Biofuel damage to fuel tanks

Created by doina. Last modified on 2008-04-28 16:05:37
Topic: Environment

A Los Angeles firm has filed a class-action law suit against US oil companies on behalf of Californian boater owners with fibreglass fuel tanks. Some fibreglass fuel tanks can be dissolved by ethanol enhanced fuel and the flow of the dissolved mixture then damages the engine, causing damage that can costs thousands of dollars.

The presence of ethanol in gasoline or methanol in diesel (biodiesel) is a serious problem for boat owners. Corn based ethanol has been in the US since 2005 in an effort to lower vehicle emissions, and unsuspecting boat owners have been using this type of fuel.

BoatUS has published the results of tests on the impact of ethanol on fibreglass tanks. See:

http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/fueltest.asp