How come ethanol free fuel has great availability in Iowa, but not in states like Pennsylvania?

thanks for the links to Pure-gas.

FYI, Any entry that says VP is the cans at $17-18 per gallon $85 to $95 per can.
The Sunoco station in Harrisville, sells leaded race gas According to the reports. So not to be used in anything with a converter. I think they also have Sunoco E-0 in 5 gal cans for the same $85-90. I usually buy the cans of VP from Razee Motorcycle Center or Karl’s East Coast speed.
RI is so small, if someone had legit unleaded E-0, word would get around quickly.


I would gladly pay $7-8-9 for 91 octane E-0 if some entrepreneurial station owner would reserve a tank for it.
 
how much is it a gallon?
I've found several E-0 gas pumps in Pennsylvania as well. E-0 90 octane is about 70 cents higher than 87 E-10 self serve. E-0 is much better for seasonal use engines/ carburetors but still goes bad. I was recently cursing up a storm as I repeatedly pulled the starter cord on my push mower that hasn't been started in about 2 years. It could have been avoided if I turned off the fuel valve and ran the carburetor bowl dry but I'm forgetful sometimes.
 
I am in Maryland just on the Pa border. About 10 minutes away is a station in Pa that sells ethanol free. I use it in my generator and push mower. Currently it is selling for about $4.00 per gallon. Usually around $3.89.
 
I'm in west central Pennsylvania. There had been only one station near me with non-ethanol gas, a Kwik Fill. Recently, Sheetz has started selling non-ethanol gas and most of those stations near me seem to have it. With so many Sheetz stores in Pennsylvania, non-ethanol should be easy to find now.
 
In CA even the 100 octane “race” gas has ethanol 😡. It’s street legal so that may be why

No necessarily. It makes sense because it brings the AKI octane up. The blending AKI octane number for ethanol is about 113 or more. It absolutely makes sense to use it for race gas, on top of having oxygen in the fuel.
 
This is a complex subject because of issues with supply, demand, and distribution. I mentioned that more E0 can be sold when there's less demand for higher octane fuel. The example I gave was about how 91 octane became the norm in California, but it's also about the availability of higher octane fuel streams and how that meets up with demand. Ethanol is by far the cheapest octane booster available for unleaded fuel.
 
Something I noticed during my travels over the past few years. Ethanol free fuel seems very available in Iowa, even in very small and remote gas stations. Non major corn producing states like Pennsylvania - it can take a lot of searching to find ethanol free fuel, and when one does, it is often at a very high price compared to ethanol blended unleaded.

I am guessing the agricultural equipment requires non-ethanol fuel is the reason Iowa has such abundance of ethanol free fuel for sale at reasonable price when compared to ethanol blended fuel. But still a bit surprised a top corn producing state has ethanol free so abundant, and non corn producing states do not have same access to ethanol free fuel.

most if not all of the Ag equipment runs on diesel. Getting no biodiesel in Iowa seems impossible. I have not found a station that has B5 or less in the last year. Now gasoline on the other hand, E0 is at many stations especially the Kwik Star's.

On the air side of things there are stickers on the pumps for gasoline with Ethanol that say something like "blended with up to XX% ethanol for cleaner air in Iowa" Ethanol is an oxygenator, not to mention corn plants help to clean the air just like trees do.

*** as a side not, love your avatar. I still listen to his pod casts. It was one of my many pleasures on Saturday night watching HNIC!

Just my $0.02
 
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On the air side of things there are stickers on the pumps for gasoline with Ethanol that say something like "blended with up to XX% ethanol for cleaner air in Iowa" Ethanol is an oxygenator, not to mention corn plants help to clean the air just like trees do.

They always say that, but in the end the primary commodity fuels are all meant to be blended with 10% ethanol, so one should assume it's the maximum.

We all know the drawbacks and a few understand the strengths. But the octane rating boost and oxygen in the fuel itself is a definite plus. Carmakers do a ton of stuff to try and get more oxygen into the engine, but in a (sort of) liquid form is actually quite nice. A lot of racers prefer higher ethanol fuel if they can tune for it.
 
They always say that, but in the end the primary commodity fuels are all meant to be blended with 10% ethanol, so one should assume it's the maximum.

We all know the drawbacks and a few understand the strengths. But the octane rating boost and oxygen in the fuel itself is a definite plus. Carmakers do a ton of stuff to try and get more oxygen into the engine, but in a (sort of) liquid form is actually quite nice. A lot of racers prefer higher ethanol fuel if they can tune for it.


In the Midwest here ethanol fuel like E85 is not very popular for racing because the quality and consistency of fuel is not there for race engines. Now methanol is a whole different beast... We live in Modified / Sprint Car country so methanol is king for them. It burns much cooler.

Just my $0.02
 
In the Midwest here ethanol fuel like E85 is not very popular for racing because the quality and consistency of fuel is not there for race engines. Now methanol is a whole different beast... We live in Modified / Sprint Car country so methanol is king for them. It burns much cooler.

Just my $0.02

Well - methanol is pretty much methanol. But E85 can be as low as 51% and as high as 83% ethanol. Lower ethanol is better for slightly higher mileage, but for performance the max ethanol would be ideal because the timing can be advanced and the other benefits of ethanol including getting more oxygen into the engine, and I heard cooling effects.

Still - some with Flex Fuel vehicles have reported better performance with E85, although it clearly will result in poorer mileage.
 
There are a good many gas sources in Pa. for E0. In some parts of the state there are little or none. I have 5 that are 8-10 miles from me in different directions.

The E0 stations in Pa. were fairly scarce until about 10-12 years ago. Some sort of agreement was made to allow distributors to sell the CBOB pipeline gas without the normal delivery dosing it gets with ethanol. Pipeline fuel is either 84 PON or 90 PON. The 91 went away a year or two ago. Somehow, there seems to a solo 89 PON E0 as well.

Besides the long time E0 independents who were usually all E0, some of the chains have added E0 pumps at many of their stations. The ones I see most often are Valero, Wawa and Rutters. Wawa is cheapest, priced about the same or less than E10 89. Rutter's is very high, currently at $3.98 for 90. About the same as their 93 PON E10. Interestingly, Rutter's seems to be the only ones with E15 and E85 pumps. The highest state fuel tax in the land doesn't help.
 
There are a good many gas sources in Pa. for E0. In some parts of the state there are little or none. I have 5 that are 8-10 miles from me in different directions.

The E0 stations in Pa. were fairly scarce until about 10-12 years ago. Some sort of agreement was made to allow distributors to sell the CBOB pipeline gas without the normal delivery dosing it gets with ethanol. Pipeline fuel is either 84 PON or 90 PON. The 91 went away a year or two ago. Somehow, there seems to a solo 89 PON E0 as well.

Besides the long time E0 independents who were usually all E0, some of the chains have added E0 pumps at many of their stations. The ones I see most often are Valero, Wawa and Rutters. Wawa is cheapest, priced about the same or less than E10 89. Rutter's is very high, currently at $3.98 for 90. About the same as their 93 PON E10. Interestingly, Rutter's seems to be the only ones with E15 and E85 pumps. The highest state fuel tax in the land doesn't help.

Are those labeled as “unbranded”? That’s pretty common because they didn’t purchase the fuel through their supplier agreement..
 
I beg to differ. I used to work in an oil terminal when MTBE was in some grades of gasoline, that stuff would eat Viton seals out of the valves and pumps!
My buddy used to drive tanker truck in Colorado when MTBE was mandated out there. Every time he delivered a load of PURE MTBE, it came up several gallons short. After a thorough investigation the MTBE was found to be actually evaporating through the pores of the aluminum tank! That's 1/4" of solid aluminum!
One time he was driving up a mountain pass pulling a load of MTBE. He had a tailwind but couldn't go very fast. He was eventually overcome by the vapors and passed out!
Then there were the groundwater contamination stories that the EPA came up with.
Trust me, The world is better off without this stuff!

Back to the original question. Non-eth fuel is pretty common here in Florida. Even the WaWa's have it. That is due to the number of boats that we have in this area.
Any experience with methyl tert-amyl ether (MTAE)? In Russia Rosneft goes from mtbe to mtae in gasoline.
 
Are those labeled as “unbranded”? That’s pretty common because they didn’t purchase the fuel through their supplier agreement..
The convenience store brands are sold under the store brand which are also fuel brands. So they would not be outside an agreement. Some are top tier, some not. The oil co. brands like Sunoco, etc, generally do not label the E0 pump(s) as their brand. Valero would be an exception to that for the ones I have seen. The demand surely seems to be there only considering the carbureted motorcycles, cars and home power equipment.
 
thanks for the links to Pure-gas.

FYI, Any entry that says VP is the cans at $17-18 per gallon $85 to $95 per can.
The Sunoco station in Harrisville, sells leaded race gas According to the reports. So not to be used in anything with a converter. I think they also have Sunoco E-0 in 5 gal cans for the same $85-90. I usually buy the cans of VP from Razee Motorcycle Center or Karl’s East Coast speed.
RI is so small, if someone had legit unleaded E-0, word would get around quickly.


I would gladly pay $7-8-9 for 91 octane E-0 if some entrepreneurial station owner would reserve a tank for it.
I found that gas station in Harrisville RI. They do have Sunoco branded 110 octane at one pump. The attendant said. It was lead and ethanol free. $9.99 a gallon. So less than buying the can of VP fuel.
I don’t need 110 octane for anything I own.
the guy said folks mix with the 94, but the 94 is E-10.
I don’t think 110 is high enough to hurt anything. It would be better to have 94 octane E-0 but I can mix the VP fuel and the 110.
 
Something I noticed during my travels over the past few years. Ethanol free fuel seems very available in Iowa, even in very small and remote gas stations. Non major corn producing states like Pennsylvania - it can take a lot of searching to find ethanol free fuel, and when one does, it is often at a very high price compared to ethanol blended unleaded.

I am guessing the agricultural equipment requires non-ethanol fuel is the reason Iowa has such abundance of ethanol free fuel for sale at reasonable price when compared to ethanol blended fuel. But still a bit surprised a top corn producing state has ethanol free so abundant, and non corn producing states do not have same access to ethanol free fuel.
We simply have a whole bunch of corn here. Male Corn and female corn.
 
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