Ethanol, also known as pure alcohol, is an element of ethyl group produced by the fermentation of sugar. Its properties allow using it as the part of biofuel. Some critics say that ethanol, derived from plants, is just recycled fossil fuel, as energy is required to grow the grain and convert it to ethanol, however, world ethanol production of ethanol as biofuel additive for gasoline tripled between 2000 and 2007. Ethanol is widely used in Brazil, and most cars in US today can run on gasoline with 10 percent ethanol blended. The usage of ethanol fuel also gains popularity in European Union, China, India, and Australia. Unlike petroleum, ethanol is a renewable energy source as it can be produced from crops such as sugar cane, corn, or potato. That makes us to think about using ethanol based biofuels as the alternative to gasoline. This essay is devoted to ethanol, its perspectives and the opportunities of its usage in Ukraine.

Ethanol consumption in engine is 51% higher than for gasoline, which is explained with lower energy per unit volume of ethanol. On the other hand, as it was proved, higher compression ratios in ethanol engine result in increased power outputs, while lower compression ratios decrease the potential power output; generally speaking ethanol engines give higher power and torque outputs than gasoline engines. For leveraging properties of ethanol and gasoline E85 was developed. E85 is a mixture of 85% ethanol and gasoline, which is nowadays the most popular type of ethanol-based fuel. The usage of E85 gives the opportunity for production of fuel in agricultural areas, and it also produces less pollution emissions than gasoline.

For Ukraine, where the sugar factories produced 1.5 million tons of sugar, which is more than we can consume, adopting ethanol additive fuels can be the way to make a clean sweep of sugar surplus, instead of exporting it. Rapidly developing agricultural sector of Ukraine has the potential to exceed the domestic demand, thus, sooner or later the producers will face the oversupply of their production. The oversupply will result in decreased prices, and it will lead some companies to bankruptcy. On the other hand, turning the surplus of corn into ethanol and producing biofuel can be a good alternative to buying gasoline from foreign producers.

One could expect that domestically produced ethanol is much cheaper than imported oil, however it is not always true, and the price may vary from region to region. Basically, the gallon of E85 costs slightly cheaper than the gallon of gasoline in United States, but small benefits for end users are compensated with major benefits for the economy of the entire country. As ethanol is produces domestically on the basis of local agriculture, the production creates work places for the citizens of the country, and the money raised on production stay within the country, making it less dependable on oil suppliers. From this point of view using E85 is extremely beneficial.

Ethanol is also considered to be less hostile to the environment than gasoline. Ethanol engines produce less carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide (which is one of the major greenhouse gases), and also fewer volatile components than gasoline, which means it is much safer for environment. Even small volume of ethanol in gasoline reduces the emission of carbon monoxide and improves fuels octane. If to take a closer look we can assume that net carbon dioxide emissions of E85 is approximately equal to zero, as the crops, used in production of ethanol, absorb CO2 from the atmosphere during the growth. It was calculated that using ethanol instead of gasoline will lead to 13 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

There is unverified opinion that the usage of ethanol can be harmful for the car. That is why some car producers limit the warranty if fuel with more than 10 percent of ethanol is used. Generally speaking, ethanol can be harmful for engines of some cars produced before 1988, where no electric system of injection is used. For modern cars even 20% of ethanol in fuel is absolutely safe. Models which work on E85 are often referred to as “Flex-Fuel”, as they are able to run both on gasoline and on E85.