Learn about Ethanol Alternative Fuel

Ethanol is an alternative fuel that is fermented and distilled from forms of sugar and starch crops including corn, barley, and wheat. New special forms of yeast have allowed the introduction of waist agriculture products like corn stalks, trees and switchgrass. Other more specialized forms of yeast have allowed companies to produce ethanol out of "old" candy, newspaper, and grass clippings. Yeast from certain beetles has allowed some to turn certain types of garbage into ethanol. Granddad's "corn still" is not the only way to produce ethanol anymore.

President Bush's energy bill that passed in 2005 requires 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol to be part of the nation's economy by 2012. Bush wants research funding to produce ethanol "not from corn", but from wood byproducts, stalks, and switchgrass. Alabama alone not only produces a tremendous amount of biomass material from agriculture and timber, it has 2 million tons of poultry litter produced in the state each year which ethanol can be produced from. The Bush administration has mandated the country to get 30% of its transportation fuel from biomass by 2030. This is not nearly enough to ensure our freedom and to help the environment; it is something to improve on. America can produce a billion tons of biomass each year which will reach the 30% target Bush has mandated. We would replace the oil we require from the Middle East and more! Forestry if used with the environment in mind could produce about 368 billion tons and agriculture could produce almost a billion on its own. Together this is 1.3 billion tons.

Most vehicles that are not flexible fuel vehicles can run on a lower blend of ethanol E10 (10% ethanol and 90% gasoline) without any issues. Some areas of the country mandate commercial vehicles to run E10 fuel to improve air quality.

The most widely used blend of ethanol is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline which creates what is known as an E85 blend. Vehicles that are designed to run on the E85 blend are called flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs). These vehicles are offered by several manufactures including Ford, and GM. In 2004 Hoover, Alabama, sixth largest city, purchased flexible fuel Chevrolet Tahoes for its police department. As of December 2005 they were saving 40 cents a gallon with the conversion from 100% unleaded gas to E85. The officers really like the fuel because there is no odor like gas. There have been no maintenance issues in their fleet of Chevy Tahoes. In fact the opposite has been true. The soot and carbon build up normally found from burning fossil fuel has been eliminated with the E85 fuel. With the reduced wear from the soot they expect the engines to last longer.

Ethanol is clear liquid that can have a sweet flavor. It can be produced from sugar or biomaterials that can be converted into sugar. Corn can easily be converted into sugar. Biomass including trees, grasses and agriculture byproducts like stalks can be converted to starch with additional effort. The sugar from the material is dissolved out or the starch is converted to sugar. The sugar is fed to microbes that produce alcohol and carbon dioxide in the process.

Most E85 fuel stations are located in the Midwest, but the amount of E85 fuel stations are growing throughout the nation. Due to the fact Ethanol can be produced from a vast amount of products and waste material, tremendous opportunities await those that plan to take advantage of this market in all areas from production to distribution. The large amount of flexible fuel vehicles being produced also offer a bright future for ethanol as an alternative fuel.