Flex-Fuel: Everything You Have to Know

Flex-fuel is an alternate fuel that combines regular petrol with either methanol or ethanol. This fuel combination is stored in the exact same tank of fuel and is employed by the engine as a blended fuel. This is on the other hand to CNG fuel systems which store petrol and CNG in separate tanks and are employed separately by the engine. The ratio of ethanol to petrol can be adjusted to be any combination from full petrol to full ethanol to everything in between. The most commonly used flex-fuels use 85% ethanol and 15% petrol but this ratio can be adjusted to feature more petrol to prevent cold starting problems in cold areas. Know more about ethanol fuel distributor.

Unlike CNG cars, flex-fuel requires minimal modifications to the fuel system and engine to effectively use the fuel. What this means is flex-fuel compatibility needs to be factory-engineered and can not be fitted in the after-market. The changes to the fuel system and engine are meant to make the engines resistant to ethanol, which is often corrosive to engines. For consumers, this implies hardly any change in the direction they drive, which can help mass adoption of the fuel at a rapid rate.

What Is Flex Fuel?
Flex Fuel, also referred to as E85, is a fuel mixture made of gasoline and between 51-83 percent ethanol. E85 can only be found in Flex Fuel vehicles which have been created specifically to make use of this kind of fuel.

What Is Ethanol?
Ethanol is undrinkable clear grain alcohol harvested from starchy and sugary plants such as corn, sugarcane, sorghum, barley, and others. In the U.S., most ethanol comes from corn fermentation. Ethanol is known as a renewable fuel since it is made from biomass, or plant matter, rather than fossil fuels.

A Flex Fuel Vehicle (FFV) is a vehicle that's been specifically designed to drive using E85 fuel. FFVs are just like common gasoline vehicles, apart from a few altered parts, and many FFVs can optionally run using regular gasoline making them easier to live with day in and day out.

For example, the Ford F-150 is available with Flex Fuel powertrains, the 3.3-liter and 5.0-liter engines. To allow for E85, Flex Fuel F150s have unique fuel lines with a nickel coating inside diameter of the lines. There is also higher volume fuel pumps and fuel delivery modules with aluminum rotors in comparison to composite rotors.