A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS who call themselves \"guerilla scientists\" formulated MMSU hBE-20, a unique blend of E-10 gasoline and azeotropic ethanol that contains five percent water.

\"This is a significant invention. If engines can run just as well on hydrous ethanol compared to anhydrous, it can generate a lot of savings not only for the university, but for the whole country\", said Dr Fiorello B. Abenes, DOST Balik Scientist at MMSU, the team leader.

Most people think engines cannot run on gasoline that contains water as current standards in the Philippines do not allow water in any gasoline blend, but the team, which includes Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis, a biologist, and Dr. Roque A. Ulep, an analytical chemist, tested their formulation on four-stroke water pumps, motorcycles, and FX vehicle with no apparent problems. They even drove a 10-year old Toyota FX car to Baguio to test the ability of the vehicle to navigate the steep mountainous terrain.

The vehicle never sputtered or stalled. \"The engine purred like it was new,\" said Abenes. The only notable observation was a decrease in mileage efficiency, which is expected whenever higher ethanol blends are used. \"The vehicle is a gas-guzzler and was not optimized to run on highly oxygenated fuels. The team says fuel efficiency should be better in newer vehicles that have automatic oxygen sensors. There are no new gasoline cars available in the university.

The hydrous ethanol is produced from the fermentation of sugar cane juice, sweet sorghum syrup, and jaggery, as well as ethanol produced from bagasse (biomass ethanol).

The team aimed to produce anhydrous ethanol but the process of removing the last five percent water from the ethanol was too cumbersome and expensive.

\"The problem with hydrous ethanol-gasoline blend has always been phase separation; however we can never demonstrate this using our distilled azeotrope. We even tried putting our formulation in the refrigerator and phase-separation did not occur,\" explained Agrupis, lead scientist of the team. \"This is when our balik-scientist, thought of formulating a gasoline-ethanol blend using hydrous ethanol.\"

Abenes, professor emeritus at the California State Polytechnic University, posits that while anhydrous ethanol is used in cold climates like the US and Europe, the Philippines has a benign weather which makes hydrous ethanol suitable for use in the country. At the inclusion rate of 10-25 percent, the team finds no need for engine modification.

The fuel is undergoing rigorous testing at the College of Engineering. MMSU is encouraging other universities to take part in this testing program. Already, they have Benguet State University and Central Luzon State University expressing interest in testing the fuel.

Dr. Miriam E. Pascua, university president, commended the researchers for their output. She promised her continued support to the undertaking.

An end-of-grant program was held for Dr. Abenes, June 15, at the University Training Center. Before his stint as DOST Balik- Scientist from March to June this year, he was Fulbright visiting professor at MMSU in 2009.