In response to a previous comment of:

> "it might be as little as 4 tablespoons of water per gallon"

 

Hartmut wrote:

> I would say if you only need 4 tablespoons to absorb all 

> alcohol in one gallon of fuel, you did not have enough 

> alcohol in the fuel to be worried about.

 

Hartmut,

 

I'm not a chemist but I followed this discussion over the last 30 years or
so since we, in Iowa, were early adopters of gasohol.

 

One point I saw from several sources was that alcohol does not stay
"dissolved" in gasoline readily.  I have a vague memory of an article saying
it was more in suspension.

 

But, they said, if there's any significant amount of water present, the
alcohol comes out of "solution" (or suspension) with the gasoline and
combines with the water.  Thus, a small amount of water can make a lot of
alcohol separate from the gasoline.

 

So, if you only add the mentioned 4 tablespoons per gallon, you'd probably
have to shake it quite a bit to get all the alcohol out.

 

Also, wasn't there a mention of alcohol being OK below a certain
concentration?

 

Any chemists out there?

 

Ed

Reply via email to