Gasoline with Bioethanol in Ukraine: to Pour or to Drink?

A few years ago, alternative fuels or, as they are popularly known, “alcohol” gasolines were expected to have great potential. Even premium networks introduced these positions, particularly, WOG. The pioneers in this segment were the gas station chain BRSM-NAFTA. The reason was simple – car enthusiasts always want to save. The difference reached four or more hryvnias per liter – a significant argument! However, over the years, this type of alternative fuel “did not take off” — mainly due to raw material shortages and low demand, many networks abandoned promoting this product.

Nevertheless, currently, interest in this type of gasoline has grown again — all because of the rapid rise in prices for “traditional” gasoline and the general impoverishment of the population. Now, the price difference between “alcohol” and regular gasoline can reach 8 hryvnias per liter. Therefore, the question arises again, what is the quality of such fuel? Traders produce it themselves, so there are certain concerns. This prompted the Institute of Consumer Expertise in the capital to “get to the canisters.”

Currently, experts have been able to find such fuel in only four networks – BRSM-NAFTA, Avias, Motto, and the regional network BVS. The results were not rosy – half of the samples were not “alcohol” fuel, but some kind of mixture.

How Much Alcohol?

Many motorists are skeptical about biofuel, saying alcohol – “isn’t it water”. This common stereotype does not quite correspond to reality. Fuel is not added to food alcohol, which our bodies willingly “consume,” but unrefined, with a large amount of fusel oils, dehydrated, and denatured with gasoline. “This is special technical alcohol. If the fuel is made according to all standards and meets DSTU regulations, any car can be refueled with this fuel without worrying that it might break down,” says the director of the Institute of Consumer Expertise, Yuriy Chornobryvets.

Laboratory testing began with the main thing — determining the volumetric share of alcohols, the magnitude of which determines the main properties of alcohol fuel. It should be noted that alcohol fuel is divided into two categories – automotive fuel with a bioethanol content of at least 30% is considered alternative fuel, if the bioethanol content is less than 30%, it is not considered alternative but alcohol by E5, E7, E10 grades (according to the Technical Regulation), and these grades of gasoline should not be confused with alternative fuels – they are produced according to different regulatory documents!

According to the results of laboratory tests, only the sample purchased at the BRSM-NAFTA gas station was alternative, with an ethanol content of 30.7 percent. Less than 30 percent was found in the Motto sample, and in samples from Avias and BVS stations, there was virtually no ethanol found! Further analysis of the composition showed what these mixtures were made of.

Checking Octane

Usually, alternative fuels have a substantial reserve for this parameter. This time, this indicator was not high for everyone, although no violations were found.

This indicator characterizes the fuel’s resistance to detonation — premature combustion of gasoline in the combustion chamber. Detonation is harmful to the engine not only due to increased fuel consumption and power reduction but also premature engine wear due to additional loads. The octane number was measured by the research method. The highest safety margin was found in A-95E Premium+ fuel from the BRSM-nafta network — 98 units! Meanwhile, Avias, Motto, and BVS were limited to normative standards — 95.7, 96, and 95 units respectively.

“When fuel is burned, excess energy is released; when gasoline is burned, the energy turns into thermal energy. The engine’s efficiency drops. When ethanol is burned, the temperature is lower, and the engine’s efficiency increases. Even fuel consumption is reduced. Modern engines work like this. If we take a ride with European and American engines, we will see that the technology itself already obliges us to use such fuel,” commented Yevgeny Lukashevich, founder of UOC “Ukrainian Technological Company.”

Benzene and Aromatics

It is known that benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons are substances that can harm the fuel system and lead to its premature wear. Moreover, since benzene does not evaporate completely, it washes away the oil film in the engine, leading to increased cylinder wear. Of course, they harm the environment as well.

However, without aromatic hydrocarbons, it is impossible to produce high-quality gasoline because aromatics are secondary petroleum processing processes that provide a high-octane component. The downsides are the negative environmental impact, due to which the content of these components is limited in regulatory documents. In alternative gasolines, due to the 30% content of bioethanol, the aromatic hydrocarbons content can be reduced because alcohol has a high octane number. “The first advantage of alternative fuel is energy security. The second is people’s health. Adding ethanol to gasoline improves fuel quality in terms of exhaust emissions, reducing dioxin and carcinogen emissions. Third is feed production when producing bioethanol, enhancing food security. The fourth is the potential for increasing raw material production: corn, wheat, beet,” says Yevgeny Lukashevich.

Alcohol gasolines are produced according to TU; therefore, the manufacturer itself determines the limit quantities of these substances, such as benzene. Therefore, the assessment was based on the actual content, considering DSTU for improved 95, which does not allow benzene content over 1%. Practical absence of this harmful substance (0.23%) was found in the BRSM-nafta sample. Excellent result! But not the same could be said for colleagues. Avias has a benzene content of 1.2%, exceeding DSTU requirements, and BVS has even 2.6%. Such an amount can cause serious harm to the engine.

Corrosion Will Not Pass

One of the most important operational characteristics of alcohol fuel is its corrosion activity. The fact is, alcohol is a strong solvent and erodes rubber and plastic parts of the fuel system. To prevent this, a special additive should be added to biofuel, increasing the pH value. Overall, this indicator should be between 6 to 9 units. All participants passed this test, and the highest value (7.4 units) was found in the A-95E Premium+ fuel sample from the BRSM-nafta network. These indicators show that in terms of anticorrosion properties, alcohol gasoline is practically no different from regular gasoline and is harmless to the elastic rubber parts of the engine.

Volume Fraction of Ethers

After determining in the laboratory that two samples (Avias and BVS) are not “alcoholic”, the level of ether content and oxygen-containing additives was checked. The analysis showed that fuel from these two networks consists of 15 and 20.6 percent of this component, respectively. Adding such an amount of oxygen-containing components worsens the fuel’s calorific value, ultimately leading to reduced car dynamics and higher fuel consumption.

Results and Global Experience

The results showed that refueling with “alcohol” or “alternative” gasoline without risking one’s own car is possible and necessary. It is important to choose sellers of such fuel carefully. After all, they produce it themselves, and one can understand what it consists of only in a laboratory way. If a reliable seller is found, then one need not worry about gasoline quality, fuel consumption, and the car’s condition.

“Alcohol gasoline, as you know, has certain cleansing properties. With the first frost, I seemingly did not have this problem: no double starts, everything is in order. Always a reliable, easy start even in frosty weather, easy normal engine operation. They checked the plugs and filter condition at the service station — much better than using regular gasoline,” says auto expert, deputy editor of “Driving” magazine, Yaroslav Mąskówka, who has been refueling with “alcohol gasoline” for 3 years.

If alternative fuel has so many advantages, why hasn’t it become the sales leader in Ukraine yet? Experts cite several reasons: not all drivers know about it, it’s not available in all retail networks. Moreover, bioethanol in our country has become a scarecrow and is surrounded by myths. While the Ukrainian market continues debating whether it is harmful or beneficial, the world has long marched forward. In Brazil, 50% of vehicles use pure bioethanol, and others have 27%. All of Europe is already adding 10% alcohol to gasoline and intends to increase the content to 14% by 2030. China has stopped subsidies for the production of electric cars and purchased 6 million tons of corn from Ukraine for its own bioethanol production. For these purposes, the largest bioethanol plant in the world has been built in China. The country is third after the USA and Brazil in terms of bioethanol production and consumption.

“Only in Ukraine is this story intensively blocked with fakes and various nonsense that bioethanol is bad. 85% of European gasoline is gasoline with bioethanol addition. Brazilians introduced mandatory addition of 11% back in 1976 when all engines had carburetors. As a result, from 1976 to 2000, they saved over $90 billion on oil imports alone. For Ukraine, this is a gold mine,” says Taras Nikolaenko, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Bioethanol Producers Association.

Dmytro Sysoyev