It was considered a 10 per cent blended biofuel (means 10 per cent of a litre of fuel contains ethanol) would be acceptable for the mainstream fleet provided they had fuel injection engine systems and not the old-fashioned carburettors fitted.
Gull New Zealand is the biggest distributor of ethanol blended biofuel in NZ and its general manager Dave Bodger still uses the fuel injection recommendation for their customers.
"Carburettors are the rule of thumb - if you have one then don't use ethanol blended fuel. Plus, for two-stroke engines, you also need an E10 compatible oil," he says.
And those guidelines are in general what the industry still stand by today and history would seem to suggest there have been no major mechanical problems.
The ethanol that Gull uses is produced from dairy by-products and supplied by Fonterra.
Bodger sums it all up simply when he says "it all originates from grass and grass absorbs carbon as it grows, hence the environmental benefits".
The majority of ethanol blended petrol is sold as Gull Force 10 and competes against the higher 98-octane fuel. Gull did market the lower 91 octane as a blended biofuel but stopped due to overseas supply issues.
Ethanol is also an octane booster and can enhance performance due to the increase in oxygen in the fuel but the slight negative is there can be around a 2.5 per cent increase in fuel consumption.
We shouldn't forget also that the majority of the vehicles on our roads can run happily on 91-octane fuel while many of the "others" will accept 95 octane as a minimum fuel requirement. So the choice to use Gull's ethanol blended biofuel can come down to an environmental decision (it emits up to 8 per cent less carbon dioxide than other high-octane fuels) or simply a cost or convenience factor.
The good news from a technical point of view is that if used on suitable vehicles, there appears to be no extra risk of experiencing any fuel quality related mechanical issues.
Gull also sell, at selected sites, Gull Force Pro which is a special high-performance petrol biofuel made from 85 per cent bioethanol mixed with 15 per cent premium petrol (with corrosion inhibitor also added). It is designed for use in specific Flexible Fuel (FlexFuel) vehicles which are able to tolerate any blend from E10 to E85 in addition to normal petrol.
Gull also retail a biodiesel product called Diesel Max at five of its 60 outlets. The biodiesel contains up to a 5 per cent blend which originates from used cooking oil and is produced in Australia.
• Fuel quality standards in NZ are monitored by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment so they comply with specifications set out in the Engine Fuel Specification Regulations. The regulations specify limits on a number of critical properties for premium and regular petrol grades, diesel, and biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol. The main focus of the programme is to sample and test the quality of fuels sold to consumers, and sampling is at dispenser nozzles at point of sale.
