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Is Ethanol The Answer to Our Fuel Problems?
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Have you ever driven across the midwest? While farmers seem very proud of their “heartland” and they exude patriotism while overlooking their “amber waves of grain”, others see is a vast wasteland, where pesticides have replaced the oxygen giving trees and forests that used to blanket entire states.
This might be acceptable if the amber waves of pesticides are feeding thousands of starving people, but now it seems that massive government subsidies are in place to promote ethanol which takes more fuel to create than it produces in the end. Is ethanol an environmental nightmare?
Author: Sandra Case
What is Ethanol?
Ethanol is a colorless, volatile, flammable liquid that is the intoxicating agent in liquors and is also used as a fuel or solvent. Ethanol is also called ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol. Ethanol is the most important member of a large group of organic compounds that are called alcohol. Alcohol is an organic compound that has one or more hydroxyl (OH) groups attached to a carbon atom. Alcohol is shown as: C-O-H or C-OH.
Ethanol is a product of fermentation. Fermentation is a sequence of reactions which release energy from organic molecules in the absence of oxygen. In this application of fermentation, energy is obtained when sugar is changed to ethanol and carbon dioxide. All beverage ethanol and more than half of industrial ethanol is made by this process.
Pros of Ethanol:
- Adding ethanol to gasoline improves combustion and reduces toxic emissions
- Ethanol helps keep fuel injectors clean and improves engine performance
- Ethanol revives local economies with high paying jobs (thanks to the subsidies)
*source Iowacorn.org
Cons of Ethanol
- Ethanol increases prices at the pump due to increased complexity of production
- Ethanol requires more energy to create than the final product contains
- Ethanol is simply converting massive amounts of energy into another form
- Ethanol cannot be shipped via normal pipelines substantially increasing costs
- Ethanol contains 2/3 less energy than gasoline so the same priced tank will not take you as far
- Billions of tax dollars are being spent on ethanol subsidies
- Corn production depletes underwater aquifers
- Corn production causes massive soil erosion
- Negative environmental impact of 10 million acres of corn that could be returned to forest
source: Slate.com, Igreens.org
How Ethanol is Made:
Converting corn into ethanol by fermentation takes many steps. Starch in corn must be broken down into simple sugars before fermentation can occur. In earlier times, this was done by chewing the corn. This allowed the salivary enzymes to naturally break down the starch. Today, this is achieved by cooking the corn and adding the enzymes alpha amylase and gluco amylase. These enzymes function as catalysts to speed up the chemical changes. Changing the starch in kernels of corn to sugar and changing sugar to ethanol is a complex process and requires a mix of technologies that include microbiology, chemistry and engineering.
Once a simple sugar is obtained, yeast is added. Yeast is a single-celled fungi which feeds on the sugar and causes the fermentation. As the fungi feeds on the sugar, it produces alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. In fermentation, the ethanol retains much of the energy that was originally in the sugar, and explains why ethanol is used as a fuel. Most of the ethanol production in the United States is made in 50 production facilities in 20 different states. Most of these plants are located in the Midwest.
Bottom line:
Why on earth are we going to spend billions of dollars to chemically infest 10 million acres of previously forested land that could be used to grow food for human beings but instead is used to make an incredibly inefficient fuel that is so expensive that the farmers themselves cannot use it to fuel their own ethanol production and it does nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Better alternatives? Public transportation, solar cells, electric vehicles, hybrids, bicycles, scooters and yes, your own two feet.
About the author:
This article has been written by Sandra Case, who is Vice President of Commodity Research for Absolute Futures Commodity Brokerage. For further information regarding this article or information on other commodities or trading of the commodity markets please contact Sandra Case 800-935-6494. http://www.absolute-futures.com
Discussion
15 comments for “Is Ethanol The Answer to Our Fuel Problems?”
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It would seem like there are many more cons than pros to using ethanol alcohol. I think it is good to find alternative methods and they shouldn’t just stop once they find one possibility.
Big companies are losing money converting corn to ethanol in spite of government subsidies (read taxpayer money) for ethanol fuels.
On top of that the impact on greenhouse gases is minimal.
I think that this is a shame really- first we damage the envronment by digging for and burning oil, next we will make people starve to enable us to grow these bio fuels.
I personally believe solar cells and electric cars are the way to go. Tesla Motors has already developed a car that can go 244 miles per charge. And is pennies per mile, the only drawback is the cost. But, still it’s a sports car. Imagine what the big three could of done if they put the money into it. I believe everything that movie said “Who killed the Electric Car?” Some say that the movie is all bs, but it really makes sense why they haven’t developed an electric car yet. If you haven’t seen that movie, I suggest checking it out.
doest ethanol burn cooler than petrol? this means we can tune engines more making them more powerful
In the car industry, and further ahead for the aviation industry, hydrogen will be the answer. With solutions already developed in both industries, hydrogen makes the most sense. It is the most abundant element in the world, its emission is water and you can get the same, if not more, power than from petroleum.
Erik, the big 3 here have been behind for a very long time – but the thing is they have been developing concept electric vehicles much longer than their overseas competition… So why didn’t they bring out the electric vehicle already? When I lived in chicago my gas was costing $4.60 a gallon. The average cost of an overnight full charge for an electric vehicle is 80 cents. Electric may be slower for the moment but its the way of the future.
I know that making ethanol from corn is not the best way. Brazil makes it from sugar cain and it works great. It is 8 times more effecient so it makes more sense. Some cars can not use alot of ethanol it can damage thier engine but 10 or 15% is fine for most cars. I think most gasoline has some in it now to help stop polution.
Ethanol although is not as good as how nuclear energy could be its still a very good and much more effecient step in the right direction.
Tesla is definitely making its mark in the exciting world of alternate fuel vehicles since they set the previous distance record for electric vehicles earlier in the year. A Tesla Roadster had the distinction of being the only vehicle able to complete the entire course of 241 miles in the Rallye Monte Carlo d’Energies Alternative. When this Roadster reached the finish line, it still had approximately 38 miles worth of energy remaining on the charge. It was not even breathing heavily!
I think the next 10 years will be very intersting with regards to car fuels…maybe the fuel cell will eventually pick up more support and be a better alternative to ethanol…
Some cities and states in the US now mandate the use of ethanol – usually gleaned from crops such as sugar cane and corn – in the fuels sold by their filling stations. At the present time it is felt that the fuel is best used in light vehicles and has problems driving anything more substantial than a 4×4. Nonetheless, it is hoped that the appliance of science can make the use of ethanol more prominent and usher in an age when we no longer need to rely on fossil fuels. That day is getting closer, but is not here yet.
Ethanol has much less heat energy than diesel. That means to travel the same distance more ethanol must be burned. Personally I advocate diesel over ethanol.
I’m not an engineer or scientist. Humble shop keeper here specializing in High End Commercial Outdoor power equipment.
We also back up all the garbage the big box stores sell.
Give me back my gas. 95% of our shop repairs are directly related to ethanol contamination. Its playing havoc on all the rubber components it comes in contact with be they fuel lines, carburator diaphragms, primer bulbs. Noone complains much about small engine shop bills but the number of them are massive! There are a lot more small engines running out there than automobiles and the affects of ethanol contaminated fuel will be seen first in the small engine market and then later in the automotive end when people are going to shops and having injectors and carb bodies cleaned at a healthy price. There needs to be a class action lawsuit filed agains the oil companies for watering down our gasoline. I’ll sign on! So much for insignificance I suppose!