Biofuels - Gas prices

Ethanol fuel (ethyl alcohol), the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, is made from common materials, like corn. Ethanol can be mass-produced by fermentation of sugar or by hydration of ethylene from petroleum and other sources. Generally considered a biofuel alternative to gasoline, ethanol provides fuel for automobiles and other forms of transportation, particularly in Brazil.

Anhydrous ethanol (ethanol with less than 1% water) can be blended with gasoline in varying quantities up to pure ethanol (E100), and most internal combustion engines will tolerate mixtures of 10% ethanol, (E10).^{[1] [2]} a level that is actually mandated in some U.S. cities with potentially harmful levels of auto emissions.^[3]

Currently produced from the starch or sugar in a wide variety of crops, there is some debate about the viability of bio-ethanol as a replacment for fossil fuels. Public concerns include the large amount of arable land required for crops,^[4] and the energy/pollution balance of the ethanol production cycle.^[5][6] While cellulosic ethanol research and development promises to allay those concerns^[7], most analysts agree that large-scale production is not expected in the near future.^[8]

Chemistry

In this 3-d diagram of ethanol, the lines represent single bonds.

During ethanol fermentation, glucose is decomposed into ethanol and carbon dioxide.

C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₆O + 2CO₂

During combustion ethanol reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, water, and heat: (other air pollutants are also produced when ethanol is burned in the atmosphere rather than in pure oxygen)

C₂H₆O + 3O₂ → 2CO₂ + 3H₂O

Together, these two equations add up to the following:

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 2CO₂ + 4CO₂ + 6H₂O + heat

This is the reverse of the photosynthesis reaction, which shows that the three reactions completely cancel each other out, only converting light into heat without leaving any byproducts:

6CO₂ + 6H₂O + light → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂

Sources

Main article: Energy crop

 

About 5% (in 2003) of the ethanol produced in the world is actually a petroleum product.^[9] It is made by the catalytic hydration of ethylene with sulfuric acid as the catalyst. It can also be obtained via ethylene or acetylene, from calcium carbide, coal, oil gas, and other sources. Two million tons of petroleum-derived ethanol are produced annually. The principal suppliers are plants in the United States, Europe, and South Africa.^[10] Petroleum derived ethanol (synthetic ethanol) is chemically identical to bio-ethanol and can be differentiated only by radiocarbon dating.^[11]

Bio-ethanol is obtained from the conversion of carbon based feedstock. Agricultural feedstocks are considered renewable because they get energy from the sun using photosynthesis, provided that all minerals, required for growth (such as nitrogen and phosphorus), are returned to the land. Ethanol can be produced from a variety of feedstocks such as sugar cane, bagasse, miscanthus, sugar beet, sorghum, grain sorghum, switchgrass, barley, hemp, kenaf, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, sunflower, fruit, molasses, corn, stover, grain, wheat, straw, cotton, other biomass, as well as many types of cellulose waste and harvestings, whichever has the best well-to-wheel assessment.

Production Process

The basic steps for large scale production of ethanol are: microbial (yeast) fermentation of sugars, distillation, dehydration (required unless distillation is done repeatedly), and denaturing (optional). Prior to fermentation, some crops require saccharification or hydrolysis into carbohydrates. Saccharification of cellulose is called cellulolysis (see cellulosic ethanol). Other pre-production steps can be necessary for certain crops like corn which requires refinement into starch and liquification.[14]

Fermentation

Main article: Ethanol fermentation

Ethanol is produced by microbial fermentation of the sugar. Subsequent processing is the same as for ethanol from corn. Production of ethanol from sugarcane (sugarcane requires a tropical climate to grow productively) returns about 8 units of energy for each unit expended compared to corn which only returns about 1.34 units of fuel energy for each unit of energy expended.^[12]

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is emitted during fermentation and combustion. However, this is canceled out by the greater uptake of carbon dioxide by the plants as they grow to produce the biomass.^[13] When compared to gasoline, depending on the production method, ethanol releases less or even no greenhouse gases.^[14][15]

Distillation

For the ethanol to be usable as a fuel, water must be removed. Most of the water is removed by distillation, but the purity is limited to 95-96% due to the formation of a low-boiling water-ethanol azeotrope. The 96% m/m (93% v/v) ethanol, 4% m/m (7% v/v) water mixture may be used as a fuel.

Dehydration

Currently, the most widely used purification method is a physical absorption process using a molecular sieve, for example, ZEOCHEM Z3-03 (a special 3A molecular sieve for EtOH dehydration). Another method, azeotropic distillation, is achieved by adding the hydrocarbon benzene which also denatures the ethanol (to render it undrinkable for duty purposes). A third method involves use of calcium oxide as a desiccant.

Technology

Ethanol-based engines

Ethanol is most commonly used to power automobiles, though it may be used to power other vehicles, such as farm tractors and airplanes. Ethanol (E100) consumption in an engine is approximately 34% higher than that of gasoline (the energy per volume unit is 34% lower)^[16][17][18]. However, higher compression ratios in an ethanol-only engine allow for increased power output and better fuel economy than would be obtained with the lower compression ratio.^[19][20] In general, ethanol-only engines are tuned to give slightly better power and torque output to gasoline-powered engines. In flexible fuel vehicles, the lower compression ratio requires tunings that give the same output when using either gasoline or hydrated ethanol. For maximum use of ethanol’s benefits, a much higher compression ratio should be used,^[21] which would render that engine unsuitable for gasoline usage. When ethanol fuel availability allows high-compression ethanol-only vehicles to be practical, the fuel efficiency of such engines should be equal or greater than current gasoline engines. However, since the energy content (by volume) of ethanol fuel is less than gasoline, a larger volume of ethanol fuel would still be required to produce the same amount of energy.^[22][23]

A 2004 MIT study,^[24] and paper published by the Society of Automotive Engineers,^[25] present the possibility of a definite advance over hybrid electric cars’ cost-efficiency by using a high-output turbocharger in combination with continuous dual-fuel direct injection of pure alcohol and pure gasoline in any ratio up to 100% of either. Each fuel is stored separately, probably with a much smaller tank for alcohol, the peak cost-efficiency being calculated to occur at approximately 30% alcohol mix, at maximum engine power. The estimated cost advantage is calculated at 4.6:1 return on the cost of alcohol used, in gasoline costs saved, when the alcohol is used primarily as an octane modifier and is otherwise conserved. With the cost of new equipment factored in the data gives a 3:1 improvement in payback over hybrid, and 4:1 over turbo-diesel (comparing consumer investment yield only). In addition, the danger of water absorption into pre-mixed gasoline and supply issues of multiple mix ratios can be addressed by this system.

Ethanol fuel mixtures

For more details on this topic, see Common ethanol fuel mixtures.

To avoid engine stall, the fuel must exist as a single phase. The fraction of water that an ethanol-gasoline fuel can contain without phase separation increases with the percent of ethanol. This is shown for 25 C (77 F) in a gasoline-ethanol-water phase diagram, Fig 13 of [15]. This shows, for example, that E30 can have up to about 2% water. If there is more than about 71% ethanol, the remainder can be any proportion of water or gasoline and phase separation will not occur. However, the fuel mileage declines with increased water content. The increased solubility of water with higher ethanol content permits E30 and hydrated ethanol to be put in the same tank since any combination of them always results in a single phase. Somewhat less water is tolerated at lower temperatures. For E10 it is about 0.5% v/v at 70 F and decreases to about 0.23% v/v at -30 F as shown in Figure 1 of [16].

In many countries cars are mandated to run on mixtures of ethanol. Brazil requires cars be suitable for a 25% ethanol blend, and has required various mixtures between 22% and 25% ethanol, as of October 2006 23% is required. The United States allows up to 10% blends, and some states require this (or a smaller amount) in all gasoline sold. Other countries have adopted their own requirements.

Beginning with the model year 1999, an increasing number of vehicles in the world are manufactured with engines which can run on any fuel from 0% ethanol up to 100% ethanol without modification. Many cars and light trucks (a class containing minivans, SUVs and pickup trucks) are designed to be flexible-fuel vehicles (also called dual-fuel vehicles). Their engine systems contain alcohol sensors in the fuel and/or oxygen sensors in the exhaust that provide input to the engine control computer to adjust the fuel injection to achieve stochiometric (no residual fuel or free oxygen in the exhaust) air-to-fuel ratio for any fuel mix. The engine control computer can also adjust (advance) the ignition timing to achieve a higher output without pre-ignition when higher alcohol percentages are present in the fuel being burned.^{[citation needed]}

Fuel economy

All vehicles have a fuel economy (measured as miles per US gallon -MPG- , or liters per 100 km) that is directly proportional to energy content.^[26] Ethanol contains approx. 34% less energy per unit volume than gasoline, and therefore will result in a 34% reduction in miles per US gallon.^[16][17][18] For E10 (10% ethanol and 90% gasoline), the effect is small (~3%) when compared to conventional gasoline,^[27] and even smaller (1-2%) when compared to oxygenated and reformulated blends.^[28] However, for E85 (85% ethanol), the effect becomes significant. E85 will produce lower mileage than gasoline, and will require more frequent refueling. Actual performance may vary depending on the vehicle. The EPA-rated mileage of current USA flex-fuel vehicles^[29] should be considered when making price comparisons, but it must be noted that E85 is a high performance fuel and should be compared to premium.

Ethanol fuel use by country

The top five ethanol producers in 2005 were Brazil (4.35 billion US gallons per year), the United States (4.3 billion US gallons per year), China (530 MMgy), the European Union (250 MMgy) and India (80 MMgy). Brazil and the United States accounted for 90 percent of all ethanol production. Also, it should be noted that the United States, now producing at a rate of about 4.6 billion US gallons per year, is widely considered the world’s largest ethanol producer. Strong incentives, coupled with other industry development initiatives, are giving rise to fledgling ethanol industries in countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, Columbia, the Dominican Republic and Malawi. Nevertheless, ethanol hasn’t yet made much of a dent in world oil consumption.^[30]

Brazil

Main article: Ethanol fuel in Brazil

 

Gasoline on the left, alcohol on the right at a filling station in Brazil

Brazil has one of the largest bio-fuel programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country’s automotive fuel. As a result of this, together with the exploitation of domestic deep water oil sources, Brazil, which years ago had to import a large share of the petroleum needed for domestic consumption, recently reached complete self-sufficiency in oil.^[31][32][33]

Brazil produced around 16.4 billion liters of ethanol in 2004 and used 2.7 million hectares of land area for this production (4.5% of the Brazilian land area used for crop production in 2005^[34]). Of this, around 12.4 billion liters were produced as fuel for ethanol-powered vehicles in the domestic market. In Brazil, ethanol-powered and flexible-fuel vehicles are manufactured for operation with hydrated ethanol, an azeotrope of ethanol (around 93% v/v) and water (7%).

Production and use of ethanol has been stimulated through:

• Low-interest loans for the construction of ethanol distilleries
• Guaranteed purchase of ethanol by the state-owned oil company at a reasonable price
• Retail pricing of neat ethanol so it is competitive if not slightly favorable to the gasoline-ethanol blend
• Tax incentives provided during the 1980s to stimulate the purchase of neat ethanol vehicles.^[35]

Guaranteed purchase and price regulation were ended some years ago, with relatively positive results. In addition to these other policies, ethanol producers in the state of São Paulo established a research and technology transfer center that has been effective in improving sugar cane and ethanol yields.^[36]

United States

 

A Ford Taurus “fueled by clean burning ethanol” owned by New York City.

Main article: Ethanol fuel in the United States

Most cars on the road today in the U.S. can run on blends of up to 10% ethanol, and motor vehicle manufacturers already produce vehicles designed to run on much higher ethanol blends. Portland, Oregon, recently became the first city in the United States to require all gasoline sold within city limits to contain at least 10% ethanol.^[37] Several motor vehicle manufacturers, including Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and GM, sell “flexible-fuel” cars, trucks, and minivans that can use gasoline and ethanol blends ranging from pure gasoline up to 85% ethanol (E85). By mid-2006, there were approximately six million E85-compatible vehicles on U.S. roads.^[38]

The Renewable Fuels Association counts 113 U.S. ethanol distilleries in operation and another 78 under construction, with capacity to produce 11.8 billion gallons (44.7 billion liters) within the next few years. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts in its Annual Energy Outlook 2007 that ethanol consumption will reach 11.2 billion gallons (42.4 billion liters) by 2012, outstripping the 7.5 billion gallons (27.4 billion liters) required in the Renewable Fuel Standard that was enacted as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.^[39]

The growing ethanol and biodiesel industries are providing jobs in plant construction, operations, and maintenance, mostly in rural communities. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the ethanol industry created almost 154,000 U.S. jobs in 2005 alone, boosting household income by $5.7 billion and contributed about $3.5 billion in tax revenues at the local, state, and federal levels.^[40]

Fuel ethanol as it is currently produced in the United States is variously criticized for its dependence on high subsidies, its consumption of more energy than is contained in the resulting fuel, and its (usually) consuming a food crop to produce fuel^[41]. The subsidies have resulted in the conversion of considerable land to corn (maize) production, which generally consumes more fertilizers and pesticides than many other land uses. Recent developments with cellulosic ethanol production and commercialization may allay some of these concerns.^[42]