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Ethanol
Ethanol is an alcohol-based alternative fuel produced by fermenting and distilling starch crops. Crops for this fuel include corn, barley, and wheat. Ethanol can also be produced from cellulosic biomass such as trees and grasses. It is considered renewable because it is made of plants.
Ethanol is most commonly used to increase octane and improve the emissions quality of gasoline. Ethanol can be mixed with gasoline; a common mixture is E10, which is 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline. Flex-fuel vehicles can run on E85 which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. New technology has been developed that can easily convert a conventional petrol-fuel engine to run on any mix of ethanol, even E100. See www.fullflexint.com for details.
In 1908 Henry Ford designed his automobiles, beginning with the Model T, to use ethanol. Ford was convinced that renewable resources were the key to the success of his automobiles. However by the 1930's clean burning ethanol was replaced by cheap petroleum.
Some benefits of ethanol are that it can be produced from a wide variety of feedstocks such as corn, barley, and wheat, corn stalks, rice straw, sugar cane bagasse, pulpwood, switchgrass, and municipal solid waste. It reduces our dependence on imported fuels and it reduces pollution. Some disadvantages are that using a foodstock, like corn, can raise the prices of food. Also, even if every available acre of farm ground in the US were used to produce crops for ethanol there would not be enough to replace petrol-fuels. There is a debate brewing between corn for ethanol and corn for food. Cellulosic ethanol processes will need to play a larger role in the future to alleviate this problem. Cellulosic ethanol can be produced from non-food crops such as prairie grass and grass mixes, crop residues and perhaps algae in the future.
Ethanol, like biodiesel, is a good starting point in the quest for creating renewable energies. It alone will not solve the energy crisis, but can play a great part.
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