Problems With Ethanol

Food vs. Fuel

GasolinePhoto credit: Dangerous Intersection

Perhaps the most important issue facing facing ethanol today is the food vs. fuel debate. With the price of corn and other products directly connected to the corn industry rising, there is a question of what sort of impact ethanol will have on prices of essential items such as groceries. Information such as the fact that one plant with the manufacturing capability of one hundred million gallons per year uses 23 acres worth of corn per hour. 1 Even now with the limited ethanol production the price of these goods has been increasing. While it is difficult to determine what direct effect ethanol has on the prices of other goods, it is fairly easily to see that the decrease in supply of corn will increase prices of other corn based products.

Distribution Challenges

Another problem for ethanol production companies is the distribution of their product. Currently, gasoline is piped around the country in pipelines that lead to local distribution centers. However, due to the nature of ethanol it cannot be shipped in the same pipes. The ethanol would absorb the water that sits at the bottom of these pipes and create an unusable product. Currently, ethanol is shipped using freight trains and rail based distribution infrastructure. This is not as effective as using stationary pipelines both from an economic standpoint as well as a safety viewpoint. Once the ethanol is at the intended distribution point the problem arises of how to distribute ethanol to the public. Several states have a mandatory E10 blend which allows for some of this ethanol to be mixed with unleaded fuels and distributed just like regular gas. However, the shortage of gas stations capable of receiving higher concentrations of ethanol creates a problem for distributing the fuel.

Problems in Cars

Ethanol can also have an adverse effect on vehicles. While studies show that older engines can handle up to a 30% ethanol blend, any higher concentration can negatively affect the overall performance of the car. Some of these effects include decay of the fuel hoses and rust inside of the engine. Ethanol also has approximately 30% less energy when compared to regular unleaded gasoline. This means that a full tank of 100% ethanol won’t take you as far as a full tank of regular unleaded. Early studies have shown that, to a point, this energy yield problem can be overcome by the increased octane of ethanol. 1

References

  1. Kurpanek, Detlef. E-mail interview. 02 Mar 2008.