I've been pretty busy lately so I haven't had time to finish any of my additions to this article. I do, however, have a little to add regarding recent comments.
I have checked into distilling ethanol for personal use as a fuel. It is quite a simple process to obtain the proper permit to distill alcohol for use as a fuel. I went as far as obtaining an application for obtaining such permit. As far as I can tell, there aren't even any fees for applying for a permit and unless you are capable of producing more than 10,000 gallons per year there are no taxes either. The agency responsible for issuing permits and enforcing the law is obviously the BATF. Almost all of the "red tape" involved concerns safety and security and is very simple. You must provide them with detailed information regarding the capacity of your still, where it and the alcohol are housed, the security measures in place to prevent theft, the property and layout of the property where the still will be located, and what materials will be used to make the alcohol from. They also provide you with a list of approved chemicals and proper amounts that must be used to denature the alcohol rendering it unfit for human consumption. The only thing that has kept me from following through with distilling my own alcohol for use as a fuel is the cost of building a highly efficient still and the building to house everything.
The general availability of E85 is increasing, but, like any other consumer product, it is also a matter of supply and demand. The largest inhibiting factor in keeping E85 from being available on a larger scale currently is a lack of enough distilling plants to produce an adequate supply. There isn't really a dedicated infrastructure for fuel alcohol at this time and new plants aren't being constructed at a rate anywhere near high enough to create this infrastructure. So, it doesn't matter how many flex-fuel vehicles that auto manufacturers produce under pressure from the government if there isn't any E85 available for them to run on. Generally speaking, the number of gas stations that sell E85 is increasing. But, in more rural areas where there isn't a demand for E85, gas stations that aren't selling enough will stop offering it because it is basically money that they have tied up sitting in underground tanks. Unlike gas, E85 is purchased from outside sources so it isn't as profitable especially if it is only sold in low volumes. While this mainly applies to "branded" gas stations even if they are independently owned, it still affects small indepent stores due to the costs involved with installing or converting dedicated tanks and pumps. Another issue with the supply of alcohol is an adequate supply of the raw materials used to produce it. The most common material used in the production of alcohol in the U.S. is corn, more specifically "grain corn" or "feed corn". There is much controversy over wether the use of corn for alcohol production depletes the supply needed for agricultural and food manufacturing thus driving up costs. Regardless of wether this is true or not, finding another source from which alcohol can be produced that is abundant and cost effective would greatly aid in increased production and lower costs. Switch grass is capable of being that source, but the actual process of producing alcohol from it on a large scale is still in the experimental phase. This means that it could be years before we see a significant increase of alcohol production facilities. Circling back around to distilling alcohol yourself, it is very possible and can be cost effective. In order for anyone to be successful at maintaining their own supply of alcohol for fuel one must carefully plan out every detail and be dedicated. In the meanwhile, I still hope for the successful establishment of the infrastructure needed.
A naturally aspirated engine can benefit from the use of E85, but in order to take full advantage of it's benefits the engine needs to be purpose-built specifically for E85. Like I stated in my article, the effective octane rating of E85 is fairly high for a few reasons. A healthy increase in compression and the proper ignition timing can go pretty far in respect to efficiency. You have to remember that alcohol burns at lower temperatures than gas but is harder to ignite and also burns more completely. This means that an engine built specifically for E85 can produce more power while not necessarily consuming more fuel.
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