Aloclean –A Mix Of Ethanol & Gasoline

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The Process

Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol can be  used

either as an alternative fuel or as an octane-boosting,

pollution-reducing additive to gasoline.

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The U.S. ethanol industry produced more than 3.4

billion gallons in 2004, up from 2.8 billion gallons

in 2003 and 2.1 billion gallons in 2002.

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Although this number is small when compared with fossil fuel consumption for transportation, as individual

states continue to ban the use of MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether) and with  the possibility of a Federal

ban, ethanol consumption is due for a significant boost. Because of the increased demand on ethanol as a

gasoline additive, efforts to increase supplies are necessary in order to meet the increase in demand. As of

the start of 2005, 81 ethanol plants in 20 states have the capacity to produce nearly 4.4 billion gallons

annually and an additional 16 plants are under construction to add another 750 million gallons of capacity

(RFA).

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Some Basic Concepts.

There is semantic confusion with regard to the term ethanol. Very often the term is used

as a synonym for alcoholic beverages. This is misleading, even though ethanol may be used

as a raw material for the production of spirits. In order to avoid misunderstandings, To

define ethanol as a clear, colorless, flammable oxygenated hydrocarbon, with the chemical

formula C2 H5 OH. Even though the definition is fairly straightforward, there are various

categories for describing a particular type of ethyl alcohol which are not mutually exclusive:

  • By feedstock

  • By composition

  • By end use

The feedstocks and therefore the processes by which ethanol can be produced are diverse. Synthetic alcohol

may be derived from crude oil or gas and coal. Agricultural alcohol may be distilled from grains, molasses,

fruit, sugar cane juice, cellulose and numerous other sources. Both products, fermentation and synthetic

alcohol are chemically identical.

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Sources for Ethanol Production

.Synthetic alcohol is concentrated in the hands of a

couple of mostly multi-national companies such as

Sasol with operations in South Africa and Germany,

SADAF of Saudi Arabia, a 50:50 joint venture between

Shell of the UK and Netherlands and the Saudi

Arabian Basic Industries Corporation, and BP

of the UK as well as Equistar in the US.

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Corn and other starches and sugars are only a small fraction of biomass that can be used to make ethanol.

Advanced Bioethanol Technology allows fuel ethanol to be made from cellulosic (plant fiber) biomass, such

as agricultural forestry residues, industrial waste, material in municipal solid waste, trees, and grasses.

Cellulose and hemicellulose, the two main components of plants-and the ones that give plants their

structure-are also made of sugars, but those sugars are tied together in long chains. Advanced bioethanol

technology can break those chains down into their component sugars and then ferment them to make

ethanol. This technology turns ordinary low-value plant materials such as corn stalks, sawdust, or waste

paper into fuel ethanol. Not quite lead into gold, but maybe more valuable for the U.S. economy, for cutting

air pollution, and for reducing dependence on foreign oil. To help improve this technology and ready it for

commercial operation, the DOE researchers and their industrial partners use the DOE Bioethanol Pilot

Plant  a fully integrated biomass-to-ethanol production facility that can turn as much as one ton per day of

corn stalks or other plant material into transportation fuels. (US DOE)

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High Quality Livestock and Poultry Feed

In just over two decades, U.S. ethanol production capacity has risen from virtually zero to over 3 billion

gallons a year. Dry mill processing plants produce approximately 55% of the nation’s ethanol today; the rest

is processed in wet mill facilities.

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Another Distinction

Another distinction which is of importance in the field

of ethanol is the one between anhydrous and hydrous

alcohol. Anhydrous Alcohol is free of water and at

least 99% pure. This ethanol may be used in fuel

blends.

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Hydrous alcohol on the other hand contains some

water and usually has a purity of 96%. In Brazil, this ethanol is being used as a 100% gasoline substitute

in cars with dedicated engines. The distinction between anhydrous and hydrous alcohol is of relevance

not only in the fuel sector but may be regarded as the basic quality distinction in the ethanol market.

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Increased demand has led to several major expansions of existing ethanol production facilities in the last

few years. Growth in America’s ethanol industry  has also been as a result of many farmer-owned

organizations building ethanol plants. Since all of the new plants are dry mill facilities, the volume of

distillers grains, a co-product of ethanol production, is also increasing.

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Political Support

Critics often ask why biofuels must be supported by the state. If fuel ethanol is such a great product, so

they say, then it surely will gain market share without any government help. This argument is very

much dependent on the assumption that the energy markets that we look at work perfectly. In the

energy market, and in fact, in almost any market, these conditions are insufficiently met and, therefore,

an active policy approach may be justified.

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There is growing consensus that fuel ethanol may serve a multitude of goals that are socially desirable. At

the same time, as a fuel, it is invariably more expensive to produce than for example gasoline. Or looked at it

from another angle, ethanol faces an unfavorable opportunity cost structure. The opportunity costs for

ethanol production from, for example sugar crops like cane or beet, is the return otherwise achievable if

these feedstocks were used to produce sugar. So, if policy makers decide that ethanol is a desirable good

they have to find ways to bridge the gap between the cost of ethanol and that of gasoline and they have to

make ethanol production more attractive as compared to the manufacture of, say, sugar.