Evening star., 1933-08-27
PROPONENTS of blending alcohol
with gasoline might as we'll lool,
for some other method of aiding
IL hntr IIranlt In

lOT SOME OlIleL lllCIllOu Va uioAAAe
i the farmer unless they want to
90 against the final and COM
plete report made on the subject last
week by officials of the Bureau OF
Standards.
Finding of their tests were unofflclally
announced some time ago, but support
ers of the proposed blend failed to SLID
side. Now, that the same flndlngS are
made official it does not seem likely that
further agitation will be raised.
The bureaus report is unbiased ard
should be final, if the Government sci,
entists are believed to be efficient, ana
nobody doubts that.
According to the report furnished by
the Associated Press printed in The star
Wednesday. scientists of the Bureau o.
Standards said the use of blends of al
cohol and gasoline instead OF pure gaSo-
line as motor fuel has more dlSadVan-
tages than advantages from the stand
point of motor operation. Their findings
are based On recent tests conducted by
the bureau in cooperation with the
American Automobile Association here
The experiments were made purely to
test technical performance of alcohol
blends in motors, it was pointed OUT,
and have no relation to desirability o.
using alcohol-gasoline blends from the
standpoint of providing a market for
farm wastes or other economic cOnSlo-
erationS.
Starting Made Difficult.
The chief advantage of alcohol-gaso-
line blends on the basis of efficiency as
determined by these experts is that they
have a higher anti-knOck value than
ordinary straight" gasoline. On the
other hand. tests made at the bureau
show there is a tendency for the blends
to corrode tanks and fuel lines and t.
separate into layers of alcohol and
gasoline, making starting difficult.
Road tests made by the bureau with
10 per cent alcohol gasoline blends and
ordinary gasoline in several typical mod
els of automobiles showed no signifi-
cant change in the miles per gallon un-
der normal operating conditions when
the blend was substituted fOc ordinary
gasoline.
There was small loss in accelera-
ton or getaway when the alcohol blend
was used. To obtain the same accelel d.
ton frcm the alcohol blend as from Or
dinary gasoline, it was found necessary
to adjust the CarburetOr in such way
that the alcohol blend then gave an
average of 4 per cent fewer miles per
gallon than the gasoline.
Gasoline with 10 to Is per cent alco-
hol added was found to have about the
same anti-knock value as the special
anti-knock gasolines Gasoline contain
ing this amount of alcohol would aver
age in cost about the same as anti
knock gasolineS now sold. which in gen.
eral cost about 3 cents per gallon more
than straight gasoline
"Vapor Lock" Seen.
Alcohol blends are more likely to
give trouble from "yapor lOck'-collec-
ton of vapor in fuel lines with result
ing stoppage of engines by the
bureau showed Adjustments of the
blend can be made to offset this but
would add to the fuel costs, bureau
scientists explain. Starting engines
was found somewhat more difficult with
alcohol blends.
Tests made several years ago showed
alcohol blends have a tendency to cor
rode fuel tanks and pipes. the scientists
went en-. This might be overcome by
using some new material for tanks and
pipes. but of course would require
changes in existing motor cars. There
is also a possibility that corrosion
might be prevented by adding some
thing to the gasoline.
Chemical Society to Meet
Along this line progress in petroleum
technology will be reported to the Divl-
sion of Petroleum Chemistry of the
American Chemical Society at the So
cietys 86th meeting at Chicago, Sep
tember 10 to IS.
The knock rating of ga5olines has
increased rapidly. says summary OF
recent developments made public by
the division, Of which F. w. Sullivan
is chairman. The increase has been
effected by reforming of heavy straight
run napthas and more recently. by the
use of tetraethyl lead in nonpremium
fuels.
A new method for the determination
of knock ratings of gasolines has been
developed by the Cooperative Fuel
Research Committee after exhaustive
research and tentatively adopted by the
American Society CT Testing Materials.
The new procedure is simple to carry
out and affords better correlation with
car performance. Ratings by the new
method are somewhat lower than those