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Ethanol as an Alternative Fuel

The contamination of drinking water is less of an issue for ethanol because it is less toxic to humans than other alternative fuels in equal concentrations. Ethanol has lower volatility, higher flammability limit and lower combustion heat. This means it is less likely to ignite compared with gasoline and when ignited will burn much more slowly and less violently than a gasoline fire. .
             Ethanol as an alternative fuel does have disadvantages however, which will need to be over come if this industry is going to prosper in the future. Due to the volatility of blended ethanol, when blended with gasoline it produces much larger amounts of toxic aldehydes and evaporative emissions. Ethanol requires more energy than gasoline to achieve the same amount of power and ethanol itself has an inability to provide any net energy. The disadvantage of this low energy content means more fuel is consumed in an ethanol engine compared to a gasoline, per distance travelled4. Ethanol is more difficult to ignite than gasoline; especially at colder temperatures, thus for an engine to operate on 100% ethanol, the ignition and fuel systems need to be modified or replaced with ethanol-compatible materials for ethanol distribution. The cars called FFV's (flexible fuel vehicles) with these engines costs more to run and produce. This cost plus the fact that ethanol production is more costly on a per-volume basis than some other alternative fuels is a deterring factor in the consumption of ethanol as a fuel. Ethanol in a highly concentrated state can be corrosive to some automotive metals, rubber and plastic components. .
             A critical limitation of ethanol as an alternative fuel is its role as a detergent, which has the ability to absorb water. Accumulated sediment and water sludge in storage tanks, pipelines and in the fuel tanks of vehicles could clog filters and create other operational problems5. One of the largest factor hindering the success of ethanol as a fuel in Australia is the provision of sufficient land to produce significant quantities of ethanol without impinging on food and fibre production.


Essays Related to Ethanol as an Alternative Fuel

1. Ethanol vs. fossil fuels

Using ethanol instead of fossil fuels The use of ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels could greatly reduce pollution. ... Thereby, ethanol is helping to moderate fuel costs to consumers by the partial excise tax exemption for ethanol and ETBE blends available to gasoline marketers. ... EPA has determined that ethanol-blended fuels reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 25-30 percent. Furthermore, because ethanol blended fuels also burn cleaner and pollute less, they are therefore reducing air pollution, this making ethanol the only motor fuel that will not contribute to the "greenhous...

  • Word Count: 1086
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Alternative Fuel

I will explain alternative sources for fuel or energy for vehicles that are already in use or that have been proposed. ... The first alternative fuel source I will discuss is Biodiesel. Biodiesel a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. ... Ethanol is another source for alternative fuel. ... Ethanol has a lower energy content than petrol, therefore the higher the ethanol content, the higher the rate of fuel consumption. ...

  • Word Count: 686
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Alternative Fuels

The concept of alternative fuels has been around for many years. ... These alternative fuels include alcohols, electricity, natural gas, and propane. ... Another alternative to gasoline is ethanol, or "grain alcohol." ... The problem with ethanol as a power source is it's high fuel cost and its decreased vehicle range. ... The pros and cons for this source are the same as with the use of ethanol. ...

  • Word Count: 819
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Unlikely Sources Of Alternative Fuels

Scientists have managed to make ethanol as a fuel for cars, and they have made it from the remnants of the process used to produce cheese. ... Although not a replacement for gasoline, this readily available and widely usable alternative fuel could help ease the drain on natural resources. Once made into biodiesel fuel it can be used in existing diesel engines, and the existing amounts of soybean oil already available for the process make it a viable alternative to regular diesel. ... With the desire to find new sources of fuel, scientists are exploring all sorts of alternative energy opti...

  • Word Count: 436
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Assessing the Impact of Lower gas prices in Alterative Fuel Vehicles and the Consumption of Alternative Fuels

As a result Toyota has been able to attain first-mover advantage in this critical new segment of alternative fuel-based vehicles. There are comparable efforts underway in GM on both hybrid and electric-based cars (Wagoner, 2007) and also for ethanol-based cars. ... Simply put, the erratic and apparently uncontrollable price increases followed by precipitous price reductions is making petroleum-based fuels lose credibility with the American consumer and as a result the adoption of alternative fuel-based vehicles and their fuel is growing at an exponential rate. As the price el...

  • Word Count: 874
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. McCains Energy Plan

McCain also will encourage carmakers to produce more than 50% flex-fuel vehicles before their agreed-upon deadline of 2012; eliminate the exclusive use of corn-based ethanol gasoline and allow the market to find better alternatives for fuel, including alcohol-based ones such as cellulosic ethanol; and increase the penalties to automakers that do not uphold the current mileage standards passed by Congress. 3. Invest in clean alternative energy sources such as $2 billion each year for coal technologies that can be exported to countries seeking to maximize their energy uses. ... Companies t...

  • Word Count: 283
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Hydrogen Fuel Cells: The Future of Automotive

NASA decided to use fuel cells as a power source in American spacecraft. ... Purpose/Audience This informative paper about the use of hydrogen fuel cells in automobiles will examine a few of the advantages and problems of hydrogen fuel cells. ... Reliability In addition to fuel efficiency, low emissions, and reduced weight; fuel cells deliver a long lifespan, high reliability, and low maintenance (Jenson, 2000). ... There are not enough fueling stations available. ... Methanol, ethanol, and gasoline are a few examples of liquid hydrocarbons. ...

  • Word Count: 2188
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Is Algae the Answer to our Dependence on Foreign Oil?

We have been told that the only thing that makes ethanol cheap is the huge government subsides it receives. Ethanol uses massive amounts of energy in production. ... Ethanol reduces the efficiency of gasoline, and causes problems in some vehicles. ... The burning of the algae formed fuel doesn't contribute to climate change, because the algae produced fuel doesn't contain the sulfur, nitrogen, and benzene which contaminate regular crude oil. ... As an added bonus, the byproducts of the process, which include fats, sugars, and proteins, have alternative uses in animal feeds, cosmetics...

  • Word Count: 539
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

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