Ethanol is made by the fermentation of sugar and is a product that has been around for a very long time. It is used as a recreational drink but there are many other uses for this colorless, flammable liquid. It is used for heating and lighting. The most dramatic uses for which it is increasingly in demand is as fuel that can supplement or replace petrol.
Various crops such as corn, timber, sugar cane and even grass can be used to produce ethanol through a process of fermentation. In each case the economics of production will be different since input costs will vary.
When biofuels are used instead of fossil fuels carbon emissions are significantly reduced. Since carbon emissions are regarded as a serious source of the pollution that leads to global warming it follows that the planet will benefit substantially from the use of ethanol instead of oil as fuel. However, the motor industry seems very slow to switch over even though ethanol was commonly added to petrol in the 1950s.
Obstacles in the way of switching from fossil fuels to biofuels are largely economic. Fossil fuels were once forests of vegetable matter but were converted to coal and oil over eons of time. They simply have to be pumped from underground lakes and refined for use as petrol. Biofuels need to go through extra steps. The sun’s energy is captured by crops that have to be planted, grown and harvested before the fermentation process begins.
The industrial world has been distorted by the use of fossil fuels. Some people fortunate enough to find themselves sitting on lakes of oil became obscenely rich without effort or ability. Meanwhile, hard working and economically capable people remained miserably poor. Vested interest in the motor industry discouraged moves away from oil driven engines.
Currently there is an anomalous discrepancy between the need to use biofuels and the practical capacity to so do. There are too many cars and not enough production capacity to supply the biofuels that would be needed to fuel them with ethanol. This means that the oil industry has won, even if the victory must be short lived as non-renewable resources diminish.
Ethanol production is one factor in a complicated economic balancing act. The size of the growing world population creates the huge demand for fossil fuels which can still be pumped from the diminishing reserves for less than the cost of production. If the demand were to increase the balance would alter and upset a number of economic and Geo-political variables such as land use and market imbalances. Change is underway but the process must be gradual due to many imponderable factors.
More and more individuals are wanting to know about Ethanol for various reasons. One reason is because bio ethanol can power new vehicles.
