New study suggests ordinary cars could handle gasoline blend with 20 percent ethanol

The highest ethanol blend of gasoline now allowed for use in ordinary cars has 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. A new study suggests those same cars could operate on "higher blends than now allowed without damaging auto parts," reports Philip Brasher of the Washington bureau of The Des Moines Register.

Commissioned by the ethanol industry and the state of Minnesota, the study investigated how 80 cars driven by University of Minnesota employees handled different blends of ethanol. "Cars running on a mix of 80 percent gasoline and 20 percent ethanol, a blend known as E20, also showed 'similar and performance' to autos running on a traditional blend of 10 percent ethanol, researchers said," Brasher writes.

Minnesota has mandated that all gasoline sold in the state contain 20 percent ethanol by 2013, but "automakers have resisted allowing the higher ethanol blends, warning that they could damage car parts, and there also are concerns that the additional ethanol could increase air pollution and harm the small engines used in boats, lawnmowers and snowmobiles," Brasher adds. (Read more)