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Ethanol, Energy from Corn
Ethanol fuel is ethanol (ethyl alcohol), the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It can be used as a fuel, mainly as a biofuel alternative to gasoline, and is widely used in cars in Brazil. Because it is easy to manufacture and process, and can be made from very common crops, such as sugar cane and maize (corn), it is an increasingly common alternative to gasoline in some parts of the world.

Anhydrous ethanol (ethanol with less than 1% water) can be blended with gasoline in varying quantities up to pure ethanol (E100), and most spark-ignited gasoline style engines will operate well with mixtures of 10% ethanol . Most cars can run on blends of up to 10% ethanol.

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Ethanol can be mass-produced by fermentation of sugar or by hydration of ethylene (ethene CH2=CH2) from petroleum and other sources. Current interest in ethanol mainly lies in bio-ethanol, produced from the starch or sugar in a wide variety of crops, but there has been considerable debate about how useful bio-ethanol will be in replacing fossil fuels in vehicles. Concerns relate to the large amount of arable land required for crops, as well as the energy and pollution balance of the whole cycle of ethanol production. Recent developments with cellulosic ethanol production and commercialization may allay some of these concerns.

Ethanol is considered "renewable" because it is primarily the result of conversion of the sun‘s energy into usable energy. Creation of ethanol starts with photosynthesis causing the feedstocks such as switchgrass, sugar cane, or corn to grow. These feedstocks are processed into ethanol.

About 5% of the ethanol produced in the world in 2003 was actually a petroleum product.

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Brazil has the largest and most successful bio-fuel programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and it is considered to have the world‘s first sustainable biofuels economy. In 2006 Brazilian ethanol provided around 20% of the country‘s road transport sector fuel consumption needs, and more than 40% of fuel consumption for the light vehicle fleet.

article souce: wikipedia