Is Ethanol the Fuel of the Future?

To most people, ethanol fuel appears to be a thing of the future. Sure, David Suzuki keeps extolling the benefits on television, and it seems like a great idea, but not one that is really affecting us now.  This is a complete misconception. Currently, and for the last six years, five plants have been producing ethanol fuel in Canada, and they have the ability to produce up to 175 million litres of ethanol fuel per year. In addition, cars that have been manufactured since the 1970’s have been made to be compatible with up to 10 percent ethanol fuel in the gasoline mixture. This means that ethanol fuel is already here and is relevant to us now.

Why is ethanol fuel being blended with my gasoline?

Ethanol fuel is more environmentally friendly and produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions. It also reduces our dependence on overseas fuel markets, which are not always reliable. When ethanol fuel is blended with gasoline (at a concentration of 10 percent), there is almost no difference in fuel consumption or vehicle performance. In exchange, grain-produced ethanol reduces emissions three to four percent, and cellulose-produced ethanol can decrease emissions six to eight percent with the ethanol / gasoline blend having a high oxygen content as an additional benefit.

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If ethanol fuel is so great, why don’t we just use it instead of gasoline?

Ethanol fuel is quite expensive to produce, and at the moment is too cost-prohibitive to completely convert our vehicles. Additionally, high blends of ethanol fuel require special dispensing equipment that is not in widespread use yet. However, some specially produced vehicles are being manufactured that are at the maximum of the ethanol / gasoline proportion (85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.) These cars can reduce emissions up to 75 percent and they also produce lower levels of nitrogen oxides and carcinogens.

Wait a minute. What is ethanol fuel exactly?

Ethanol fuel is a renewable product that in its most basic form is a liquid alcohol consisting of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Ethanol fuel can be distilled from any biological material that is made from sugar or that can be turned into sugar (like corn or sugar cane). It can also be manufactured from cellulose materials (like wood and grass.) Currently, most ethanol fuel used in Canada is made from grains like corn and wheat. Although ethanol fuel is considered to be more ecologically friendly, the huge amount of arable land needed to produce crops to convert to fuel is detrimental to the environmental effort. Added to that, some environmentalists believe that using so much arable land to produce fuel instead of food is not making good use of our natural resources.

 Alternatively, the advantage of using cellulose materials is that they can be made from wood waste like wood chips or sawdust, which is great for the environment as it is utilizing byproducts instead of generating new products to be converted. This would make the process cheaper, but will be trickier to accomplish as the pretreatment needed is more complex before fermentation will occur. However, as technology develops, the process will become easier and more economical which will make producing and distributing ethanol fuel a much more viable and environmentally friendly alternative for Canadians to embrace.

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