Seminar Report On

ALCOHOL AS AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL IN I.C ENGINES

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ABSTRACT
In this century, it is believed that crude oil and petroleum products will become very scarce and costly. Day-to-day, fuel economy of engines is getting improved and will continue to improve. However, enormous increase in number of vehicles has started dictating the demand for fuel. With increased use and depletion of fossil fuels, alternative fuel technology will become more common in the coming decades. Because of the high cost of petroleum products, emission problems some developing countries are trying to use alternate fuels for their vehicles

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INTRODUCTION

LIQUID FUELS: Liquid fuels are preferred for IC engines because they are easy to store and have reasonably good calorific value. The main alternative is the alcohol ALCOHOL: Alcohols are attractive alternate fuels because they can be obtained from both natural and manufactured sources. Methanol and ethanol are two kinds of alcohols that seem most promising. ADVANTAGES: 1. It is a high octane fuel with anti-knock index numbers of over 100.Engines using high octane fuel can run more efficiently by using higher compression ratios. Alcohols have higher flame speed. 2. It produces less overall emissions compared to gasoline. 3. When alcohols are burned, it forms more moles of exhaust gases, which gives higher pressure and more power in the expansion stroke. 4. It has high latent heat of vaporization which results in a cooler intake process. This raises the volumetric efficiency of the engine and reduces the required work input in the compression stroke. 5. Alcohols have low sulphur content in the fuel. 6. Reduced petroleum imports and transportation. DISADVANTAGES: 1. Alcohols have low energy content or in other words the calorific value of the fuel is almost half. This means that almost twice as much as gasoline must be burned to give the same energy input to the engine. With equal thermal efficiency and similar engine output usage, twice as much fuel would have to be purchased, and he distance which could be driven with a given fuel tank volume would be cut in half. Automobiles as well as distribution stations would require twice as much storage capacity, twice the number of storage facilities, twice the volume of storage at the service stations, twice as many tank trucks and pipelines, etc. Even with the low energy content of the fuel, engine power for a given displacement would be about the same. This is because of the lower air-fuel ratio needed by alcohol. Alcohol contains oxygen and thus requires less air for stoichiometric combustion. More fuel can be burned with the same amount of air.

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2. Combustion of alcohols produces more aldehydes in the exhaust. If as much alcohol fuel was consumed as gasoline. Aldehyde emissions would be a serious problem. 3. Alcohol is much more corrosive than gasoline on copper, brass, aluminum, rubber, and many plastics. This puts some restrictions on the design and manufacturing of engines to be used with this fuel. Fuel lines and tanks, gaskets, and even metal engine parts can deteriorate with long-term alcohol use (resulting in cracked fuel lines, the need for special fuel tank, etc). Methanol is very corrosive on metals. 4. It has poor cold weather starting characteristics due to low vapor pressure and evaporation. Alcohol-fuelled engines generally have difficulty in starting at temperatures below 10 C. Often a small amount of gasoline is added to alcohol fuel, which greatly improves cold-weather starting. However, the need to do this greatly reduces the attractiveness of alcohol. 5. Alcohols have poor ignition characteristics n general. 6. Alcohols have an almost invisible flame, which is considered dangerous when handling fuel. A small amount of gasoline removes this danger. 7. There is the danger of storage tank flammability, due to low vapor pressure. Air can leak into storage tanks and create combustible mixtures. 8. There will be less NOx emissions because of low flame temperatures. However, the resulting lower exhaust temperatures take longer time to heat the catalytic converter to efficient operating temperatures. 9. Many people find the strong odor of alcohol very offensive. Headaches and drizzles have been experienced when refueling an automobile. 10. There is a possibility of vapor lock in fuel delivery systems. 1.1 METHANOL:
Of all the fuels being considered as an alternate to gasoline, methanol is one of the most promising and has experienced major research and development. Pure methanol and mixtures of methanol and gasoline in various percentages have been extensively tested in engines and vehicles for a number of years. The most common mixtures are M85 (85% methanol and 15% gasoline). The data of these tests which include performance and emission level levels are compared with pure gasoline (M0) and pure methanol (M100). Some smart flexible fuel (or variable fuel) engines are capable of using any random mixture combination of methanol and gasoline ranging from methanol to pure gasoline. Two fuel tanks are used and various flow rates of the two fuels can be pumped to the engine, passing through a mixing chamber. Using information from sensors in the intake and exhaust, the electronic monitoring systems (EMS) adjust to the proper air-fuel ratio, ignition ratio, ignition timing, injection timing, and valve timing (where possible) for the fuel mixture being used. Methanol can be obtained from many sources, both fossil and renewable. These include coal, petroleum, natural gas, biomass, wood, landfills, and even the ocean. However, any source that requires extensive manufacturing or processing raises the price of the fuel.

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Emissions from an engine using M10 fuel are about the same as those using gasoline. The advantage (and disadvantage) of using this fuel is mainly 10% decrease in HC and CO exhaust emissions. However, there is an increase in NOx and a large (500%) increase in formaldehyde emissions.

Methanol is used some dual-fuel CI engines. Methanol by itself is not a good CI engine fuel because of its high octane number, but if a small amount of diesel oil is used for ignition, it can be used with good results. This is very attractive for developing countries, because methanol can often be obtained from much cheaper source than diesel oil. Methanol fuel has received less attention than ethanol fuel as an alternative to petroleum based fuels.[1]

Use in racing
Methanol fuel is also used extensively in drag racing, primarily in the Top Alcohol category. Formula One racing continues to use gasoline as its fuel, but in pre war grand prix racing methanol was often used in the fuel.

Use as internal combustion engine fuel

Both methanol and ethanol burn at lower temperatures than gasoline, and both are less volatile, making engine starting in cold weather more difficult. Using methanol as a fuel in spark ignition engines can offer an increased thermal efficiency and increased power output (as compared to gasoline) due to its high octane rating (114) and high heat of vaporisation. However, its low energy content of 19.7 MJ/kg and stoichiometric air fuel ratio of 6.42:1 mean that fuel consumption (on volume or mass basis) will be higher than hydrocarbon fuels. The extra water produced also makes the charge rather wet (similar to hydrogen/oxygen combustion engines)and combined with the formation of acidic products during combustion, the wearing of valves, valve seats and cylinder might be higher than with hydrocarbon burning. Certain additives may be added to motor oil in order to neutralize these acids. Methanol, just like ethanol, contains soluble and insoluble contaminants. These soluble contaminants, halide ions such as chloride ions, have a large effect on the corrosivity of alcohol fuels. Halide ions increase corrosion in two ways; they chemically attack passivating oxide films on several metals causing pitting corrosion, and they increase the conductivity of the fuel. Increased electrical conductivity promotes electric, galvanic, and ordinary corrosion in the fuel system. Soluble contaminants, such as aluminium hydroxide, itself a product of corrosion by halide ions, clog the fuel system over time. Methanol is hygroscopic, meaning it will absorb water vapor directly from the atmosphere. Because absorbed water dilutes the fuel value of the methanol (although, it suppresses engine knock), and may cause phase separation of methanol-gasoline blends, containers of methanol fuels must be kept tightly sealed.

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Toxicity
Methanol is poisonous; ingestion of only 10 ml can cause blindness and 60-100 ml can be fatal, and it doesn't have to be swallowed to be dangerous since the liquid can be absorbed through the skin, and the vapors through the lungs. US maximum allowed exposure in air (40 h/week) is 1900 mg/m for ethanol, 900 mg/m for gasoline, and 1260 mg/m for methanol. However, it is less volatile than gasoline, and therefore decreases evaporative emissions. Use of methanol, like ethanol, significantly reduces the emissions of certain hydrocarbon-related toxins such as benzene and 1, 3 butadiene. But as gasoline and ethanol are already quite toxic, safety protocol is the same.

Safety
Since methanol vapour is heavier than air, it will linger close to the ground or in a pit unless there is good ventilation, and if the concentration of methanol is above 6.7% in air it can be lit by a spark, and will explode above 54 F / 12 C. Once ablaze, the flames give out very little light making it very hard to see the fire or even estimate its size, especially in bright daylight. If you are unlucky enough to be exposed to the poisonous substance through your respiratory system, its pungent odor should give you some warning of its presence. However, it is difficult to smell methanol in the air at less than 2,000 ppm (0.2%), and it can be dangerous at lower concentrations than that.[3] 1.2 ETHANOL
Ethanol has been used as automobile fuel for many years in various countries of the world. Brazil is probably the leading user, where in the early 1990s. About 5 million vehicles operated on fuels that were 93% ethanol. For a number of years gasohol (gasoline+alcohol) has been available at service stations in the United States. Gasohol is a mixture of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol. As with methanol, the development of systems using mixtures of gasoline and ethanol continues. Two mixture combinations that are important are E85 (85% ethanol) and e10 (gasohol). E85 is basically an alcohol fuel with 15% gasoline added to eliminate some of the problems of pure alcohol (i.e., cold starting, tank flammability, etc.E10 reduces the use of gasoline with no modification needed to the automobile engine. Flexible-fuel engines are being tested which can operate on any ratio of ethanolgasoline.[1]

1.3 Butanol and Propanol

Propanol and butanol are considerably less toxic and less volatile than methanol. In particular, butanol has a high flashpoint of 35 C, which is a benefit for fire safety, but may be a difficult for starting engines in cold weather. The concept of flash point is however not directly applicable to engines as the compression of the air in the cylinder means that the temperature is several hundred degrees Celsius before ignition takes place.

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The fermentation processes to produce propanol and butanol from cellulose are fairly tricky to execute, and the Weizmann organism (Clostridium acetobutylicum) currently used to perform these conversions produces an extremely unpleasant smell, and this must be taken into consideration when designing and locating a fermentation plant. This organism also dies when the butanol content of whatever it is fermenting rises to 7%. For comparison, yeast dies when the ethanol content of its feedstock hits 14%. Specialized strains can tolerate even greater ethanol concentrations - so-called turbo yeast can withstand up to 16% ethanol. However, if ordinary Saccharomyces yeast can be modified to improve its ethanol resistance, scientists may yet one day produce a strain of the Weizmann organism with a butanol resistance higher than the natural boundary of 7%. This would be useful because butanol has a higher energy density than ethanol, and because waste fibre left over from sugar crops used to make ethanol could be made into butanol, raising the alcohol yield of fuel crops without there being a need for more crops to be planted. Despite these drawbacks, DuPont and British Petroleum have recently announced that they are jointly to build a small scale butanol fuel demonstration plant alongside the large bioethanol plant they are jointly developing with Associated British Foods. Energy Environment International developed a method for producing butanol from biomass, which involves the use of two separate micro-organisms in sequence to minimize production of acetone and ethanol by-products. The Swiss company Butalco GmbH uses a special technology to modify yeasts in order to produce butanol instead of ethanol. Yeasts as production organisms for butanol have decisive advantages compared to bacteria. Butanol combustion is: C4H9OH + 6O2 4CO2 + 5H2O + heat[4] 1.4 ALCOHOL FOR SI ENGINES:
Alcohol have higher antiknock characteristic compared to gasoline. As such with an alcohol fuel, engine compression ratios between 11:1 and 13:1 are usual. Todays gasoline engines use a compression ratio of around 7:1 or 9:1, much too low for pure alcohol. In a properly designed engine and fuel system, alcohol produces fewer harmful exhaust emissions. Alcohol contains about half the heat energy of gasoline per liter. The stoichiometric air fuel ratio is lesser for alcohol than for gasoline. To provide a proper fuel air mixture, a carburetor or fuel injector fuel passage should be doubled in area to allow extra fuel flow. Alcohol does not vaporize as easily as gasoline. Its latent heat of vaporization is much greater. This affects cold weather starting. If the alcohol liquefies in the engine then it will not burn properly. Thus, the engine may be difficult or even impossible to start in extremely cold climate. To overcome this, gasoline is introduced in the engine until the engine starts and warms up. Once the engines warms, alcohols when introduced will vaporize quickly and completely and normally. Even during normal

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operation, additional heat may have to be supplied to completely vaporize alcohol. Alcohol burns at about half the speed of gasoline. As such, ignition timing must be changed, so that more spark advance is provided. This will give the slow burning alcohol more time to develop the pressure and power in the cylinder. Moreover, corrosion resistant materials are required for fuel systems since alcohols are corrosive in nature.

1.5 REFORMULATED GASOLINE FOR SI ENGINES:

Reformulated gasoline is normal type of gasoline with a slightly modified formulation and help additives to help reduce engine emissions. Additives in the fuel include oxidation inhibitors, corrosion inhibitors, metal deactivators, detergents, and deposit control additives. Oxygenates such as methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and alcohols are mixed, such that there is 1-3% oxygen by weight. This to help in reducing CO in the exhaust. Levels of benzene, aromatic, and high boiling components are reduced, as in the vapor pressure.Recognising that engine deposits contribute to emissions, cleaning additives are included. Some additives clean carburetors, some clean fuel injectors, and some intake valves, each of which often does not clean other components. MTBE is now prohibited for ground water contamination. Of the positive side is that all gasoline-fuelled engines, old and new, can use this fuel without modification. On the negative side is that only moderate emissions reduction is realized, cost is increased, and the only moderate emission reduction is realized, cost is increased, and the use of petroleum products is not considerably reduced.

1.6 WATER-GASOLINE MIXTURE FOR SI ENGINES:

The development of the spark-ignition engine has been accompanied by the desire to raise the compression ratio for increased efficiency and fuel economy. One obstacle to this gain in economy at times has been the octane quality of the available gasoline. To circumvent this limitation, water was proposed as an antiknock additive. Water addition to gasoline slows down the burning rate and reduces the gas temperature in the cylinder which probably suppresses detonation. Engine combustion chamber deposit reductions have also been reported when water was added to the intake charge. With respect to nitric oxide emissions, dramatic reductions were reported. Conversely, water addition probably increases hydrocarbon emissions. Finally, with respect to carbon monoxide emissions, water additions seem to have minimal effect. Only a very limited work has been carried out with the addition of water via an emulsion with the fuel rather than independently. Emulsion could eliminate the need for a separate tank, provide improved atomization and increase fuel safety. However, a water-fuel separation problem may exist.

1.7 ALCOHOL FOR CI ENGINES:

Techniques of using alcohol in diesel engines are 1. Alcohol/diesel fuel solutions. 2. Alcohol diesel emulsions. 3. Alcohol fumigation

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4. 5. 6. 7.

Dual fuel injection Surface ignition of alcohols Spark ignition of alcohols Alcohols containing ignition improving additives.

Both ethyl and methyl alcohols have high self ignition temperatures. Hence, very high compression ratios (25-27) will be required to self ignite them. Since this would make the engine extremely heavy and expensive, the better method is to utilize them in dual fuel operation. In the dual fuel engine, alcohol is carbureted or injected into the inducted air. Due to high self ignition temperature of alcohols three will be no combustion with the usual diesel compression ratios of 16 to 18. A little before the end of compression stroke, a small quantity of diesel oil is injected into the compression stroke, a quantity of diesel oil is injected into the combustion chamber through the normal diesel pump and spray nozzle. The diesel oil readily ignites and initiates combustion in the alcohol air mixtures also. Several methods are adopted for induction of alcohol into the intake manifold. They are micro fog unit, pneumatic spray nozzles, vaporizer, carburetor and fuel injector. The degree of fineness in mixing of fuel and air are different for the above methods. Another method tried is to inject alcohol into the combustion chamber after diesel fuel injection. This way of alcohol induction avoids the alcohol cooling the charge in the cylinder to a degree which will jeopardize the ignition of the diesel fuel. However, this design calls for two complete and separate fuel systems with tank, fuel pump, injection pump and injectors. In the dual fuel engines mentioned above, major portion of the heat release is by the alcohol is ignited by a pilot spray of diesel oil injection. Hence, if the alcohol induction rate exceeds a limit, the injected diesel will not be able to ignite and hence, the engine will fail to function.

1.8 SURFACE-IGNITION ALCOHOL CI ENGINES:

A slab of insulator material, wound with a few strands of heating wire is fixed on the combustion chamber with the wire running on the face exposed to the gases. The fuel injector is located such that a part of the spray impinges head on this surface. Ignition is thus initiated. The combustion chamber, which is in the cylinder head, is made relatively narrow so that the combustion spreads quickly to the rest of the space. Since a part of the fuel burns on the insulator surface and the heat losses from the plate are low, the surface after some minutes of operations reaches a temperature sufficient to initiate ignition without the aid of external electrical supply. The power consumption of the coil is about 50W at 6 volts. The engine lends itself easily to the use of wide variety of fuels, including methanol, ethanol and gasoline. The engine was found to run smoothly on methanol with a performance comparable to diesel operation. The engine operates more smoothly at lower speeds than at higher speeds. [1]

2.1 Flexible-fuel vehicle

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A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (colloquially called a flex-fuel vehicle) is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol or methanol fuel, and both fuels are stored in the same common tank. Flex-fuel engines are capable of burning any proportion of the resulting blend in the combustion chamber as fuel injection and spark timing are adjusted automatically according to the actual blend detected by electronic sensors. Flex-fuel vehicles are distinguished from bi-fuel vehicles, where two fuels are stored in separate tanks and the engine runs on one fuel at a time, for example, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or hydrogen. The most common commercially available FFV in the world market is the ethanol flexible-fuel vehicle, with around 18 million automobiles and light duty trucks on the roads by 2009, and concentrated in four markets, Brazil (9.3 million), the United States (around 8 million), Canada (600,000), and Europe, led by Sweden (181,458). Also a total of 183,375 flexible-fuel motorcycles were sold in Brazil in 2009. In addition to flex-fuel vehicles running with ethanol, in Europe and the US, mainly in California, there have been successful test programs with methanol flex-fuel vehicles, known as M85 flex-fuel vehicles. Though technology exists to allow ethanol FFVs to run on any mixture of gasoline and ethanol, from pure gasoline up to 100% ethanol (E100), North American and European flex-fuel vehicles are optimized to run on a maximum blend of 15% gasoline with 85% anhydrous ethanol (called E85 fuel). This limit in the ethanol content is set to reduce ethanol emissions at low temperatures and to avoid cold starting problems during cold weather, at temperatures lower than 11 C (52 F). The alcohol content is reduced during the winter in regions where temperatures fall below 0 C (32 F) to a winter blend of E70 in the U.S. or to E75 in Sweden from November until March. Brazilian flex fuel vehicles are optimized to run on any mix of E20E25 gasoline and up to 100% hydrous ethanol fuel (E100). The Brazilian flex vehicles are built-in with a small gasoline reservoir for cold starting the engine when temperatures drop below 15 C (59 F). An improved flex motor generation was launched in 2009 which eliminated the need for the secondary gas tank.

2.2 Terminology
As ethanol FFVs became commercially available during the late 1990s, the common use of the term "flexible-fuel vehicle" became synonymous with ethanol FFVs. In the United States flexfuel vehicles are also known as "E85 vehicles". In Brazil, the FFVs are popularly known as "total flex" or simply "flex" cars. In Europe, FFVs are also known as "flexi fuel" vehicles. Automakers, particularly in Brazil and the European market, use badging in their FFV models with the some variant of the word "flex", such as Volvo Flexi fuel, or Volkswagen Total Flex, or Chevrolet Flex Power or Renault Hi-Flex, and Ford sells its Focus model in Europe as Flexi fuel and as Flex in Brazil. In the US, only newer FFV models feature a yellow gas cap with the label "E85/Gasoline" written on the top of the cap to differentiate E85s from gasoline only models, and just recently, GM introduced badging with the text "Flex fuel/E85 Ethanol".

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Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) are based on dual-fuel systems that supply both fuels into the combustion chamber at the same time in various calibrated proportions. The most common fuels used by FFVs today are unleaded gasoline and ethanol fuel. Ethanol FFVs can run on pure gasoline, pure ethanol (E100) or any combination of both. Methanol has also been blended with gasoline in flex-fuel vehicles known as M85 FFVs, but their use has been limited mainly to demonstration projects and small government fleets, particularly in California.

Multifuel vehicles are capable of operating with more than two fuels. In 2004 GM do Brasil introduced the Chevrolet Astra 2.0 with a "MultiPower" engine built on flex fuel technology developed by Bosch of Brazil, and capable of using CNG, ethanol and gasoline (E20-E25 blend) as fuel. In 2006 Fiat introduced the Fiat Siena Tetra fuel, a fourfuel car developed under Magneti Marelli of Fiat Brazil. This automobile can run as a flex-fuel on 100% ethanol (E100); or on E-20 to E25, Brazil's normal ethanol gasoline blend; on pure gasoline (though no longer available in Brazil since 1993, it is still used in neighboring countries); or just on natural gas. Siena Tetrafuel was engineered to switch from any gasoline-ethanol blend to CNG automatically, depending on the power required by road conditions. Another existing option is to retrofit an ethanol flexiblefuel vehicle to add a natural gas tank and the corresponding injection system. This option is popular among taxicab owners in So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, allowing users to choose among three fuels (E25, E100 and CNG) according to current market prices at the pump. Vehicles with this adaptation are known in Brazil as "tri-fuel" cars. Flex-fuel hybrid electric and flex-fuel plug-in hybrid are two types of hybrid vehicles built with a combustion engine capable of running on gasoline, E-85, or E-100 to help drive the wheels in conjunction with the electric engine or to recharge the battery pack that powers the electric engine. In 2007 Ford produced 20 demonstration Escape Hybrid E85s for real-world testing in fleets in the U.S. Also as a demonstration project, Ford delivered in 2008 the first flexible-fuel plug-in hybrid SUV to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid, which runs on gasoline or E85. GM announced that the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, expected to be launched in 2010, would be the first commercially available flex-fuel plug-in capable of adapting the propulsion to several world markets such as the U.S., Brazil or Sweden, as the combustion engine can be adapted to run on E85, E100 or diesel respectively. In the North American market the Volt will be sold as an E85 flex-fuel-capable plug-in about a year after its first introduction.

2.3History
The first commercial flexible fuel vehicle was the Ford Model T, produced from 1908 through 1927. It was fitted with a carburetor with adjustable jetting, allowing use of gasoline or ethanol, or a combination of both. Other car manufactures also provided engines for ethanol fuel use. Henry Ford continued to advocate for ethanol as fuel even during the prohibition. However, cheaper oil caused gasoline to prevail, until the 1973 oil crisis resulted in gasoline shortages and awareness on the dangers of oil dependence. This crisis opened a new opportunity for ethanol
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and other alternative fuels, such as methanol, gaseous fuels such as CNG and LPG, and also hydrogen. Ethanol, methanol and natural gas CNG were the three alternative fuels that received more attention for research and development, and government support. Since 1975, and as a response to the shock caused by the first oil crisis, the Brazilian government implemented the National Alcohol Program -Pr-lcool- (Portuguese: Programa Nacional do lcool), a nationwide program financed by the government to phase out automotive fuels derived from fossil fuels in favor of ethanol made from sugar cane. It began with a low blend of anhydrous alcohol with regular gasoline in 1976, and since July 2007 the mandatory blend is 25% of alcohol or gasohol E25. In 1979, and as a response to the second oil crisis, the first vehicle capable of running with pure hydrous ethanol (E100) was launched to the market, the Fiat 147, after testing with several prototypes developed by Fiat, Volkswagen, GM and Ford. The Brazilian government provided three important initial drivers for the ethanol industry: guaranteed purchases by the state-owned oil company Petrobras, low-interest loans for agro-industrial ethanol firms, and fixed gasoline and ethanol prices. After reaching more than 4 million cars and light trucks running on pure ethanol by the late 1980s, the use of E100only vehicles sharply declined after increases in sugar prices produced shortages of ethanol fuel. After extensive research that began in the 90s, a second push took place in March 2003, when the Brazilian subsidiary of Volkswagen launched to the market the first full flexible-fuel car, the Gol 1.6 Total Flex. Several months later was followed by other Brazilian automakers, and by 2009 General Motors, Fiat, Ford, Peugeot, Renault, Volkswagen, Honda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Citren and Nissan were producing popular models of flex cars and light trucks. The adoption of ethanol flex fuel vehicles was so successful, that production of flex cars went from almost 40 thousand in 2003 to 1.7 million in 2007. This rapid adoption of the flex technology was facilitated by the fuel distribution infrastructure already in place, as around 27,000 filling stations countrywide were available by 1997 with at least one ethanol pump, a heritage of the Pr-lcool program. In the United States, initial support to develop alternative fuels by the government was also a response to the first oil crisis, and some time later, as a goal to improve air quality. Also, liquid fuels were preferred over gaseous fuels not only because they have a better volumetric energy density but also because they were the most compatible fuels with existing distribution systems and engines, thus avoiding a big departure from the existing technologies and taking advantage of the vehicle and the refuelling infrastructure. California led the search of sustainable alternatives with interest focused in methanol. Ford Motor Company and other automakers responded to California's request for vehicles that run on methanol. In 1981, Ford delivered 40 dedicated methanol fuel (M100) Escorts to Los Angeles County, but only four refueling stations were installed. The biggest challenge in the development of alcohol vehicle technology was getting all of the fuel system materials compatible with the higher chemical reactivity of the fuel. Methanol was even more of a challenge than ethanol but, fortunately, much of the early experience gained with ethanol vehicle production in Brazil was transferable to methanol. The

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success of this small experimental fleet of M100s led California to request more of these vehicles, mainly for government fleets. In 1983, Ford built 582 M100 vehicles; 501 went to California, and the remaining to New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, and Canada. As an answer to the lack of refueling infrastructure, Ford began development of a flexible-fuel vehicle in 1982, and between 1985 and 1992, 705 experimental FFVs were built and delivered to California and Canada, including the 1.6L Ford Escort, the 3.0L Taurus, and the 5.0L LTD Crown Victoria. These vehicles could operate on either gasoline or methanol with only one fuel system. Legislation was passed to encourage the US auto industry to begin production, which started in 1993 for the M85 FFVs at Ford. In 1996, a new FFV Ford Taurus was developed, with models fully capable of running on either methanol or ethanol blended with gasoline. This ethanol version of the Taurus became the first commercial production of an E85 FFV. The momentum of the FFV production programs at the American car companies continued, although by the end of the 1990s, the emphasis shifted to the FFV E85 version, as it is today. Ethanol was preferred over methanol because there is a large support from the farming community, and thanks to the government's incentive programs and corn-based ethanol subsidies. Sweden also tested both the M85 and the E85 flexifuel vehicles, but due to agriculture policy, in the end emphasis was given to the ethanol flexifuel vehicles. Support for ethanol also comes from the fact that it is a biomass fuel, which addresses climate change concerns and greenhouse gas emissions, though these benefits are now highly debated depending on the feedstock used for ethanol production. The demand for ethanol fuel produced from field corn in the United States was stimulated by the discovery in the late 90s that methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), an oxygenate additive in gasoline, was contaminating groundwater. Due to the risks of widespread and costly litigation, and because MTBE use in gasoline was banned in almost 20 states by 2006, the substitution of MTBE opened a new market for ethanol fuel. This demand shift for ethanol as an oxygenate additive took place at a time when oil prices were already significantly rising. By 2006, about 50 percent of the gasoline used in the U.S. contains ethanol at different proportions, and ethanol production grew so fast that the US became the world's first ethanol producer, overtaking Brazil in 2005. This shift also contributed to a sharp increase in the production and sale of E85 flex vehicles since 2002.

2.4 Flexible-fuel vehicles by country Brazil

After the 1973 oil crisis, the Brazilian government made mandatory the use of ethanol blends with gasoline, and 100% ethanol powered cars (E100 only) were launched to the market in 1979, after testing with several prototypes developed by four carmakers. Brazilian carmakers modified gasoline engines to support ethanol characteristics and changes included compression ratio, amount of fuel injected, replacement of materials that would get corroded by the contact with ethanol, use of colder spark plugs suitable for dissipating heat due to higher flame temperatures, and an auxiliary cold-start system that injects gasoline from a small tank in the
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engine compartment to help starting when cold. Flexible-fuel technology started being developed only by the end of the 1990s by Brazilian engineers. The Brazilian flexible fuel car is built with an ethanol-ready engine and one fuel tank for both fuels. The small gasoline reservoir for starting the engine with pure ethanol in cold weather, used in earlier ethanol-only vehicles, was kept in the first generation of Brazilian flexible-fuel cars, mainly for users of the central and southern regions, where winter temperatures normally drop below 15 C (59 F). An improved flex motor generation that will be launched in 2009 will eliminate the need for this secondary gas reservoir tank A key innovation in the Brazilian flex technology was avoiding the need for an additional dedicated sensor to monitor the ethanol-gasoline mix, which made the first American M85 flex fuel vehicles too expensive. This was accomplished through the lambda probe, used to measure the quality of combustion in conventional engines, is also required to tell the engine control unit (ECU) which blend of gasoline and alcohol is being burned. This task is accomplished automatically through software developed by Brazilian engineers, called "Software Fuel Sensor" (SFS), fed with data from the standard sensors already built-in the vehicle .A similar fuel injection technology was developed by the Brazilian subsidiary of Delphi Automotive Systems, and it is called "Multifuel", based on research conducted at its facility in Piracicaba, So Paulo. This technology allows the controller to regulate the amount of fuel injected and spark time, as fuel flow needs to be decreased and also self-combustion needs to be avoided when gasoline is used because ethanol engines have compression ratio around 12:1, too high for gasoline. Brazilian flex cars are capable of running on just hydrated ethanol (E100), or just on a blend of gasoline with 20 to 25% anhydrous ethanol, or on any arbitrary combination of both fuels. Pure gasoline is no longer sold in the country because these high ethanol blends are mandatory since 1993. Therefore, all Brazilian automakers have optimized flex vehicles to run with gasoline blends from E20 to E25, and with a few exceptions, these FFVs are unable to run smoothly with pure gasoline which causes engine knocking, as vehicles traveling to neighboring South American countries have demonstrated. Only two models are specifically built with a flex-fuel engine optimized to operate also with pure gasoline (E0), the Renault Clio Hi-Flex and the Fiat Siena Tetrafuel. The flexibility of Brazilian FFVs empowers the consumers to choose the fuel depending on current market prices. As ethanol fuel economy is lower than gasoline because of ethanol's energy content is close to 34% less per unit volume than gasoline, flex cars running on ethanol get a lower mileage than when running on pure gasoline. However, this effect is partially offset by the usually lower price per liter of ethanol fuel. As a rule of thumb, Brazilian consumers are frequently advised by the media to use more alcohol than gasoline in their mix only when ethanol prices are 30% lower or more than gasoline, as ethanol price fluctuates heavily depending on the result of seasonal sugar cane harvests. The rapid success of flex vehicles was made possible by the existence of 33,000 filling stations with at least one ethanol pump available by 2006, a heritage of the early Pr-lcool ethanol program. These facts, together with the mandatory use of E25 blend of gasoline throughout the country, allowed Brazil in 2008 to achieve more than 50% of fuel consumption in the gasoline

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market from sugar cane-based ethanol. According to two separate research studies conducted in 2009, at the national level 65% of the flex-fuel registered vehicles regularly use ethanol fuel, and the usage increases to 93% in So Paulo, the main ethanol producer state where local taxes are lower, and prices at the pump are more competitive than gasoline.

Latest developments
The latest innovation within the Brazilian flexible-fuel technology is the development of flexfuel motorcycles. In 2007 Magneti Marelli presented the first motorcycle with flex technology, adapted on a Kasinski Seta 125, and based on the Software Fuel Sensor (SFS) the firm developed for flex-fuel cars in Brazil. Delphi Automotive Systems also presented in 2007 its Multifuel injection technology for motorcycles. Besides the flexibility in the choice of fuels, a main objective of the fuel-flex motorcycles is to reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent, and savings in fuel consumption in the order of 5% to 10% are expected. AME Amazonas Motocicletas announced that sales of its motorcycle AME GA (G stands for gasoline and A for alcohol) were scheduled for 2009, but the first flex-fuel motorcycle was actually launched by Honda in March 2009. Produced by its Brazilian subsidiary Moto Honda da Amaznia, the CG 150 Titan Mix is sold for around US$2,700. Because the CG 150 Titan Mix does not have a secondary gas tank for a cold start like the Brazilian flex cars do, the tank must have at least 20% of gasoline to avoid start up problems at temperatures below 15 C (59 F). The motorcycles panel includes a gauge to warn the driver about the actual ethanol-gasoline mix in the storage tank. The Brazilian subsidiaries of Magneti Marelli, Delphi and Bosch have developed and announced the introduction in 2009 of a new flex engine generation that eliminates the need for the secondary gasoline tank by warming the ethanol fuel during starting, and allowing flex vehicles to do a normal cold start at temperatures as low as 5 C (23.0 F), the lowest temperature expected anywhere in the Brazilian territory. Another improvement is the reduction of fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions, between 10% to 15% as compared to flex motors sold in 2008. In March 2009 Volkswagen do Brasil launched the Polo E-Flex, the first flex fuel model without an auxiliary tank for cold start. The Flex Start system used by the Polo was developed by Bosch. Brazilian flex engines are being designed with higher compression ratios, taking advantage of the higher ethanol blends and maximizing the benefits of the higher oxygen content of ethanol, resulting in lower emissions and improving fuel efficiency. The following table shows the evolution and improvement of the different generations of flex engines developed in Brazil.

United States
By early 2009 there are almost 8 million E85 flex fuel vehicles running on the US roads, up from almost 5 million in 2005. The E85 blend is used in gasoline engines modified to accept such

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higher concentrations of ethanol, and the fuel injection is regulated through a dedicated sensor, which automatically detects the amount of ethanol in the fuel, allowing adjusting both fuel injection and sparking timing accordingly to the actual blend available in the vehicle's tank. The American E85 flex fuel vehicle was developed to run on any mixture of unleaded gasoline and ethanol, anywhere from 0% to 85% ethanol by volume. Both fuels are mixed in the same tank, and E85 is sold already blended. In order to reduce ethanol evaporative emissions and to avoid problems starting the engine during cold weather, the maximum blend of ethanol was set to 85%. There is also a seasonal reduction of the ethanol content to E70 (called winter E85 blend) in very cold regions, where temperatures fall below 0 C (32 F) during the winter. In Wyoming for example, E70 is sold as E85 from October to May. E85 flex-fuel vehicles are becoming increasingly common in the Midwest, where corn is a major crop and is the primary feedstock for ethanol fuel production. Also the US government has been using flex-fuel vehicles for many years.

Latest developments
In 2008 Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford pledged to manufacture 50 percent of their entire vehicle line as flexible fuel in model year 2012, if enough fueling infrastructure develops. In early 2010 GM reaffirmed its commitment to bio fuels and its determination to deliver more than half of its 2012 production in the U.S. market as E85 flex-fuel capable vehicles. GM will begin introducing E-85-capable direct-injected and turbocharged power trains, and urged the deployment of more E85 stations, as "ninety percent of registered flex-fuel vehicles don't have an E85 station in their zip code, and nearly 50%, don't have E85 in their county." In 2008 Ford delivered the first flex-fuel plug-in hybrid as part of a demonstration project, a Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid capable of running on E85 or gasoline. General Motors announced that the new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle Chevrolet Volt, expected to be launched in the North American market in 2010, will be flex-fuel-capable about a year after it is introduced. The Volt propulsion architecture allows adapting the propulsion to other world markets such as Brazils E100 or to Europes commonly using clean diesel. On May 2009, President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Directive with the aim to advance biofuels research and improve their commercialization. The Directive established a Biofuels Interagency Working Group comprises of three agencies, the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy. This group will develop a plan to increase flexible fuel vehicle use and assist in retail marketing efforts. Also they will coordinate infrastructure policies impacting the supply, secure transport, and distribution of biofuels in order to increase the number of fueling stations throughout the country . OTHER COUNTRIES: 1. Sweden 2. France
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3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Germany Ireland Spain United Kingdom Australia Canada Colombia

List of flexible-fuel vehicles by car manufacturer

1. Chevrolet 2. Fiat 3. Ford 4. Honda 5. Mitsubishi 6. Nissan 7. Renault 8. Toyota 9. Volkswagen 10. Mercedes Benz 11. Chrysler 12. General Motors [5]

3. Sources
Production process
Presently, methanol is usually produced using methane (the chief constituent of natural gas) as a raw material. Methanol is made from coal in China for fuel.

"Biomethanol" may be produced by gasification of organic materials to synthesis gas followed by conventional methanol synthesis. Production of methanol from synthesis gas using BiomassTo-Liquid can offer methanol production from biomass at efficiencies up to 75%. Widespread production by this route has a postulated potential (see Hagen, SABD & Olah references below) to offer methanol fuel at a low cost and with benefits to the environment. These production methods, however, are not suitable for small scale production. Ethanol is a renewable energy source because the energy is generated by using a resource, sunlight, which is naturally replenished. Creation of ethanol starts with photosynthesis causing a feedstock, such as sugar cane or corn, to grow. These feedstocks are processed into ethanol. About 5% of the ethanol produced in the world in 2003 was actually a petroleum product. It is made by the catalytic hydration of ethylene with sulphuric acid as the catalyst. It can also be

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obtained via ethylene or acetylene, from calcium carbide, coal, oil gas, and other sources. Two million tons of petroleum-derived ethanol is produced annually. The principal suppliers are plants in the United States, Europe, and South Africa. Petroleum derived ethanol (synthetic ethanol) is chemically identical to bio-ethanol and can be differentiated only by radiocarbon dating. Bio-ethanol is usually obtained from the conversion of carbon based feedstock Energy crop or Energy crops. 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. An alternative process to produce bio-ethanol from algae is being developed by the company Algenol. Rather than grow din mor algae and then harvest and ferment it the algae grow in sunlight and produce ethanol directly which is removed without killing the algae. It is claimed the process can produce 6000 gallons per acre per year compared with 400 gallons for corn production. Currently, the first generation processes for the production of ethanol from corn use only a small part of the corn plant: the corn kernels are taken from the corn plant and only the starch, which represents about 50% of the dry kernel mass, is transformed into ethanol. Two types of second generation processes are under development. The first type uses enzymes and yeast to convert the plant cellulose into ethanol while the second type uses pyrolysis to convert the whole plant to either a liquid bio-oil or a syngas. Second generation processes can also be used with plants such as grasses, wood or agricultural waste material such as straw. The basic steps for large scale production of ethanol are: microbial (yeast) fermentation of sugars, distillation, and dehydration (requirements vary, see Ethanol fuel mixtures, below), and denaturing (optional). Prior to fermentation, some crops require saccharification or hydrolysis of carbohydrates such as cellulose and starch into sugars. Saccharification of cellulose is called cellulolysis (see cellulosic ethanol). Enzymes are used to convert starch into sugar. Cellulosic ethanol offers promise as cellulose fibers, a major and universal component in plant cells walls, can be used to produce ethanol. According to the International Energy Agency, cellulosic ethanol could allow ethanol fuels to play a much bigger role in the future than previously thought

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-

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ethanol azeotrope. The 95.6% m/m (96.5% v/v) ethanol, 4.4% m/m (3.5% v/v) water mixture may be used as a fuel alone, but unlike anhydrous ethanol, is immiscible in gasoline, so the water fraction is typically removed in further treatment in order to burn in combination with gasoline in gasoline engines. Dehydration There are basically five dehydration processes to remove the water from an azeotropic ethanol/water mixture. The first process, used in many early fuel ethanol plants, is called azeotropic distillation and consists of adding benzene or cyclohexane to the mixture. When these components are added to the mixture, it forms a heterogeneous azeotropic mixture in vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium, which when distilled produces anhydrous ethanol in the column bottom, and a vapor mixture of water and cyclohexane/benzene. When condensed, this becomes a two-phase liquid mixture. Another early method, called extractive distillation, consists of adding a ternary component which will increase ethanol's relative volatility. When the ternary mixture is distilled, it will produce anhydrous ethanol on the top stream of the column. With increasing attention being paid to saving energy, many methods have been proposed that avoid distillation all together for dehydration. Of these methods, a third method has emerged and has been adopted by the majority of modern ethanol plants. This new process uses molecular sieves to remove water from fuel ethanol. In this process, ethanol vapor under pressure passes through a bed of molecular sieve beads. The bead's pores are sized to allow absorption of water while excluding ethanol. After a period of time, the bed is regenerated under vacuum to remove the absorbed water. Two beds are used so that one is available to absorb water while the other is being regenerated. This dehydration technology can account for energy saving of 3,000 btus/gallon (840 kJ/l) compared to earlier azeotropic distillation.

4. Technology
4.1 Ethanol-based engines
Ethanol is most commonly used to power automobiles, though it may be used to power other vehicles, such as farm tractors, boats and airplanes. Ethanol (E100) consumption in an engine is approximately 51% higher than for gasoline since the energy per unit volume of ethanol is 34% lower than for gasoline. However, the higher compression ratios in an ethanol-only engine allow for increased power output and better fuel economy than could be obtained with lower compression ratios. In general, ethanol-only engines are tuned to give slightly better power and torque output than 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, Current high compression neat ethanol engine designs are approximately 20-30% less fuel efficient than their gasoline-only counterparts. A 2004 MIT study and an earlier paper published by the Society of Automotive Engineers identify a method to exploit the characteristics of fuel ethanol substantially better than mixing
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it with gasoline. The method presents the possibility of leveraging the use of alcohol to achieve definite improvement over the cost-effectiveness of hybrid electric. The improvement consists of using dual-fuel direct-injection of pure alcohol (or the azeotrope or E85) and gasoline, in any ratio up to 100% of either, in a turbocharged, high compression-ratio, small-displacement engine having performance similar to an engine having twice the displacement. Each fuel is carried separately, with a much smaller tank for alcohol. The high-compression (which increases efficiency) engine will run on ordinary gasoline under low-power cruise conditions. Alcohol is directly injected into the cylinders (and the gasoline injection simultaneously reduced) only when necessary to suppress knock such as when significantly accelerating. Direct cylinder injection raises the already high octane rating of ethanol up to an effective 130. The calculated over-all reduction of gasoline use and CO2 emission is 30%. The consumer cost payback time shows a 4:1 improvement over turbo-diesel and a 5:1 improvement over hybrid. In addition, the problems of water absorption into pre-mixed gasoline (causing phase separation), supply issues of multiple mix ratios and cold-weather starting are avoided. Ethanol's higher octane rating allows an increase of an engine's compression ratio for increased thermal efficiency. In one study, complex engine controls and increased exhaust gas recirculation allowed a compression ratio of 19.5 with fuels ranging from neat ethanol to E50. Thermal efficiency up to approximately that for a diesel was achieved. This would result in the fuel economy of a neat ethanol vehicle to be about the same as one burning gasoline. Since 1989 there have also been ethanol engines based on the diesel principle operating in Sweden. They are used primarily in city buses, but also in distribution trucks and waste collectors. The engines, made by Scania, have a modified compression ratio, and the fuel (known as ED95) used is a mix of 93.6 % ethanol and 3.6 % ignition improver, and 2.8% denaturants. The ignition improver makes it possible for the fuel to ignite in the diesel combustion cycle. It is then also possible to use the energy efficiency of the diesel principle with ethanol. These engines have been used in the United Kingdom by Reading Transport but the use of bioethanol fuel is now being phased out.

4.2 Engine cold start during the winter

High ethanol blends present a problem to achieve enough vapor pressure for the fuel to evaporate and spark the ignition during cold weather (since ethanol tends to increase fuel enthalpy of vaporization). When vapor pressure is below 45 kPa starting a cold engine becomes difficult. In order to avoid this problem at temperatures below 11 Celsius (59 F), and to reduce ethanol higher emissions during cold weather, both the US and the European markets adopted E85 as the maximum blend to be used in their flexible fuel vehicles, and they are optimized to run at such a blend. At places with harsh cold weather, the ethanol blend in the US has a seasonal reduction to E70 for these very cold regions, though it is still sold as E85. At places where temperatures fall below -12 C (10 F) during the winter, it is recommended to install an engine heater system, both for gasoline and E85 vehicles. Sweden has a similar seasonal reduction, but the ethanol content in the blend is reduced to E75 during the winter months.
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4.3 Ethanol fuel mixtures

To avoid engine stall due to "slugs" of water in the fuel lines interrupting fuel flow, 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 percentage of ethanol.. 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. 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, since of July 2007 25% 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). In older model years, their engine systems contained 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. In newer models, the alcohol sensors have been removed, with the computer using only oxygen and airflow sensor feedback to estimate alcohol content. The engine control computer can also adjust (advance) the ignition timing to achieve a higher output without pre-ignition when it predicts that higher alcohol percentages are present in the fuel being burned. This method is backed up by advanced knock sensors - used in most high performance gasoline engines regardless of whether they're designed to use ethanol or not - that detect pre-ignition and detonation.

4.5 Fuel economy

In theory, all fuel-driven vehicles have a fuel economy (measured as miles per US gallon, or liters per 100 km) that is directly proportional to the fuel's energy content. In reality, there are many other variables that come in to play that affect the performance of a particular fuel in a particular engine. Ethanol contains approx. 34% less energy per unit volume than gasoline, and therefore in theory, burning pure ethanol in a vehicle will result in a 34% reduction in miles per US gallon, given the same fuel economy, compared to burning pure gasoline. Since ethanol has a higher octane rating, the engine can be made more efficient by raising its compression ratio. In fact using a variable turbocharger, the compression ratio can be optimized for the fuel being used, making fuel economy almost constant for any blend. For E10 (10% ethanol and 90%

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gasoline), the effect is small (~3%) when compared to conventional gasoline, and even smaller (1-2%) when compared to oxygenated and reformulated blends. 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. Based on EPA tests for all 2006 E85 models, the average fuel economy for E85 vehicles resulted 25.56% lower than unleaded gasoline. The EPA-rated mileage of current USA flex-fuel vehicles should be considered when making price comparisons, but it must be noted that E85 is a high performance fuel, with an octane rating of about 104, and should be compared to premium. In one estimate the US retail price for E85 ethanol is 2.62 US dollar per gallon or 3.71 dollar corrected for energy equivalency compared to a gallon of gasoline priced at 3.03 dollar. Brazilian cane ethanol (100%) is priced at 3.88 dollar against 4.91 dollar for E25 (as July 2007). The ethanol industry in Brazil is more than 30 year-old and even though it is no longer subsidized, production and use of ethanol was 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.

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 So Paulo established a research and technology transfer center that has been effective in improving sugar cane and ethanol yields.

4.6 Fuel system problems

Several of the outstanding ethanol fuel issues are linked specifically to fuel systems. Fuels with more than 10% ethanol are not compatible with non E85-ready fuel system components and may cause corrosion of iron components. Ethanol fuel can negatively affect electric fuel pumps by increasing internal wear, cause undesirable spark generation, and is not compatible with capacitance fuel level gauging indicators and may cause erroneous fuel quantity indications in vehicles that employ that system. It is also not always compatible with marine craft, especially those that use fiberglass fuel tanks. Ethanol is also not used in aircraft for these same reasons. Using 100% ethanol fuel decreases fuel-economy by 15-30% over using 100% gasoline; this can be avoided using certain modifications that would, however, render the engine inoperable on regular petrol without the addition of an adjustable ECU. Tough materials are needed to accommodate a higher compression ratio to make an ethanol engine as efficient as it would be on petrol; these would be similar to those used in diesel engines which typically run at a CR of 20:1, vs. about 8-12:1 for petrol engines.
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5 Environment
5.1 Energy balance
All biomass goes through at least some of these steps: it needs to be grown, collected, dried, fermented, and burned. All of these steps require resources and an infrastructure. The total amount of energy input into the process compared to the energy released by burning the resulting ethanol fuel is known as the energy balance (or "Net energy gain"). Figures compiled in a 2007 by National Geographic Magazine point to modest results for corn ethanol produced in the US: one unit of fossil-fuel energy is required to create 1.3 energy units from the resulting ethanol. The energy balance for sugarcane ethanol produced in Brazil is more favorable, 1:8. Energy balance estimates are not easily produced, thus numerous such reports have been generated that are contradictory. For instance, a separate survey reports that production of ethanol from sugarcane, which requires a tropical climate to grow productively, returns from 8 to 9 units of energy for each unit expended, as compared to corn which only returns about 1.34 units of fuel energy for each unit of energy expended. 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. When compared to gasoline, depending on the production method, ethanol releases less greenhouse gases.

5.2 Change in land use

Large-scale farming is necessary to produce agricultural alcohol and this requires substantial amounts of cultivated land. University of Minnesota researchers report that if all corn grown in the U.S. were used to make ethanol it would displace 12% of current U.S. gasoline consumption. There are claims that land for ethanol production is acquired through deforestation, while others have observed that areas currently supporting forests are usually not suitable for growing crops. In any case, farming may involve a decline in soil fertility due to reduction of organic matter, a decrease in water availability and quality, an increase in the use of pesticides and fertilizers, and potential dislocation of local communities. However, new technology enables farmers and processors to increasingly produce the same output using less input. Many analysts suggest that, whichever ethanol fuel production strategy is used, fuel conservation efforts are also needed to make a large impact on reducing petroleum fuel use.

5.3Criticism and controversy: Food vs. fuel

There are various current issues with ethanol production and use, which are presently being discussed in the popular media and scientific journals. These include: the effect of moderating oil prices, the "food vs fuel" debate, carbon emissions levels, sustainable biofuel production, deforestation and soil erosion,

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impact on water resources, human rights issues, poverty reduction potential, ethanol prices, energy balance and efficiency, and centralised vs. decentralised production models.

Food vs fuel is about the price and availability impact of diverting farmland or crops for ethanol production to the detriment of the food supply. The debate is internationally controversial, with good-and-valid arguments on all sides of this ongoing debate. There is disagreement about how significant this is what is causing it, what the impact is, and what can or should be done about it. [3]

References

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

V Ganesan, IC Engines, e3, Tata Mcgrawhill, pp 201-210. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol_fuel (visited on 19.05.2010) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel (do) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_fuel (do) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible-fuel_vehicle (do)

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