Distribution

Distribution net work

Filling pumps for ethanol

Ethanol

Pure ethanol as a substitute for diesel

The technique to use ethanol was first developed by Scania. The Swedish manufacturers made use of the one and only technique, blend of ignition improver in ethanol with water content. In USA, Detroit Diesel has tried another method, i.e. supplying their engines with spark plugs and using a fuel that is purely free from water content.

Low emissions
In Sweden, fifteen bus stations decided to obtain ethanol driven busses for public transport without any state aid on an experimental basis. A survey of the emissions from these tests show that there is a reduction in sulphur oxide, carbon dioxide and also lower emission of particles of hydro carbon and coal monoxide. Medical investigations have been done and it shows that there is very low biological activity in the exhaust fumes, which means reduced risks for gene damage and developing cancer.

Many attempts in Sweden
Experiments with ethanol driven buses was done in Örnsköldsvik in 1985 with two buses. In Stockholm in 1991, the first fleet of 32 buses were rejected, but today it has increased and is the world's largest ethanol bus fleet. Two towns in the province of Skaraborg, Skövde and Mariestad have been part of an experiment with 15 ethanol buses. Ethanol buses used for public transport run on a commercial basis without any state aid and are substituted for old buses and new routes are added.
An experiment was also carried out with two garbage trucks as part of the Svenol project, one in Örnsköldsvik and another in Södertörn, with two trucks in Växjo. These four trucks were part of a project involving seven vehicles with Volvo truck engines, tests financed by KFB, which were converted for ethanol usage by Chalmers Technical University. The results were not promising and Volvo decided to continue a series production of the engines. In 1998 Volvo carried out an experiment with two gas turbine driven hybrid buses in Gothenburg and the gas turbines were driven with ethanol fuel.

... and in the world
In Europe, ethanol driven buses have been tested in Tours, France and in Holland. In USA there are a few buses and trucks that are ethanol driven in the state of Illinois. In Los Angeles, there was a large fleet of busses that were methanol driven, but after a short period due to problems with corrosion and heath problems caused by methanol, switched over to ethanol. These attempts have been concluded and the buses are driven on diesel.