They're up to 20% ethanol around here now. Biggest problem with ethanol is that it absorbs water which can lead to corrosion or poor ignition. It takes a while so it really isn't a problem unless the car is sitting for months ... like many cars up in the North-East here do in the winter time.
An no, Nitrogen is not flammable. Nitrous oxide isn't flammable either for that matter, but it does contain a lot of oxygen which will increase the burn efficiency of a fuel and because it leaves the bottle so cold will drop the temperature of the charge. I have no idea what the Shell nitrogen enriched fuel supposedly does. They might be using the nitrogen to help "clean up" as it will have a tendency to bond to other elements at high temperatures.
So if anyone knows which suppliers have the lowest ethanol content in the North-East please let us know.
|