Alcohol Fuels: The Alternative Fuel

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Alcohol fuel is fuel derived from the alcohol byproduct of renewable resources, such as crops and waste products. Items like corn, grass, tree trimmings and paper trash can be converted to alcohol, for fuel. The two alcohol fuel types are methanol and ethanol. Ethanol comes from crops, usually sugarcane and corn. Methanol, on the other hand, usually comes from natural gas.

History of alcohol fuels

Alcohol fuel has actually been used in the past. When Nikolaus Otto developed the internal combustion engine, he actually used 180 to 190 proof ethyl alcohol. Likewise, it was Henry Ford’s preferred fuel, when he developed the Model T. As for methanol, it has been used as the racing fuel for the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway since twenty years ago.

To date, “flexible fuel” alcohol vehicles have been developed. These vehicles have built-in sensors that detect the alcohol percentage of the fuel used to power their engines. A digital readout on the dashboard lets the driver know the fuel mix that’s running on his/ her car. There are commercially available “flexible fuel” alcohol vehicles by Chrysler, Ford and Mazda.

Advantages and disadvantages of alcohol fuels

Like all fuel options, alcohol fuels come with certain advantages and disadvantages:

1. Alcohol is a great fuel alternative because of its high octane rating. High octane rating is the measure of the fuel’s resistance to detonation or engine knocking. The higher the octane rating, the better it is for vehicles.
2. Alcohol fuel also burns cleaner. Engines that run on alcohol fuels do not pollute the atmosphere as much as those that run on gasoline.
3. A major disadvantage of alcohol fuels is that high cost of production. There should be more initiative in finding more cost-efficient means of harnessing this fuel option.