Bioalcohol Fuel

Bioalcohol As An Alternative Fuel

Bioalcohol fuel is an alternative fuel that can be used for powering machinery and vehicles. Bioalcohol has a number of advantages over fossil fuels, mainly because it's cleaner to burn and comes from renewable energy sources, including plants.

Bioalcohol fuel is currently produced in four main types. These four are methanol, propanol, ethanol, and butanol.

Methanol Methanol is a type of bioalcohol fuel that's also known as wood alcohol, and is the lightest of the alcohols. It is flammable, but also poisonous, and is most often used to form other compounds, such as plastics, explosives, and antifreeze. Methanol was used as a bioalcohol fuel during the oil crisis of the 1970’s. But it was often mixed with gasoline at too high a ratio, causing some engine problems. The major objection to using methanol as a bioalcohol fuel, however, is that it does have some toxic emissions, namely formaldehyde.

Propanol Propanol is most often used as rubbing alcohol, a cleaning compound, or as a “dry gas” additive, which clears a car’s fuel lines of water. There is not, at this time, any substantial push to use propanol as an alternative fuel.

Ethanol Ethanol is the bioalcohol fuel most people are familiar with. Ethanol is often referred to simply as alcohol because it is the type found in alcoholic beverages, and its chemical composition has been known since the 1800’s, making it one of the first compounds to have its structure determined. One of its earliest uses as a fuel was as lamp fuel in the US during the 1840’s, but taxes on alcohol during the Civil War caused this practice to become uneconomical. The tax was not repealed until 1906, and Model T’s from 1908 on were capable of running on ethanol. Prohibition caused ethanol to again become an impractical fuel, but with recent prices, many are again looking at alcohol as fuel. The fact that burning ethanol produces only carbon dioxide and water makes it a very attractive alternative to the carbon-emissions of fossil fuels. It is also relatively easy to obtain through a fermentation process. 

Butanol Butanol can be produced as a by-product of ethanol, and it can be used in engines without any change to the engine. It produces more energy per gallon than ethanol, nearly matching the fuel-efficiency of gasoline. However, production is limited due to the process, which involves a catalyst in the form of yeast or bacteria fermenting plant stocks. The highest percentage yield of butanol from this process is currently 15% alcohol content, at which point the catalyst dies. In addition, the process is quite smelly and plants would have to be located far from populated areas.

While looking into bioalcohol as alternative fuels is a good idea, there are disadvantages. Unfortunately, most crops are currently being raised by using large amounts of fossil fuel. The energy required to grow and manufacture bioalcohol is greater than the energy produced by using it as an energy source.

However, considering the benefits of reduced carbon emissions made possible by bioalcohol fuel, more and more companies are looking for ways to make it more efficient and profitable.