Ethanol has been used as a fuel for over 100 years. Henry Ford believed ethanol from agricultural waste could power vehicles. While ethanol fell out of favor due to cheap gasoline, interest has renewed due to concerns over foreign oil dependence and air pollution. Ethanol has a higher octane rating than gasoline and burns cleaner. It is produced domestically across the U.S., mostly from corn, and could help meet federal renewable fuel mandates. However, politics influence the ethanol industry as advanced biofuels seek to extend and expand federal support to encourage further development.

1. ETHANOL
TRAVIS ACKERSON
FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY
ALTERNATIVE FUELS – AUTO 480

2. INTRODUCTION
Ethanol is one of the leading candidates to be the new break out
fuel for our everyday personal vehicle transportation.
• Ethanol has been around for many years, but will it continue
to be?
• What is the history of ethanol?
• Quotes
• How does it stack up to the other alternatives?
• Octane
• Emissions
• Where is it made?
• Is it political?
• Conclusion

3. ETHANOL HAS BEEN AROUND
FOR MANY YEARS
Before the car, ethanol was used for house lighting
From the first automobile to the start of the self driving car
Many have been skeptic and many have supported.
Ethanol has been an option throughout

4. HISTORY
Henry Ford was the founder of Ford Motor Company
He told a reporter that ethanol was “the fuel of the future” in
1925
Henry Ford : “The fuel of the future is going to come from
fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds,
sawdust — almost anything,” he said. “There is fuel in every
bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There’s enough
alcohol in one year’s yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the
machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred
years.”

5. HISTORY CONTINUED
Mr. Ford is known as one the greatest automotive innovators
ever.
Different engines were prototyped for full ethanol and flex
fuel.
The Ford Model T engine had an adjustable carburetor and a
spark advance to be able to switch to ethanol.

6. HISTORY CONTINUED

7. HISTORY CONTINUED
Alexander Graham Bell and Charles F. Kettering are highly
regarded innovators and inventors from this time period
Bell called alcohol “a wonderfully clean-burning fuel that can
be produced from farm crops, agricultural wastes, and even
garbage .”
Charles Kettering noted that the “most direct route which we
now know for converting energy from its source, the sun,
into a material suitable for use as a fuel is through vegetation
to alcohol.”
Excitement of recycling was put to the side due to the penny
cheap gasoline that was available at the time

8. FOOD VS FUEL
The thought many people had was that the rich were taking
the food from the poor and turning it into fuel for their
horseless carriage

9. FOOD VS FUEL

10. OCTANE
Octane is a hydrocarbon that is volatile and very flammable.
The octane rating of ethanol is 108, which is much higher
than most other fuels especially that of regular unleaded
gasoline that has an octane rating number of 87.
Octane is an index of the fuel's ability to resist engine knock
also known as piston slap.
Ethanol has a much higher octane rating which is why it is
added to regular to obtain many benefits.
What are they? A cheap octane booster, decrease on the
dependence of foreign oil, cheaper prices, and an investment
for a growing American industry.

11. EMISSIONS
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is demanding better
exhaust air coming out of the tail pipe.
Our vehicles are seen as the causes for air pollution and
smog, and they do not help, especially in heavily traveled
areas.
Ethanol is known for less carbon and therefore has much
less harmful emissions.

12. PRODUCTION
Production of Ethanol is being processed all across America
and plants are also currently in new construction.
Most plants can be found in the Corn Belt states (Nebraska,
South Dakota, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan).
Ethanol can be made from many different things including
corn, grains beets, potatoes, grapes, beer, and garbage.
In Brazil, where ethanol is the primary fuel, they make it from
sugar cane because its contents are high in sugar.
Ethanol is being produced all across this great nation. The
infrastructure is there to meet the demands.

13. POLITICS?
Obama adviser suggests changes to ethanol mandate
Jennifer Dlouhy wrote on biofuels and politics on
Wednesday, March 11th.
She reported that the creators of advanced ethanol using
algae, animal fat and non-food plants have cut ties with the
traditional corn ethanol makers.
This is part of the changing in biofuels mandates.

14. POLITICS CONT..
President in the Advanced Biofuels Association, Michael
McAdams, made a speech stating that they have swatted
away tough opposition.
One large point he made was that he presumes going
forward that first-generation ethanol will not meet federal
mandates.
The Advanced Biofuels Association would like to extend the
program for more advanced ethanol to 2022 for more time in
testing and also to encourage investors.
His proposal also encouraged refiners not to use waiver
credits to meet quota.

15. POLITICS CONT..
Large fears are that if money is not being made then the oil
industry would have to finance the biofuel future.
Vice President Brown of Tesoro Corporation said “At the end
of the day, facing a likely future that calls for less carbon-
intensive fuels, a viable advanced biofuel industry that offers
a menu of fully fungible alternative fuels is a desirable
outcome for many refiners.”
They are sure their services will be needed later and the
demand will rise but the matchup of the timelines is unclear.

16. CONCLUSION
With the spike of gas prices a couple years ago, everyone
was scrambling for all different alternative options.
The time will soon come when the spike happens again and
maybe this time it will scare people enough that their hunger
for change will grow and the a new player will fully step in.
Some believe that ethanol could step into this role very easily
and it will take nothing but time.
Fuel of the future, or it will always be the fuel of the future?

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