Having run my Landcruiser on 100% Biodiesel for the past 4 years, I've heard all sorts of rubbish about how Biofuels will ruin engines. BS!!
The current Federal Standard allows for
the proportion ethanol blend in ANY petrol product to be up to 10% and still be acceptably defined and sold as "Unleaded Petrol", Australia wide. Within NSW, the Dept of Fair Trading has stated that any petrol containing ethanol shall be so marked at the pumps. Elsewhere in Australia, there may already be ethanol blends being sold as Unleaded petrol, but there is no State requirement to mark it as the fuel is still within the parameters of the Federal Standard for "Unleaded Petrol".
Also in NSW
there is a mandate for the proportion of ethanol to be sold as fuel, and this proportion is established as a sliding scale to increase the amount. This sliding scale commenced on 1 Oct 2007, when 2% of ALL petrol by volume sold in NSW must contain ethanol. This could be acheived by the petrol companies by either selling 2% blend ethanol, or by selling a certain volume of their petrol products as E10 blend. In 2008, the mandated amount of ethanol was increased to 4%, and from 1 Jan 2009 to 6%. The mandate for 10% ethanol in fuel (E10) is to come into force on 1 Jul 2011. Queensland is looking at a 5% mandate.
The possibility of E10 alone "ruining" engines is slim. Fuel grade Ethanol can have issues in dissolving or softening natural rubber components in older cars such as fuel hoses and pump diaphrams, and the ability of ethanol to absorb and retain water can affect various fuel and emissions sensors by corrosion on newer EFi equipped vehicles. As there has been an allowance in the Federal Standard for 91 RON Unleaded since 2002 for petrol to contain some amount of ethanol, all Australian vehicles since that date have been designed to use the specified fuel. For some imported and performance vehicles, the vehicle is specified by the manufacturer (and stated in the handbook) to run on 95 RON fuel, either for compression or tuning reasons, or because certain components in the engine management system are recognised by the manufacturer as not being compatible with ethanol. And this is where the "Blame" for biofuels begins.
People who for whatever reason buy a particular car that is specified to run on 95 RON fuel, but for the sake of cost (in my part of NSW, it's about 10c a litre difference) then fill up with 91 RON and experience rough running, pinging, or sensor failure don't blame themselves, they think the ethanol blend is at fault, but the same symptons would have occured with 91 RON "pure" unleaded. These owners are not "forced" to buy premium because of the introduction of ethanol, but because that's what the vehicle manufacturer specifies for that vehicle in the first place. If the vehicle is spec'd to run 91 RON, it will run E10.
With the older vehicles that we usually discuss on this forum, the Octane rating of the fuel will not be an issue, as most were designed to run on fuel specified as low as 70 Octane. However, issues could occur with natural rubber components in the fuel system. Depending if your vehicle is original, or has been restored in the last few years, this may or may not be a problem.
As most of the fuel system on a blitz is solid fuel pipes (as designed originally), the weak links are the short flexible rubber line from the firewall to the fuel pump and the diaphrgm in the pump (and electric pump if fitted). The fuel hose will cost you about 50c for a 20cm length of new ethanol resistant line, and most new replacement pumps and rebuild kits will have nitrile diaphragms. NO WORRIES!
The only other issue relevant to "our" vehicles is the propensity of corrsion occuring to fuel tanks by fuel standing for long periods absorbing more water than would otherwise occur with non-ethanol blended fuel. Solution? Drive more often!