Gasohol E20 to be base-grade fuel in 6 months

[webfact]

Gasohol E20 to be base-grade fuel in 6 months

By The Nation

 

 

Thailand’s six oil refineries have agreed on a new specification for base-grade petrol (G-Base), the Energy Ministry said on Monday.

 

The ministry’s Department of Energy Business will now discuss the new G-Base specifications with automotive industry operators and manufacturers, as part of a move to promote gasohol E20 as a base-grade petrol.

 

“If all parties agree, the department will issue a new draft specification for G-Base petrol quality around April 2021 for refineries to prepare for the adjustment to G-Base,” said department director-general Nanthika Tansupanich.

 

“About three months later, every filling station nationwide should be selling E20 as base fuel. This process will be completed around July-August 2021.”

 

Meanwhile the Energy Ministry is now rolling out the Thailand Integrated Energy Blueprint (TEIB) to combine all five energy plans into one plan. The blueprint will contain a new fuel plan that incorporates the affect of electric vehicles (EVs) on affect future fuel consumption.

 

The department has also prepared preliminary safety standards for EV charging stations in consultation with stakeholders, with implementation expected next year.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30400347

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-12-29

 

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[jastheace]

base grade? no more E10? time to trade the 10 yr old click in?

[PETERTHEEATER]

11 hours ago, jastheace said:

base grade? no more E10? time to trade the 10 yr old click in?

Just fill your tank to 3/4 full with E20 then top off with straight gasoline.

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Just fill your tank to 3/4 full with E20 then top off with straight gasoline.

And a touch of Castrol R.

Makes no difference but what a wonderful smell.

[fantom]

And where and how is this alcohol made? From corn and sugar cane that needs oil based fertilizer and when grown the residue is burnt making choking fine particles that blankets the country.

 

Clean 'green' fuel?      Don't make me laugh.

[KannikaP]

59 minutes ago, overherebc said:

And a touch of Castrol R.

Makes no difference but what a wonderful smell.

And a shot of REDEX!

[eisfeld]

2 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Just fill your tank to 3/4 full with E20 then top off with straight gasoline.

 

3/4*0.2 = 0.15. You'd need to fill half the tank with E20 and then the other half with alcohol-free gasoline.

[billd766]

3 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Just fill your tank to 3/4 full with E20 then top off with straight gasoline.

Where will you find "straight" gasoline?

 

As a side effect how will it affect ancillary engines. 4 stroke water pumps, brush cutters, generators et al, also how will affect 2 stroke motors. 2 stroke motor bikes, brush cutters, chain saws etc?

[KhunBENQ]

If only I could understand what this article means except that all(!) filling stations should offer E20.

I doubt they will abolish E10 fuel (gasohol 95) within a short time frame.

They did not even manage to get rid of 91 octane. Highly overdue, maybe connected?

Instead having a confusing four different types of Diesel. Silly.

Many filling stations don't have enough separate tanks for this colorful mix.

[KhunBENQ]

39 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Where will you find "straight" gasoline?

Rare outside major centers. Major PTT and many Susco stations still have it.

My next station for that would be about 20 km away.

[jastheace]

21 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

If only I could understand what this article means except that all(!) filling stations should offer E20.

I doubt they will abolish E10 fuel (gasohol 95) within a short time frame.

They did not even manage to get rid of 91 octane. Highly overdue, maybe connected?

Instead having a confusing four different types of Diesel. Silly.

Many filling stations don't have enough separate tanks for this colorful mix.

thanks. i get it now.... i think. ALL gas stations have to have the offering of E20, other grades up to demand and facilties. some PTT have or had 4 (or more) choices of gasoline/ petrol/ benzene mixes, so i guess not the end of E10 or lower ethanol content fuels. doesn't rule out higher taxes on those obviously.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Rare outside major centers. Major PTT and many Susco stations still have it.

My next station for that would be about 20 km away.

My nearest would be about 60 km away.

[Artisi]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

Where will you find "straight" gasoline?

 

As a side effect how will it affect ancillary engines. 4 stroke water pumps, brush cutters, generators et al, also how will affect 2 stroke motors. 2 stroke motor bikes, brush cutters, chain saws etc?

This is Thailand and nobody gives a rats a rse about such minor details when they have their sights set on something. 

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Your engine can actually be destroyed if the ethanol content in the fuel you use is too high.  That’s one reason AAA has come out against the new 15% ethanol blends. I you own an old car, this twenty percent ethanol mix can destroy your car engine .

[eisfeld]

2 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

If only I could understand what this article means except that all(!) filling stations should offer E20.

I doubt they will abolish E10 fuel (gasohol 95) within a short time frame.

They did not even manage to get rid of 91 octane. Highly overdue, maybe connected?

Instead having a confusing four different types of Diesel. Silly.

Many filling stations don't have enough separate tanks for this colorful mix.

E10 is not Gasohol 95 though Gasohol 95 in Thailand is E10 but Gasohol 91 is also E10. There are two different numbers. E10 means 10% Ethanol. 95 means 95 octane. Octane is a number that specifies how much you can compress the fuel before it will ignite itself. Removing 91 octane fuel from the market is not highly overdue, why would it? It's a waste to put 95 octane fuel in an engine that is fine with 91. 95 octane is required for engines with higher compression ratio, I'm not aware of any scooter that needs this. E20 (20% ethanol) in Thailand is rated at 95 octane.

 

So, we have:

 

Benzine (E0)

Gasohol 91 (E10)

Gasohol 95 (E10)

E20 (95 octane)

 

The government wants to slowly replace Gasohol 91 with E20. And for older engines that can't handle E20, Gasohol 95 will be the slightly more expensive fuel to use. E20 has lower cost but increases consumption per kilometer. It should still be a bit cheaper overall.

 

The reason why Thailand wants to push for higher Ethanol content is that its produced from sugar cane molasses which they have plenty of local production of. Brazil has done this for over 30 years, mostly for the same reason.

[KhunBENQ]

11 hours ago, eisfeld said:

Removing 91 octane fuel from the market is not highly overdue, why would it?

I am well aware what octane and E numbers means. But thanks anyway for the lesson.

91 octane has been abolished in most oif not all countries in Europe since about 10 years.

The price difference to 95 octane (in Thailand) is marginal (as you stated).

Unnecessary logistic effort with refinery, transport and tanks. That's the waste.

It's simply needless.

They had published a plan to out-phase it in autumn 2020.

Postponed due to shortage/price hike of ethanol.

E20 is of course not a replacement for older engines that ran on E10 91 octane.

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

11 hours ago, eisfeld said:

E20 has lower cost but increases consumption per kilometer. It should still be a bit cheaper overall.

I had used E20 for about 8 years when the price difference was 2.5 to 3 Baht.

I dropped it and switched to Gasohol 95 since the difference is 1.5 Baht only which does not pay for my car.

(I had done some comparison when the car was new)

[Crossy]

For those with small engines that don't like alcohol fuels:-

 

 

[sanuk711]

My car (Honda Accord 2014) takes 85% Ethanol, its very cheap and, seems to get more millage than petrol. Many people speak out against Bio fuels through---they feel that it would be driving up the price of Agricultural products to  the main population.

[mickyr55]

12 hours ago, eisfeld said:

E10 is not Gasohol 95 though Gasohol 95 in Thailand is E10 but Gasohol 91 is also E10. There are two different numbers. E10 means 10% Ethanol. 95 means 95 octane. Octane is a number that specifies how much you can compress the fuel before it will ignite itself. Removing 91 octane fuel from the market is not highly overdue, why would it? It's a waste to put 95 octane fuel in an engine that is fine with 91. 95 octane is required for engines with higher compression ratio, I'm not aware of any scooter that needs this. E20 (20% ethanol) in Thailand is rated at 95 octane.

 

So, we have:

 

Benzine (E0)

Gasohol 91 (E10)

Gasohol 95 (E10)

E20 (95 octane)

 

The government wants to slowly replace Gasohol 91 with E20. And for older engines that can't handle E20, Gasohol 95 will be the slightly more expensive fuel to use. E20 has lower cost but increases consumption per kilometer. It should still be a bit cheaper overall.

 

The reason why Thailand wants to push for higher Ethanol content is that its produced from sugar cane molasses which they have plenty of local production of. Brazil has done this for over 30 years, mostly for the same reason.

You say E20 increases fuel consumption I have the latest Honda 1 litre turbo engine and I  average 19.5kms per litre of mixed driving going up to 21+ on motorway, don't think that is too bad. 

[eisfeld]

5 hours ago, mickyr55 said:

You say E20 increases fuel consumption I have the latest Honda 1 litre turbo engine and I  average 19.5kms per litre of mixed driving going up to 21+ on motorway, don't think that is too bad. 

The increase in consumption isn't big (single digit percentage) and like I said overall it should be still cheaper. You didn't mention what your milage is using E10. For most people this change really will have not much impact at all. If anything it will push more people to go for E20 because most modern engines are totally fine with it but the vast majority still will go for the Gasohol 91 E10 blend out of habit.

 

6 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

I am well aware what octane and E numbers means. But thanks anyway for the lesson.

91 octane has been abolished in most oif not all countries in Europe since about 10 years.

The price difference to 95 octane (in Thailand) is marginal (as you stated).

Unnecessary logistic effort with refinery, transport and tanks. That's the waste.

It's simply needless.

They had published a plan to out-phase it in autumn 2020.

Postponed due to shortage/price hike of ethanol.

E20 is of course not a replacement for older engines that ran on E10 91 octane.

No offence, your post just seemed unclear regarding the E vs Octane thing. Yes, the added logistics plus propping up the local ethanol production are the reasons Thailand wants to get rid of Gasohol 91. Keep in mind though that scooters are usually not capable of using E20 so they'll be forced to use Gasohol 95 which is right now something like 1% more expensive and unecessary for their engines, at least the user manual of my Honda Click said E10 is the limit. Many people wont care about 1% higher prices especially with the crazy fluctuations these days but of course on the national level it's quite a bit of baht. Indeed I see some scooter owners asking for 95 at the station which is unnecessary and whenever I asked why, they seemed to believe it somehow results in more power or being better for their engine which is not true of course. PTT is state owned so the state has an incentive to reduce their costs and increase profits. Europe also will do everything they can to reduce their reliance on imported oil vs local ethanol production. Pretty much everyone apart from the big oil producing countries wants the same. Of course in a few years that whole dynamic will change when things get electrified. Hope Thailand finally gets into gear and promotes some proper local production for batteries etc.