As you know for gasoline the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio is 14.7 to 1.0 and for ethanol the air/fuel ratio is 9.0 to 1.0. Therefore, adding ethanol to gasoline will cause the mixture to lean out when using a fixed orifice carburetor. That is to say ethanol requires a larger orifice to flow more fuel.
For 10 gallons of E-10 we have; 1 gallon of ethanol and 9 gallons of gasoline. Therefore, the stoichiometric ratio becomes, [(9 x 14.7) + (1 x 9.0)] / 10 = 14.1 or a lean out of approximately 4%. Most engines can tolerate this which is why E-10 can be used in carbureted engines designed for gasoline only.
The octane rating of ethanol is 105 to 110 so as you increase the ethanol percentage the octane rating of the ethanol/gasoilne mixture moves toward that of straight ethanol.
Ethanol cools the intake charge due to it's higher latent heat of vaporization, 396 btu/lb versus 150 btu/lb for gasoline. Therefore, the engine combustion temperature is reduced over that for gasoline alone.
As for the separation issue I would suggest you experiment for yourself (you will anyway) with various ethanol/gasoline percentages by adding water to them. Compare the ethanol/gasoline mixtures to straight gasoline - I think you will be surprised how well the ethanol mixtures tolerate water.
As for ethanol damage to rubber components, if you are concerned, simply install a shut off in the fuel line. Shut off the fuel and run the system dry before shutting down or long term storage.
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Today's Featured Article - Oil Bath Air Filters - by Chris Pratt. Some of us grew up thinking that an air filter was a paper thing that allowed air to pass while trapping dirt particles of a particles of a certain size. What a surprise to open up your first old tractor's air filter case and find a can that appears to be filled with the scrap metal swept from around a machine shop metal lathe. To top that off, you have a cup with oil in it ("why would you want to lubricate your carburetor?"). On closer examination (and some reading in a AC D-14 service manual), I found out that this is a pretty ingenious method of cleaning the air in the tractor's intake tract.
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