The True Environmental Cost of Ethanol Fuel

 Ethanol is quite getting popular worldwide especially in India, simply because of blending in Petrol. Now we know Ethanol is being blended in Petrol, but what is the true environmental cost behind it. 

Now lets start by knowing from where this Ethanol is made - You might say Sugarcane, Sugar Factory, etc. but the fact that you can make it from any organic material which has sugar in it. This sugar is basically broken down to Ethanol and carbon di oxide. So CO2 which we want to avoid is a "BYPRODUCT" 

Ok that's not the first "BUT" because making Ethanol also needs a lot of water LIKE a lot of WATER -

HOW MUCH WATER IS NEEDED TO MAKE ONE LITER ETHANOL?

If you consider Ethanol from sugarcane which is the most widely used raw material for Ethanol making, to make " 1 Liter of Ethanol 1500-2000 Liters of Water is needed" now that's the total footprint of the whole crop cycle buy in processing 3-5 liters or even less depending on the plant (New or Old)

Now other Crops like Corn is also good to make Ethanol and it might be good also as Corn can grow pretty fast like in 3-4 months but the fact that Sugar Industries are present and they already have Molasses as byproduct which has good bricks of sugar (BRICKS is sugar content unit) so it is more economical at points. Also sugar industries gets subsidies to install this plants - feels like Government giving subsides to Government as most plants are owned by politicians.

Now what about the CO2 emitted while Ethanol manufacturing?

It is Purified and Liquified and Sold. Every Penny counts....

WHY IS GOVERNMENT BLENDING ETHANOL WITH PETROL?

Currently You get two Blends 20% and 85% both are not justified. Let me explain.

I've seen many YouTube videos as I couldn't get my hands on E85 compliant bike - It has serious mileage problem like 20-30% drop in mileage and that is simply because Ethanol has more Oxygen in it which promotes quick combusting so good for performance not for mileage with lower Oxygen in Petrol it simply burn slow or remain unburnt. Now bike companies might have increased the flow with the injector to run is smoothly - This is me saying because you have to tune it differently for different fuel. And this is the same happening with E20 too a significant loss in mileage I get around 25kmpl with my bike (400cc)

DOES ETHANOL DAMAGE THE BIKE?

This is the most worrying part - Ethanol has significantly higher Oxygen in it than Petrol (Hydrocarbon fuel) It has 30% Oxygen compare it to Petrol it has only 3% 

This Oxygen is somewhere going to disturb your bike isn't it - Ethanol is Hygroscopic in nature means it absorbs water. Absorbed water will separate more water and start to settle in tank and then the magic of rusting starts and water is not combustible in nature so engine starts to act funny. 

There are more bad things than good things with Ethanol being blended in Petrol.

IS ETHANOL BLENDING IN PETROL SCAM?

There are two faces to every coin I'll focus on good part -

Dependency on other countries for fuel can be lowered (Not Completely)

Emissions can be Lowered (But fuel is being used more)

Economy is being build (For Whom)

So there are quite positives to take from this blending (Just get an EV)