Ethanol/Methanol as Fuel in SA - Where?

[LCBXX]

I watched a documentary on Netflix (PUMP) and was surprised on how Brazil has legislation on place whereby every fuel station needs to have at least 1 pump that dispenses Ethanol, together with all cars made after a certain date being mandatory compatible with either Petrol and Ethanol, or a combination of both.

A Google search finds mainly sellers of Ethanol for Bio-Firelaces and such, but nothing on actual fuel for petrol-powered cars. There are plenty of suppliers of Bio-Diesel, though.

I'm mainly interested in running my generator on the stuff as opposed to my car. Any tips on where I could find Ethanol/Methanol supplies for automotive use, or read up more on it?

 

[Sinbad]

You can get Methanol from Protea Chemicals, and probably ethanol as well. However, I wouldn't use it in your generator, your engine has to be specially tuned for it, and it costs more than petrol (and your consumption is higher than with petrol due to lower energy density)

 

[Segg]

Not to mention the stuff is quite corrosive

 

[LCBXX]

I think you guys need to watch the doccie to see what I am on about.

In summary:
IndyCars have been running on Methanol for over 30 years, with Ethanol being used as a racing fuel since the 60's as it is extinguishable using water - IndyCars since 2007 now run on it as Methanol burns with an invisible flame.
The pump price per gallon or litre for 85%-Ethanol/15%-Petrol blend is at most half that of 93 Ocatane in both the US and Brazil.
Ethanol is by-product when grain is refined for Cattle Feed. The vast majority of cars since 2009 already feature ECU Mappings to use Ethanol.

 

[Segg]

It's an absolute dream fuel, apart from it being very very corrosive, owners of light aircraft are in a bit of trouble as Avgas is soon going to be phased out, which means normal mogas is going to be used, but because the Mogas isn't leaded and will have an ethanol blend (I think by 2020 in SA) a whole lot of aircraft engines are going to be somewhat incompatible, you can see this right now with the amount of piston twins on the market for less than most luxury cars these days. I'm not saying the won't run, but the red tape involved, and the reported cases of using ethanol blends in these engines highlighted the problem of corrosion, apparently some car manufacturers are seeing similar corrosion related damage to their new cars engines.

But at the end of the day it's a necessary move, as oil is going to just keep getting more and more expensive

 

[LCBXX]

I am not sure whether Ethanol will become mainstream in aviation, especially since it is such a magnet for water, in addition to being corrosive. I reckon we'll see either a push for 100UL or similar by 2020 and a transition to JETA1 - I see Cessna is already taking orders for the Skylane JTA.

My question is around the availability, or lack thereof, of general Methanol engine fuels in SA. With the constant bitching about the price of petrol one would expect the product, in various blends, to takeoff.

 

[Ockie]

I think South Africa is busy introducing a law that will mandate a 5% ethanol content in our petrol soon.

I have read that Butanol is a better bio fuel to use. Not as corrosive, has got a higher energy content also and can be used as a drop in fuel as opposed to ethanol that might require piping changes in older cars. Its octane rating is a bit lower than ethanol though, but still on par with what we have now or a little bit higher. Think it is in the 97 range if not mistaken.

 

[Segg]

I am not sure whether Ethanol will become mainstream in aviation, especially since it is such a magnet for water, in addition to being corrosive. I reckon we'll see either a push for 100UL or similar by 2020 and a transition to JETA1 - I see Cessna is already taking orders for the Skylane JTA.

My question is around the availability, or lack thereof, of general Methanol engine fuels in SA. With the constant bitching about the price of petrol one would expect the product, in various blends, to takeoff.

Surely using UL in LL engines is going to cause more excessive ware unless all engines undergo a mogas conversion, and also AFAIK there is supposed to be a mandated ethanol blend in all mogas fuels by 2020, the biggest problem being companies who will actually supply the fuels

Regarding Jet fuel, don't we have Jet A1 here (as we don't operate in excessively cold winter conditions) and the A2 is designed for colder climates?