual capacity could be added to the Australian market.
While ethanol is highly flammable, the concentration levels in our fuels are lower than in other countries.
Both McKenzie and Khory point overseas to Brazil and the United States, where E15 or E20 is more readily available.
"You can't get fuel in America without ethanol blended in it, and in a number of states, and the number of states is growing, you can't get ethanol in it with less than 15 per cent," Khoury said.
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