Bioethanol

Biomass as an energy source is a relatively new concept to most people. Imagine their surprise when they find out they’ve been using a biomass fuel for some time in the form of bioethanol.

Bioethanol

Ethanol is the most widely used biofuel today. In 2003, more than 2.8 billion gallons were added to gasoline in the United States to improve vehicle performance and reduce air pollution. Ethanol is an alcohol, and most is made using a process similar to brewing beer where starch crops are converted into sugars, the sugars are fermented into ethanol, and then the ethanol is distilled into its final form. Ethanol made from cellulosic biomass materials instead of traditional feedstocks (starch crops) is called bioethanol.

Ethanol is used to increase octane and improve the emissions quality of gasoline. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 mandated the sale of oxygenated fuels in areas of the country with unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide. Since that time, there has been strong demand for ethanol as an oxygenate blended with gasoline. In some areas of the United States today, ethanol is blended with gasoline to form an E10 blend (10% ethanol and 90% gasoline), but it can be used in higher concentrations such as E85 or in its pure form.

All automobile manufacturers that do business in the United States approve the use of certain ethanol/gasoline blends. Fuel ethanol blends are successfully used in all types of vehicles and engines that require gasoline. Approval of ethanol blends is found in the owners' manuals under references to refueling or gasoline.

When it comes to biomass energy, bioethanol is by far the most used as a produced power.

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