The unsuccesful use of ethanol

Unsuccessful use of ethanol Although the current interest in ethanol fuel in the US is mainly in the production of ethanol produced from corn, there is considerable controversy about the utility of bioethanol in fossil fuels in alternative vehicles. What is of concern is the large amount of arable land required for crops, and the balance of energy and pollution throughout the ethanol production cycle. As there are many reasons for Brazil, I think that the US can not successfully use ethanol and other alternative fuels.

Ethanol is a renewable fuel made from corn and other plant materials. The use of ethanol is common and in the United States more than 98% of gasoline contains some ethanol. The most common ethanol mixture is E10 (10% ethanol, 90% gasoline). It can also be used as E 85 (or flexible fuel). It is a mixed fuel of advanced ethanol containing 51% to 83% ethanol, depending on region and season. E15 is defined as a mixture of ethanol and gasoline from 10.5% to 15% by the Environmental Protection Agency. E15 is an ethanol mixture approved for the 2001 model and its newer lightweight conventional gasoline car.

Corn ethanol is ethanol produced from maize used as biomass. Corn ethanol is produced by ethanol fermentation and distillation. Corn ethanol is mainly used as oxygenates in gasoline to produce low level mixtures. Although not so much, it is used as fuel for the E85 flexible fuel vehicle. Corn is the main ingredient used in the production of ethanol fuel in the United States. Approximately 40.5% of the agricultural land designated as maize in the US is requested to produce corn ethanol.

Yes, ethanol is renewable fuel. Energy used for the production of ethanol includes tractor, combine, combine, fuel for transporting cereals to ethanol factories, energy for processing corn into ethanol, and so on. However, the greatest part of the total energy contained in corn is solar energy captured by corn plants and stored as starch in cereals. When these amounts are summed, the energy in ethanol exceeds 20% to 40% of the fossil fuel energy used for maize growth and processing (Farrell et al., 2006).

In the United States, 95% ethanol is produced from corn kernel starch. Energy is necessary to convert raw materials to ethanol. Ethanol produced from corn shows a positive energy balance. In other words, the process of producing ethanol fuel does not require more energy than the energy contained in the fuel itself. Cellulose ethanol improves the energy balance of ethanol because raw materials are waste, other industrial byproducts (wood, crop residues), or special crops (switchgrass, orangesus etc.). When biomass is used to convert non-food ingredients to cellulosic ethanol, the amount of fossil fuel energy used in manufacturing will be further reduced. Another advantage of cellulosic ethanol is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the life cycle. (Please see here for details on ethanol related emissions.)