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| History Of Ethanol |
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| Ethanol’s first use as an automotive
fuel was in 1908 when Henry Ford designed the Model T to
run on either ethanol or gasoline. |
| Ethanol Introduction |
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| Ethanol is a domestically produced,
premium liquid automotive fuel made from renewable crop
grains and plants. In the U.S., fuel ethanol is made
mainly from corn via industrial fermentation while
advanced biofuel is manufactured from biomass feedstock
sources such as biofuel cane, energy cane, sweet
sorghum, and switchgrass. In other countries such |
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as Brazil and
India, ethanol is made from sugar cane via a similar
fermentation process. Ethanol, technically referred to
as ethyl alcohol, is the same alcohol that makes up
beer, wine, and liquor, which people have been making
via fermentation for centuries. Ethanol had been
primarily used throughout the 19th century as a beverage
and an industrial solvent. Ethanol's first use as an
automotive fuel was in 1908 when Henry Ford designed the
Model T to run on either ethanol or gasoline. However,
the U.S. ethanol program, which promoted the use of
agricultural crops to produce renewable fuels in the
'30's and 40's, could not sustain itself with the
availability of abundant, low cost petroleum. Today,
fuel ethanol is blended with gasoline at the 10% level
to reduce toxic tailpipe and ozone forming emissions, to
increase octane levels in gasoline, and to extend
gasoline volume supplies. Fuel ethanol is a commodity
product sold in unbranded form to gasoline refiners and
gasoline terminals, who blend it with conventional and
reformulated gasoline and sell it in the retail market
as an "oxygenated fuel" or as an "octane-enhanced
gasoline."
Ethanol and biofuels are fuels
of the future. These fuels are gentle on the
environment. They are fuels that can be renewed year
after year and fuels that can expand our farm economy.
These fuels are made right here in America so they can't
be threatened by any foreign power."
--- President George W. Bush, Farm Journal Forum 2001
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