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One of the greatest debates concerning the future of energy use surrounds the differences between ethanol vs. gasoline. Each of these fuel substances is riddled with pros and cons, yet two of the most powerful issues surrounding these fuels are environmental concerns and politics. Regardless of how powerful the environmental argument for ethanol, gasoline wins out when it comes to politics in the ethanol vs. gasoline debate.

If you watch the gas prices fluctuate from holiday to holiday and season to season, it s easy to see that gasoline is big business. Nations have fought wars over the precious supply of oil that is difficult to find, drill, and refine. Still, there are concerns from environmentalists of the effects of reckless farming methods that may take advantage of land and labor in third world nations. In conclusion, when it come to ethanol vs. gasoline, it is important for consumers to know the way energy use is changing. Be watchful for cars that will run on mixed fuels or ethanol only.

Environmental Concerns

When it comes to environmental concerns, there are many differences between ethanol vs. gasoline. There is no question that the combustion of fossil fuels has lead way to many environmental concerns. In fact, it is proposed that transportation fuels are America s largest polluters. The burning of petroleum-based fuels produces the majority of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, reactive organic gases, and nitrogen oxides that American cities suffer with. For this reason, many fuel oxygenates have been created to counteract these emissions. While ethanol is one such oxygenate, MTBE or methyl tertiary butyl ether is another. MTBE is proven to be a water pollutant and is considered to possibly be a human carcinogen.

When comparing ethanol vs. gasoline, it is important to understand that ethanol can either be used as an additive to gasoline or on its own. The use of ethanol either mixed within gasoline or on used its own can have a powerful impact on the amount of pollutants produced. The use of ethanol can reduce the carbon monoxide emitted from the tailpipe by 30 percent. In addition, VOC exhaust emissions can be reduced by 12 percent. Ethanol use has also been used to reduce toxic emissions by 30 percent and PM emissions by more than 25 percent. Ethanol is slowly replacing the use of MTBE mentioned above. Unlike MTBE, ethanol is significantly less harmful as it is non-toxic, biodegradable and water soluble.

United States ethanol refiners are expanding capacities as its use as a motor vehicle fuel increases and more mandates are put in place by the federal government. With the current push for less reliance on foreign oil, as well as less dependency on non-renewable fuel sources, ethanol expansion as an additive in gasoline and diesel fuel has seen tremendous manufacturing growth in recent years.

With just over 100 ethanol refineries in production in 2006, there are 56 more refineries under construction to help meet the government s mandate to push the amount of ethanol used as a fuel to 7.5 billion gallons as soon as 2012. The current speed of ethanol expansion should be able to exceed that demand. The cost of ethanol hinges on the rise and fall of corn prices, and after years of closely following the prices of gasoline, the wholesale cost as now falling behind that of oil-based gasoline.

Initially, refiners were reluctant to pursue ethanol expansion as the demand was low and there were not many facilities selling ethanol-blended gasoline to the public. As more and more people realize the economic and environmental advantages, ethanol expansion plans were quickly put into place.

Corn Production Must Also Rise

With the demands in place for more refining facilities, ethanol expansion will depend largely on an increase in corn production. The government s Renewable Fuel Standard has virtually guaranteed a 7.5 billion gallon market for ethanol by 2012, but there are no provisions in the standard for the increase in corn production. The refining capacity may be able to hit the goal with ease, but without enough of the basic ingredient, production will have to stand idle.

The industry is also sharing its results with other industries by siphoning the byproducts of ethanol such as that used as a nail polish remover. Distilled vinegar, usually used in pickling in the food industry, is another byproduct of ethanol production and could have the prices affected by the ethanol expansion program. A rise in sugar prices has been blames on ethanol production is Brazil which uses sugar instead of corn.

California, the state with the strictest air-quality regulations, currently uses a blend of just over five percent ethanol and is pushing for that level to rise to 7.7 percent ethanol content in the near future. Other cites under fire by Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions are also looking the ethanol expansion to have additional supplies available to use as a vehicle fuel.

The process of ethanol distillation is one which is rather complex and yet one which can be easily explained; ethanol is a chemical that is produced either synthetically from ethylene or from the fermentation of grain or sugar; during the ethanol distillation process, or more specifically, during the synthesis of ethanol, the product stream may be contaminated by acidic impurities, and/or sulfurous impurities.

Additionally, during the ethanol distillation process, in the presence of O2, a small part of the ethanol stream may be oxidized into various carbonyl impurities, of which acetaldehyde is the most probable one; the above impurities may cause such effects as odor, discoloration, inefficient distillation, or poor UV transmission.

More About Ethanol Distillation and Ethanol in General

In regards to learning more about ethanol distillation and ethanol in general, there are many things that should be taken seriously into consideration. For instance, there is the fact that ethanol is also known as ethyl alcohol, and that it is a flammable, colorless, mildly toxic chemical compound with a distinctive perfume-like odor, and it is the alcohol that is found in alcoholic beverages.

Ethanol is something which has actually been used by humans since prehistory as the intoxicating ingredient in alcoholic beverages, and as well, its isolation as a basically and relatively pure compound was in fact first achieved by Persian alchemists who developed the art of distillation during the Abbasid caliphate, the most notable of whom was Al-Razi.

Furthermore, ethanol is an incredibly versatile solvent, as it is soluble in water and with most organic liquids as well, and also, ethanol is used as a solvent in dissolving medicines, food flavorings and colorings that do not otherwise dissolve easily in water.

In regards to its use in fuel and alcoholic beverages, this is produced by fermentation: which is when certain species of yeast metabolize the sugar in the absence of oxygen, and they then produce ethanol and carbon dioxide. Then, the overall chemical reaction that is conducted by the yeast may then be represented by a chemical equation.

Overall it is quite easy to see the multitude of information that sounds ethanol as a whole, and therefore why it is often considered as being a rather complex matter to discuss; however, once you have even a basic grasp on the matter of ethanol overall, then you will be able to come to a better and more knowledgeable understanding overall.

Although homemade ethanol can certainly be a dangerous thing, it can also be a rather intriguing thing, and so in order to be able to understand everything about homemade ethanol in general, one must learn about how to make it, what is involved in the process, and more, as well as what the dangers are of homemade ethanol; only when all of these matters are discussed can a proper viewpoint be taken on the subject matter.

About Homemade Ethanol

In regards to the matter of homemade ethanol, basically there are several facts that should be taken into consideration, such as: the level of interest in using alcohol as motor fuel has followed cycles of fuel shortages and/or low feed-grain prices; alcohols burn more completely, thus increasing combustion efficiency; and that there are many disadvantages to using alcohols, particularly methyl and ethyl alcohol.

As well, ethanol, which is grain alcohol, can be made out of straw; and in fact the ability to make ethanol from straw rice straw, wheat straw, oat straw, etc.- is truly the modern day equivalent of the Holy Grail or the Philosopher s Stone, as in a time when barely any new oil fields have been discovered in the past ten years, and a war in Iraq rages with such madness that it seems unlikely that anyone will be able to pump oil for the next several years.

As well, intensive research on cellulose conversion to ethanol previously focused on that of mechanical, heat and acid hydrolysis techniques, all of which are expensive, and as well, it should be known however that cellulose ethanol truly has two unique advantages over conventional alcohol.

The first is that the greenhouse gas emission reductions from cellulose ethanol are three times greater than those from grain based ethanol on a life cycle basis, and second, cellulose ethanol is made from a plentiful and renewable resource, which is the non-food portion of agriculture crops.

The ethanol industry in general is truly growing at an incredible pace, and in fact, production was up nearly 23 percent compared to just last June when 180,000 b/d of ethanol was produced; the ethanol industry is also expected to produce more than 3.3 billion gallons in 2004, up from 2.81 gallons in 2003.

Overall it is quite easy to see that there is much to know about ethanol in general, and also that in order to be able to have a proper viewpoint on it altogether, we need to try and understand as much about it in general as we can.

While it does not require a special car to use ethanol blended fuel, to use E-85 fuel, it does require an ethanol engine in the car. Any vehicle, which operates on regular, unleaded gasoline can use E-10 fuel with no modifications required. E-10 is the abbreviation for fuel mixed at 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. E-85 describes the same mixture, but with 85 percent ethanol.

While most of the major car manufacturers produce flexible fuel vehicles, capable of burning E-85 blends, their popularity has been slow to catch on due mainly to the lack of availability of the fuel. While some advancements have been made to the ethanol engine in allowing flexible fuel vehicles to be equipped with sensors to automatically adjust the fuel system based on the type of fuel being used, the technology is new that many are unaware it exists.

Others have attempted to take their engine engineered to operate on unleaded gasoline and convert it to an ethanol engine, the biggest obstacle has been in meeting environment protection agency emissions standards. After-market conversion kits are being advertised to turn your gas-only engine into an ethanol engine, but their guarantee for emissions compliance stipulates cars made before 1974.

Availability May Improve Popularity

Since the use of E-10 blended fuels require no adjustments to vehicles with gasoline engines, its use is beginning to expand and as ethanol producers increase refining facilities, the supply will increase greatly. With cars equipped with an ethanol engine and increased supplies and availability appear, flexible fuel vehicles will most likely become more popular among the driving public.

Environmentalists also have a passion for the ethanol engine as it reduces the dependency on fossil fuels and since it is an oxygenator, the fuel burns hotter and more efficiently, significantly reducing emissions from the ethanol engine. To keep up with demand, as well as to meet federal mandates on availability, the ethanol industry is adding capacity quickly.

From a scant dozen refineries a decade ago, there are now more than 100 ethanol factories with another 56 refineries under construction. Most are located within 100 miles of the grain source to keep production costs down, as well as the availability of rail and trucking routes to make shipping the refined product quicker and easier. As more ethanol companies come on line with new plants, and many owned by agricultural firms, they are increasing their corn-planting operations to insure their future supply of grain.

Finding an ethanol station truly does not have to be a difficult thing by any means, and so if you are one of the many people who constantly needs to know where you can find an ethanol station, then you are in luck because there are actually ethanol station locators that are available, of which you can use in order to find the ethanol station nearest to you.

Ethanol Station Locator

The most popular ethanol station locator of all would be found on your specific government s website, and so when you go to the website, you are allowed to choose from the area that you are located in, and you choose the specific location that you are based in at that time, and then it will show you the station nearest to you.

This is incredibly useful, not only because you get to see where the nearest station is to you in case of emergency, but also because you can browse through the different areas in the world, and see where there are more stations located and where there are less, and basically you will thus end up learning more about ethanol as a whole than you perhaps ever thought possible.

There are many other resources that you can use in order to find out more about ethanol as well, for instance if you go on the Internet and browse through the multitude of information that is available on there, then you will be able to quickly and quite easily find out anything you were wondering about ethanol in general; this means from something seemingly simple to anything completely complex, it is up to you.

As well, there are certain seminars and programs that you can take and attend which will inform you completely in regards to ethanol, and so if you really do want to learn about ethanol, you should definitely consider one or more of these options.

Ethanol is a rather complex subject, but it is also one of great importance, in that it will be a major part of our everyday life soon enough; this explains at least partially why really all of us should have such a great concern in regards to learning about ethanol in general. It should also be known that there are going to be many more stations added across the world in a short period of time.

The ethanol fuel cell is a matter which needs to be taken quite seriously into consideration, especially once you realize the fact that using ethanol as fuel and this directly surrounds the matter of the ethanol fuel cell is actually one of the most topics of conversation in the world today.

In fact, the largest single use of ethanol period is as motor fuel and fuel additive, and the largest national fuel ethanol industries exist in Brazil, and one of the most major methods of production is through fermentation of sugar; ethanol also creates very little pollution, which is absolutely a positive thing, and as well, millions of acres of land are going to be needed if ethanol is to be used to replace gasoline hence why the matter of ethanol fuel cell is so critical.

More About the Ethanol Fuel Cell

In regards to leaning more about the ethanol fuel cell in general, basically you need to know that a fuel cell is a device that can actually obtain 40 to 50% efficiency in the conversion of fuel into useable power; this technology is actually a by-product of the NASA space program, which was originally developed to provide a lightweight and efficient power source for use on manned space missions.

However, it was soon realized that this incredible technology could be used for numerous other reasons, and so it was thus eventually shared with the world, and now there is the fact that ethanol is being considered as being the most major option to a replacement for gasoline in the world; this is even more important considering the fact that we are presently in a war with Iraq and that for the most part this is also where we get our fuel from.

It should also be known that some fuel cells actually use specialized molecular sieves made of complex polymers with some type of anode/cathode properties, and then others use expensive platinum catalysts. Then there are those which use pure hydrogen as a fuel source in order to be able to make electricity, and some are designed to run on propane, but they then may only have a membrane life expectancy of about 3,000 hours.

Overall, we can see the importance of this issue, and understand now why we should take it much more seriously into consideration overall.

There is some significant energy legislation being enacted in the United States that should result in the tripling of ethanol use by the year 2012. There is great need for ethanol fuels in certain parts of the United States where there is too much of carbon monoxide as well as ozone pollution and in any case, there is need to use ethanol which can considerably reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide cleaner air.

Ethanol became increasingly popular after Congress passed an energy bill that required the U.S to use 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels come the year 2012 and ethanol producers have cashed in on this boom even though they only have the capacity to produce approximately 4.3 billion gallons. Thanks to MTBE as well more demand for ethanol, ethanol producers can look forward to greater private investment in ethanol plants which should then be able to produce two billion gallons every year.

Skeptics Feel It Is a Deal between Ethanol Producers and Corn Lobbies

There are skeptics who may feel that ethanol producers and the corn lobby are pushing legislation through in spite of the many drawbacks of ethanol in terms of economics as well as environmental factors and mandating additional fuel-ethanol subsidies, they feel is unwarranted and they cannot see grounds that justify including such provisions in the national energy policy.

According to them, ethanol producers do not keep the environment safe because though oxygenates like ethanol can reduce carbon monoxide they are also helping increase in levels of nitrogen oxides that is a smog polluter and ethanol blended gasoline may also give off acetaldehyde, which is a toxic polluter. With new regulations related to energy needs coming into force as well as rising gas prices, ethanol producers can expect a bonanza because ethanol will be strong as gasoline prices stay strong and corn prices remain low.

Ethanol Companies Strike it Rich

A case in point with regard to an ethanol producer striking it rich could be The Andersons Inc., which until recently was relatively unknown but had sales of one billion dollars thanks to its ethanol production which was a natural step for it to take, given its network of grain elevators coupled with a large rail fleet.

Shares of Archer Daniels Midland Co., which is the country s biggest ethanol producer, have risen spectacularly and those of Pacific Ethanol, another major ethanol producer have almost doubled showing the general good health of ethanol producers. Even, The Andersons Inc. has seen its stocks rise and are now valued manifold times greater than their original value. The general outlook for ethanol producers thus looks good at the moment.

The production of ethanol gas requires only ninety-five percent less petroleum when compared with the same quantity of fossil fuels, according to new studies conducted. The production of this gas is also far more environments friendly as it causes lesser amounts of greenhouse gases to be produced that in turn increase the possibility of global warming. It is believed that ethanol gas could contribute in no small measure to being more energy efficient as well as ninety-five percent free of emissions of greenhouse gases if use is made of woody plants in producing it, instead of corn.

There is no doubt the fact that when one uses ethanol gas they will benefit from this cleaner burning fuel which can provide the same efficiency as standard fuels. The standard 1:9 mixture of ethanol to gasoline can be used in any vehicle but there are also other mixtures that may be used to drive flexible-fuel cars and this mixture is known as the E85 that contains 85 % ethanol and 15% gasoline. Ethanol gas is produced from renewable home-grown resources and is very advantageous to the economy as well as provides cleaner air.

Cars May Also Be Converted To Run On E85 Ethanol Gas

The process of producing ethanol is through fermentation of bacteria and breaking down of carbohydrate sugars like starch from corns. There are good possibilities for converting vehicles that run on unleaded fuel to also run on E85 ethanol gas and reputable car manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler sell cars that can run on such alternate fuels.

It is believed that out of every eight gallons of gasoline sold there is one gallon that contains ethanol gas which is mostly a ten percent ethanol and ninety percent gasoline blend and is sometimes referred to as gasohol or E10 whose primary use is in enhancing octane that helps to develop better quality of air. Ethanol gas blends that contain ten percent or less of ethanol have been used successfully in every type of engine and vehicle.

There is also a steady rise in the number of ethanol gas stations being opened up though this may be true only for corn growing states since the cost of transporting ethanol is quite prohibitive and so most ethanol gas filling stations seem to be cropping up in states such as Minnesota and Illinois. However, ethanol gas is sold in every state across the US and ethanol blends comprise total sales in areas of carbon monoxide and ozone no attainment, at certain times of the year.

United States ethanol refiners are expanding capacities as its use as a motor vehicle fuel increases and more mandates are put in place by the federal government. With the current push for less reliance on foreign oil, as well as less dependency on non-renewable fuel sources, ethanol expansion as an additive in gasoline and diesel fuel has seen tremendous manufacturing growth in recent years.

With just over 100 ethanol refineries in production in 2006, there are 56 more refineries under construction to help meet the government s mandate to push the amount of ethanol used as a fuel to 7.5 billion gallons as soon as 2012. The current speed of ethanol expansion should be able to exceed that demand. The cost of ethanol hinges on the rise and fall of corn prices, and after years of closely following the prices of gasoline, the wholesale cost as now falling behind that of oil-based gasoline.

Initially, refiners were reluctant to pursue ethanol expansion as the demand was low and there were not many facilities selling ethanol-blended gasoline to the public. As more and more people realize the economic and environmental advantages, ethanol expansion plans were quickly put into place.

Corn Production Must Also Rise

With the demands in place for more refining facilities, ethanol expansion will depend largely on an increase in corn production. The government s Renewable Fuel Standard has virtually guaranteed a 7.5 billion gallon market for ethanol by 2012, but there are no provisions in the standard for the increase in corn production. The refining capacity may be able to hit the goal with ease, but without enough of the basic ingredient, production will have to stand idle.

The industry is also sharing its results with other industries by siphoning the byproducts of ethanol such as that used as a nail polish remover. Distilled vinegar, usually used in pickling in the food industry, is another byproduct of ethanol production and could have the prices affected by the ethanol expansion program. A rise in sugar prices has been blames on ethanol production is Brazil which uses sugar instead of corn.

California, the state with the strictest air-quality regulations, currently uses a blend of just over five percent ethanol and is pushing for that level to rise to 7.7 percent ethanol content in the near future. Other cites under fire by Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions are also looking the ethanol expansion to have additional supplies available to use as a vehicle fuel.