In having some petrol blended in it, the consumption penalty falls to 25% to 30% when a car is fuelled with E85.
But, to meet Brazil's supply problems, carmakers there, already familiar with the stuff, in 2003 brought in "flex-fuel" engines that can run on any ethanol-petrol blend you like; at present 75% to 25% is standard.
To achieve this, a computational fluid dynamics model is developed to study the effect of perforation on exhaust performance of a turbo pipe type straight and elliptic muffler, fitted to engine running on petrol-methanol blend.
Between 2005 and 2009 the tax credit for blending petrol with ethanol cost $17 billion.
Since the world has far more natural gas left than oil much of it outside the Middle East making fuel in this way would greatly increase the world's remaining supplies of oil.So, too, would blending petrol or diesel with ethanol and biodiesel made from agricultural crops, or with fuel made from Canada's "tar sands" or America's shale oil.
Frenzied ethanol production was nearing 10% of all petrol demand, the dreaded "blend wall".
The most common by far is E10, a blend of petrol containing up to 10% ethanol.
From April Sir Richard's countrymen will begin filling their cars with a blend of petrol and biofuel, as part of the government's plan to ensure that 5% of Britain's transport runs on fuel made from plants by 2010.Transport accounts for around 20% of Britain's planet-warming carbon emissions.
But a certain amount of ethanol still has to be blended with petrol by law.
American law requires that a set amount is blended with petrol.
More flex-fuel vehicles, which can take up to 85% ethanol blended with petrol, would be particularly sensible.
