Flex Fuel has a great talk around automotive OEMs and governing agencies. To some, it is a great idea to control carbon emissions, and for some, it is a way to obtain energy from renewable sources.
A lot of confusion revolves around Flex Fuel.
Flex Fuel is a blend of petrol and ethanol that is use in IC engines to obtain relatively lesser carbon dioxide as we exercise the reaction of power propulsion.
Let’s try to understand more about Flex Fuel, various ethanol blends, and how it has the capacity to reduce pollution and the cost of fuel.
Composition of Flex Fuel
Flex Fuel or biofuel is obtain by mixing pre-define quantities of petrol and methanol/ethanol.
There are various compositions use across the globe, namely E85, E80, E10, E20 and more.
For reference, the E85 Flex Fuel comprises 15% petrol by volume and 85% biologically-obtained ethanol.
In India, governing agencies earlier notified that a policy on the use of E80 biofuel will be introduced.
In this composition, 80% ethanol by volume will be use while blend with 20% petrol by volume.
Sources of Flex Fuel
The ethanol use for the composition of Flex Fuel is generally obtain from various plants, vegetables, and biological sources.
Jatropha oil is one of the most research sources of biofuel in India.
Also rice, corn, and many other oils can also be use to obtain the ethanol of desire calorific value.
Benefits of using Flex Fuel
The Flex Fuel brings down the content of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, and many other hazardous products obtain from the combustion of fuel.
The E20 blend brings down carbon monoxide emissions by close to 50% in two-wheelers and around 30% reduction in four-wheelers in comparison to E0.
Also, the blend further brings down the cost of fuel as a whole.
The BTE (Brake Thermal Efficiency) is also increase with the use of biofuel.
The biofuel application also increases the brake-specific fuel consumption.
Flex Fuel in India
For now, the Indian market fails to have products running on Flex Fuel.
The governing agencies have confirm to roll out mandates on the use of biofuel by the year 2025.
Select brands like Bajaj and TVS are working on the development of Flex Fuel engines.
TVS launch an iteration of the Apache 200 in 2019, which could run on either E100 or E80 blend.
But it could not find a lot of buyers as the availability of Flex Fuel remains a miss in the country as of now.
Can Flex Fuel be Use on Any Vehicles?
No only Flex Fuel-compatible vehicles should be made to run on biofuel.
On regular petrol and diesel engines, using ethanol-blend fuel can cause serious damage to the engine.
Since ethanol is corrosive in nature.
A lot of parts of a petrol/diesel motor have to be change to make it run on ethanol-blend petrol/diesel.
