Ethanol fuel is a renewable fuel used as an alternative to gasoline, mainly produced from plants such as sugar cane and corn. Brazil and the US are the top producers, but other countries are catching up. Ethanol is primarily used to power automobiles, but can also be used for agricultural machinery and airplanes. Brazil has one of the largest bioethanol programs due to its ideal climate for plant production, making it one of the few countries in the world with a sustainable environment for biofuels.
The top two producers of ethanol in the world are the United States and Brazil, although Canada, China, Thailand, Colombia, India and Australia are all starting to catch up. Simply put, ethanol fuel is a type of renewable fuel that is often used as an alternative to gasoline.
The vast majority of bioethanol fuel comes from natural sources such as sugar cane and corn. Other plants that can be used to create ethanol include sugar beet, branch grass, barley, hemp, potato, sweet potato, sunflower, fruit, and many more. Essentially, any plant that goes through the process of photosynthesis can be turned into some form of ethanol. Also, a small amount of ethanol is derived from petroleum.
Ethanol fuel goes through the same process as human grade alcohol. To produce ethanol, plants must first be fermented. During the fermentation stage, the sugars and starches within a plant are extracted. After fermentation, distillation is used to remove all the water from the plant; to create fuel it is necessary to eliminate almost all traces of water. Finally, each plant must be properly dehydrated in order to remove the last traces of water. Only at this point can the plants be properly converted to ethanol fuel.
Countries that are not considered the best producers of ethanol are generally unable to grow plants that can be turned into fuel for ethanol. Most crops that can be converted to ethanol tend to grow in warmer climates. Therefore, the main producers of ethanol are those countries that have an ideal climate for plant production.
Ethanol fuel is primarily used to power automobiles, although it can also be used as a fuel for agricultural machinery and airplanes. The one major drawback to using ethanol fuel is that a car running on ethanol may not start properly during the cold winter months. Often enough vapor pressure cannot occur to ignite an engine in cold weather. Aside from this drawback, ethanol can be a good alternative to gasoline.
Of all the ethanol producers mentioned above, Brazil has one of the largest bioethanol programs. Since Brazilian farmers produce a large amount of sugar cane, these plants are ideal for converting gasoline to ethanol. In fact, Brazil is thought to be one of the few countries in the world to have a sustainable environment for biofuels.
Unlike most other countries in the world, Brazil no longer needs to rely on imported petrol. Instead, as one of the world’s largest producers of ethanol, Brazil has found ways to use local crops as a fuel source. In addition to Brazil, the United States is also meeting sustainable biofuel targets, although this country also remains one of the world’s largest users of oil.
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