Yellow Flags Ethanol Gas Station

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In the not-too-distant past, people were not concerned with using ethanol in their vehicles, as there were very few ethanol gas stations, except in certain states in the corn belt. Today the spread of ethanol as a fuel has more ethanol gas stations in more states and their number is growing almost daily.

Generally, the public will want to know what they are putting in their vehicles and to denote gasoline mixed with ethanol, the color yellow is being used. Since it is the same color as the corn, with which ethanol is made, it is not unusual to see a yellow corn stalk on gas pumps at ethanol gas stations. Most stations are not going to install a separate storage tank for gasoline blended with ethanol rather they will simply add it to their current storage capacity with the ethanol designation.

The use of ethanol as a gasoline additive is not new, however its use outside the corn belt is slowly growing, mainly because until recently there was not enough ethanol production to supply more than a few ethanol gas stations and they were generally close to the ethanol refineries.

Cleaner, More Efficient Burning With Ethanol

Environmentalists applaud ethanol due to it renewable source as well the fact it burns cleaner that gasoline, reducing the amount of toxic emissions from care and trucks. Power advocates appreciate that ethanol can add two or even three points to the octane rating of straight gasoline however there is a minor loss of horsepower in straight ethanol, when mixed with gasoline, there is none. With the additional ethanol gas stations popping up nationwide, the use will spread.

As more manufacturing facilities come on line in the near future, the availability of E-10 at ethanol gas stations will continue to grow and more people will use it. E-10 is the designation given to gasoline containing a 10 percent blend of ethanol. In diesel-powered vehicles, the blend can be as high as 85 percent, known as E-85, is those engines are designed to burn the more raw diesel fuel.

By the year 2012 the government is pushing for the use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol mixed with gasoline to help make the country less dependent on non-renewable resources, such as oil, as well as on foreign oil to provide gasoline. Refineries are under construction to help manufacturers meet the future demands nationwide.