Ethanol: A Green Opportunity

Ethanol is a federally mandated, clean-burning, renewable fuel that is critical to US energy security, and environmental protection. Ethanol is used as an oxygenate in 10% gasoline blends, under the Clean Air Act, and an octane enhancer to improve vehicle performance. It is the closest proxy for gasoline as a gas-extender (gasohol) with nationwide distribution in place. Ethanol has gained strong political support at State and Federal levels.

Ethanol is ethyl alcohol, often referred to as grain alcohol; E85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Most ethanol is made from grain, just as moonshine is, though there is also research into making ethanol in commercial quantities from cellulosic plants, a complex process that uses plant matter such as switch grass as a base feedstock. A gallon of E85 has an energy content of about 80,000 BTU, compared to gasoline's 124,800 BTU; 1.56 gallon of E85 takes you as far as 1 gallon of gas.

Ethanol is an excellent, clean-burning fuel, potentially providing more horsepower than gasoline. In fact, ethanol has a higher octane rating (over 100) and burns cooler than gasoline. However, pure alcohol isn't volatile enough to get an engine started on cold days, hence E85. Much smaller quantities of ethanol are also added to around 30 percent of the gasoline sold in the States to meet EPA requirements for oxygenated fuels in metropolitan areas with the country's worst ozone air pollution.

According to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC), E85 currently is available in 36 states. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists 34 models of flex-fuel vehicles (FFV)--cars and trucks that can burn pure gasoline, E85 or any ratio of gas/ethanol in between--available in the 2006 model year. The NEVC estimates that 6 million FFVs have been sold in the States to date.

The performance of E85 vehicles is potentially higher than that of gasoline vehicles because E85's high octane rating allows a much higher compression ratio, which translates into higher thermodynamic efficiency. However, FFVs that retain the capacity to run on gasoline alone can't really take advantage of this octane boost since they also need to be able to run on pump-grade gasoline.

Saab engineers have developed a prototype, plug-in, flex-fuel vehicle. GM chooses to emphasize the ability of the E85 system to use advanced ignition timing, a higher compression ratio, and a higher turbo boost pressure, all of which increase the performance and efficiency of the internal combustion engine.

According to the DOE, the growing, fermenting and distillation chain actually results in a surplus of energy that ranges from 34 to 66 percent. Moreover, the carbon dioxide (CO₂) that an engine produces started out as atmospheric CO₂ that the cornstalk captured during growth, making ethanol greenhouse gas neutral. Recent DOE studies note that using ethanol in blends lowers carbon monoxide (CO) and CO₂ emissions substantially. In 2005, burning such blends had the same effect on greenhouse gas emissions as removing 1 million cars from American roads.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, 95 ethanol refineries produced more than 4.3 billion gal. of ethanol in 2005. An additional 40 new or expanded refineries slated to come on line in the next 18 months will increase that to 6.3 billion gal. That sounds like a lot--and it is--but it represents just over 3 percent of our annual consumption of more than 200 billion gal. of gasoline and diesel. One acre of corn can produce 300 gal. of ethanol per growing season.

The Big Picture: Industry Players and Trends

Siemens Energy & Automation, a Silver Industrial Partner of the 21st Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo, is helping the U.S. meet its growing needs for ethanol. Ethanol used in fuel has been shown to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil, create thousands of jobs, and reduce air pollution

Since 2000, Siemens has supplied process automation systems on two-thirds of the fuel ethanol plants built in the U.S. As of 2005, Siemens has provided process automation services and products to more than 30 plants, said David Meyer, manager for Siemens Fuel Ethanol Initiative. Combined, these new plants are producing more than 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol annually.

Total U.S. ethanol production for 2005 was 4 billion gallons. If the ethanol provision, recently approved by the Senate, in the current energy bill is accepted, U.S. ethanol production will reach 8 billion gallons annually by 2012.

"Siemens has earned this leadership position in the ethanol market because we help the industry reduce the time and costs it takes to take the finished product to market," Meyer said. "By combining Siemens' technological expertise, experience, and wide portfolio of integrated products, our customers are reaping the benefits of improved production processes, product yields, and operations."

Integrated Ethanol Solutions

During the rapid development of today's ethanol industry, Smar has established itself as a company that can provide a variety of automation and control solutions. Both Smar and Siemens Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) concept offer fuel ethanol manufacturers an entire suite of process control products to help with every production phase - including grinding corn and other grains, mixing, cooking, drying, fermenting, and storage.

Among these products are open control system platforms, transmitters that precisely measure and transmit process data, drives and motors for a wide range of applications, and electrical infrastructure options for the most diverse requirements.

Ethanol Industry

North America is increasing the use of Ethanol as a substitute for the gasoline additive MTBE. As the cost effectiveness of this technology increases, industrial companies in the USA and Canada are becoming interested in commercializing the technology and producing ethanol from grain and/or biomass.

World Ethanol Production and Growth

The Americas continue to be the world's leading ethanol production region, with no indication of change in the foreseeable future. Total production in 2003 was 8 billion gallons, which is 66% of the world output. The world leader in the past 30 years continues to be Brazil, with 5 billion gallons in the country for 2003. At the peak of ethanol production, Brazil had 40 to 60% of its vehicles fueled by ethanol (1984 to 2002). Total US production in 2003 was 3 billion gallons, with projected spending of $4 billion.