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godzilla 22 July 2006 General 1,399 views 2 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

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Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol) is a clear, colorless liquid with a characteristic, agreeable odor. In dilute aqueous solution, it has a somewhat sweet flavor, but in more concentrated solutions it has a burning taste. Ethanol, CH3CH2OH, is an alcohol, a group of chemical compounds whose molecules contain a hydroxyl group, OH, bonded to a carbon atom. The word alcohol derives from Arabic al-kuhul, which denotes a fine powder of antimony used as an eye makeup. Alcohol originally referred to any fine powder, but medieval alchemists later applied the term to the refined products of distillation, and this led to the current usage.

Ethanol has been made since ancient times by the fermentation of sugars. All beverage ethanol and more than half of industrial ethanol is still made by this process. Simple sugars are the raw material. Zymase, an enzyme from yeast, changes the simple sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide. The fermentation reaction, represented by the simple equation

C6H12O6 ——> 2 CH3CH2OH + 2 CO2

Ethanol can be used as fuel for automobiles either alone (E100) in a special engine (no petroleum engine, so it is not a direct biofuel) or as an additive to gasoline for petroleum engines.

Ethanol can be blended with gasoline in varying quantities to reduce the consumption of petroleum fuels, as well as to reduce air pollution. The resulting fuel is known as gasohol. Two common mixtures are E10 and E85 which contain 10% and 85% ethanol, respectively.

E85 is the term for motor fuel blends of 85 percent ethanol and just 15 percent gasoline. E85 is an alternative fuel as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy. Besides its superior performance characteristics, ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline; it is a completely renewable, domestic, environmentally friendly fuel that enhances the nation’s economy and energy independence.