Skip to main content
Engineering LibreTexts

7.1: Ethanol Production - General Information

  • Page ID
    48585
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    7.1 Ethanol Production - General Information

    Back in Lesson 2, I included a chemistry tutorial on some of the basic constituents of fuels. In this lesson, we will be discussing the production of ethanol (CH3-CH2-OH) and butanol (CH3-CH2-CH2-CH2-OH) from starch and sugar. Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is a chemical that is volatile, colorless, and flammable. It can be produced from petroleum via chemical transformation of ethylene, but it can also be produced by fermentation of glucose, using yeast or other microorganisms; current fuel ethanol plants make ethanol via fermentation.

    The basic formula for making ethanol from sugar glucose is as follows:

    C6H12O6 → 2C2H5OH + 2CO2

    chemical structure of glucose
    Figure 7.0 Chemical Structure of Glucose

    Credit: Wikiwand

    For fermentation, yeast is needed (other enzymes are used but yeast is most common), a sugar such as glucose is the carbon source, and anaerobic conditions (without oxygen) must be present. If you have aerobic (with oxygen) conditions, the sugar will be completely converted into CO2 with little ethanol produced. Other nutrients include water, a nitrogen source, and micronutrients.

    Here in the US, the current common method of ethanol fuel production comes from starches, such as corn, wheat, and potatoes. The starch is hydrolyzed into glucose before proceeding with the rest of the process. In Brazil, sucrose, or sugar in sugarcane is the most common feedstock. And in Europe, the most common feed is sugar beets. Cellulose is being used in developing methods, which includes wood, grasses, and crop residues. It is considered developing because converting the cellulose into glucose is more challenging than in starches and sugars.

    The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that ethanol will constitute two-thirds of the global growth in conventional biofuels with biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil accounting for the remaining part (2018-2023). Global ethanol production is estimated to increase by 14% from about 120 bln L in 2017 to approximately 131 bln L by 2027 (Figure 7.1). Brazil will accommodate fifty percent of this increase and will be used to fill in the domestic demand (OECD/FAO (2018), “OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook”).

    picture
    Figure 7.1: Development of the world ethanol market.

    Click here for a text alternative to Figure 7.1

    Development of the World Ethanol Market 2010-2027. All values are based on visual approximations

    Year World Ethanol Trade in Billions of Liters World Ethanol Production in Billions of Liters
    2010 6 104
    2011 10 103
    2012 9 101
    2013 8 109
    2014 7 115
    2015 7 119
    2016 9 118
    2017 10 120
    2018 9 123
    2019 9 124
    2020 9 125
    2021 9 126
    2022 9 127
    2023 9 128
    2024 9 129
    2025 9 130
    2026 9 130
    2027 9 131

    Credit: OECD/FAO (2018), “OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook”, OECD Agriculture statistics (database), http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/agr-outl-data-en

    World production of ethanol-based by country is shown in Figure 7.2. The US produces the most ethanol worldwide (~57%), primarily from corn. Brazil is the next largest producer with 27%, primarily from sugarcane. Other countries, including Australia, Columbia, India, Peru, Cuba, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe, are also beginning to produce ethanol from sugarcane.

    pie chart of world ethanol production as described in the text
    Figure 7.2: World ethanol production by country, in percent.

    Click here for a text alternative to Figure 7.2

    World Ethanol Production by Country

    Country Percent (%)
    US 57%
    Brazil 27%
    Europe 6%
    China 3%
    India 2%
    Canada 2%
    Rest of the World 3%

    Credit: Renewable Fuels Association(link is external)

    Figure 7.3a shows the growth of sugarcane in the world, in tropical or temperate regions. Sugar beet production in Europe is the other source of sugar for ethanol. It is grown in more northern regions than sugarcane, primarily in Europe and a small amount in the US. Figure 7.3b shows the growth of sugar beets in the world.

    world map showing sugarcane production concentrated in central & South America, india & some in Africa, and Southern Asia
    Figure 7.3a: Sugarcane production around the world. The dark green represents the areas of greatest production.

    Credit: Sugarcane: from Wikipedia.org

    world map showing sugar beet production concentrated in Europe with some production in rural United States
    Figure 7.3b: Sugar beet production around the world. The dark green represents the areas of greatest production.

    Source: Sugar beet: from Wikipedia.org


    This page titled 7.1: Ethanol Production - General Information is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Hilal Ezgi Toraman (John A. Dutton: e-Education Institute) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.