Category: ethanol

There have been many changes in the ethanol industry since the days when Henry Ford designed him Model T to be able to run on grain alcohol produced by farmers for their own use. Since that time the oil industry was reluctant to embrace ethanol as an alternative fuel source and for many years the industry languished.

As oil shortages and high gas prices began to be more frequent, the public clamor over reduced oil prices and better availability, there has been a renewed interest in ethanol industry. When word began to spread about the availability of a new alternative fuel, people were willing to use ethanol-blended gasoline, but were unable to find a supplier except in the Midwest where corn was plentiful.

During that time the ethanol industry may have consisted of a half dozen or so refineries turning corn into alcohol for automotive fuel and they began to re-think the needs of increasing capacity. The federal Environmental Protection Agency gave them the initiative to do just that when the government passed the Energy Policy Act of 1992 followed by directions in 2005 to have 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol available for use as vehicle fuel by 2012.

Guaranteed Customers For Product

With the newer mandates coming down in 2005, the ethanol industry had the incentive to expand their facilities and with just over 100 refineries in operation in early 2006, another 56 refineries are under construction. Additionally, the EPA has directed several cities outside of California, to reduce emissions and switching to Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFAs) is one of the alternatives to meeting the mandates.

The ethanol industry has also helped other industries with their increased production, such as corn, which represents about 55 percent of the cost of producing ethanol. By products of ethanol refinement by the ethanol industry is also being made available to producers of products such as nail polish remover and paint thinners. Although there are few areas in the country that are friendly to growing cane sugar, it is also being considered by the ethanol industry for the biomass production of ethanol.

One element that tends to hamper the ethanol industry is the constant price fluctuations of corn. Before oil prices exploded in 2005, the cost of ethanol fluctuated nearly the same as gasoline. However, the corn prices go up and down, the fluctuations are more often and more noticible.

There are actually a number of different ethanol properties that are of serious importance, and it should be known first off that there are both chemical and physical ethanol properties that need to be taken into account. For instance, the first thing that you need to know is that ethanol is a monohydric primary alcohol, and it melts at -117.3 C and boils at 78.5 C.

More Information on Ethanol Properties

As well, in regards to what you need to know about ethanol properties, another one of the most important factors in reference to ethanol properties is the fact that ethanol is miscible, in that it mixes without separation, with water in all proportions and it is separated from water only with difficulty.

Basically, any ethanol that is completely free of water is called absolute ethanol, and it is incredibly important to know that ethanol forms a constant boiling mixture, or azeotrope, with water that contains at least 95% ethanol and 5% water, and which boils at 78.15 C; since the actual boiling point of this binary azeotrope is below that of pure ethanol, then thus absolute ethanol cannot be obtained by simple distillation.

However, you should not feel as though there is no way around this; if benzene is added to 95% ethanol, for instance, a ternary azeotrope of benzene, ethanol, and water, with a boiling point of 64.9 C can then form, since the proportion of water to ethanol in this particular situation is greater than that in 95% ethanol, then the water is then able to be removed from the ethanol by adding benzene and distilling off this azeotrope.

Basically there are many different properties, all of which are highly relevant to the matter of ethanol overall, and all of which must be properly understood in order to gain any sort of actual realization on the issue of ethanol in general. Furthermore, ethanol is a rather complex subject, and because it is going to be even more popular within only years, it is thus incredibly important that everyone try to learn as much about it as they can before this happens.

In order to find out more information on ethanol, there are many different things that you can do, with the best choice being to simply read and research on it yourself; you can go to your local library, or even use the Internet from the comfort of your own home and browse through the multitude of information that is offered to you on there.