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Originally Posted by 71swb4x4
I would think it would get burned before it would have a chance to cause problems with the heads.
It is true that when ethanol first came out it took more energy to produce it than it provided. But, the tables have since turned, and ethanol now produces more energy than it consumes.
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That all depends on who is doing the research i am still for it, but since they are using corn you have to take into account all the fuel for Nitrogen, pumping irrigation water, and transfer to the ethanol plant i dont see anyway that there is a net increase in energy. With the cost of corn being so low i dont mind them using corn for ethanol production. In the future they will start using perrenial grasses such as switchgrass that only have to be planted once (they grow every year) and dont require irrigation, or much fertilizer then they will likey have a net energy increase. E85 was really a good deal until the gas companies bought it and made it the same price as regular gas because it was cutting into their business. There were alot of farmers who also could buy straight ethanal from the ethanol plant that was suppost to be used in their state of the art irrigation motors for like 1 dollar a gallon as lately as last fall and add 15% dino fuel and run it in their E85 equipped trucks, but now that straight ethanol is like $1.85 that scheme is over. Im sorry if i went off on an extreme tangent but i go to school at UNL for agronomy and i am full of useless info about stuff like this.