Ethanol is useful as an industrial solvent. Although the ethanol added to gasoline used as a fuel blend presently comes from the fermentation of sugar from crops ethanol could possibly be sourced from ethylene which would make it more economic.Ethanol is the only fuel that can be derived from ethylene via hydration which can be seen in the equation below:
However, this would not help in overcoming the global crude oil deficiency. If consistent with the current rates of petroleum usage, within the next 2-3 decades there will no longer be a supply of crude oil. When that time comes an alternative fuel such as as ethanol is likely to replace it. The future of ethanol is depicted in the following videos:
Assessment on the potential use of Ethanol
By current standards it is implausible to shift the global reliance of petroleum to ethanol. If more engines were built suited to withstand pure ethanol the usage of the fuel would be more likely. For this to happen there would also be a more affordable and less difficult distillation process in order to retrieve ethanol from biomass. Other forms of creating ethanol prove to be problematic,however, if enough agricultural land can be sacrificed and a likely more efficient production process created as well as subsidies on the product and engines with the ability to avoid damage from the ethanol then the use of ethanol appears much more plausible.
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