Ethanol Fuel: It's Alcoholic,
|
What is Ethanol Fuel andhow can I use it?
Ethanol is a grain alcohol (ethyl alcohol). It is essentially the same alcohol that can be found in alcoholic drinks.
It is basically made from fermenting carbon based feed stocks such as sugar beets, sugar cane, corn (the primary staple), and switch grass. It can even be made from other grains like wheat and barley, or even from non-grains like potatoes.
You can use Ethanol in an most ordinary gasoline engines (trucks, cars, etc.) if they are rated to run it.
For some vehicles, you can have your engine converted to run with this fuel using a conversion kit (usually costing around $100 dollars or so at most mechanics' shops).
| Where Can I Get Ethanol? |
|---|
Ethanol fuel is now being sold at select fuel stations in the U.S. and Europe as well as some other countries. All you need to do is look for the pumps with the ‘E’ rating fuel on them indicating ethanol is sold there. **Make sure your engine is rated to run on ethanol before using it. Some gasoline engines are not built to use ethanol and could be damaged by driving with it in the fuel tank - so make sure your engine can handle it before you use it. If you'd like to find the location of ethanol stations in the U.S., check out: Click on 'E85 Stations' on the left-hand side of the page. |
How Is Ethanol Made?
Essentially, there are 2 ways of making this type of fuel:
1.) Dry-mill Method - The grain is ground into a powder, which is mixed with water and an enzyme. It is placed into a high-heat cooker and liquefied. This liquid is mashed and cooled and other enzymes are added to it – these assist in converting the starches into sugars that can be fermented to create alcohol.
Yeast is added, it ferments, and the sugars break it down into ethanol and carbon dioxide. After distilling it to remove the water and extract the ethanol, a small amount of gasoline is added to make it non-potable (or non-drinkable).
2.) Fermenting - This method is the same approach used with the grains. The only difference here is when using non-grains, a powder form is not used in the beginning. The mash is made and the fermenting process continues in the same way as the dry-mill method above.
Some Things To Consider With Ethanol
Ethanol Fuel has become a rather debated topic for several reasons:
- Cost of making ethanol - Ethanol is still rather costly to make. The market for Ethanol is not yet creating high enough demand to establish or maintain more refineries worldwide - this would allow better supplies of the fuel.
- Energy produced is minimal - The energy that is derived from burning 1 gallon of Ethanol, is currently LESS than the amount of energy it takes to produce/refine it and less than you get from 1 gallon of gasoline. This is also because (currently) gasoline machinery is used to farm the ingredients - sugar, corn, etc.
- Production causes shortages of corn for food - It's makes sense (and is rather logical) that when you have the same number of corn fields producing corn, and you add more demand for corn or any food crop (such as now making a fuel with it), it creates more of a shortage for it and causes supply for food production to diminish and the prices to rise. Although this is the last point of contention listed on our page for ethanol, it has quickly become the most important!
Food shortages are already being felt around the world (especially in third world countries), and have been for years. If ethanol becomes our primary fuel source, we have to find a way to grow the necessary material using EXTRA crops - and not take away from the food production already gained from existing crops.
Although this will not be an easy or affordable option, this fuel is still one of the alternative fuels being strongly considered as a potential future energy source for you and I to use.
Return from Ethanol Fuel to Alternative Fuel
Return from Ethanol Fuel to Home Page
