Ethanol is commonly used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It can be used in smaller ratios in mixture with gasoline in unmodified engines; however, by making some modifications to the engine fuel of higher ethanol content can be burnt.

Although ethanol seems a popular future fuel source to help alleviate the reliance of industrialized nations on oil-based fuels, the following should be noted:

1. Ethanol has a high-octane content which means particularly stringent precautions are to be taken when handling it. It is highly flammable and explosive compared to standard gasoline.

2. Ethanol is an excellent solvent. It dissolves almost everything. It can absorb impurities and carry them inside the fuel lines and fuel tank, thus contaminating and ultimately damaging the vehicle’s engine.

3. Ethanol can absorb water if it enters the fuel lines, tank or engine. Thus contaminated, its value as a fuel is reduced.

4. Ethanol is a particularly good drying agent and will perish materials not specifically designed to withstand the affects of alcohol, particularly rubber and plastic parts.

5. Ethanol combustion produces organic compounds known as Aldehydes. Aldehydes are known irritants to eyes, nose and throat and have probable links to certain cancers. Aldehyde production is a function of ethanol volume. At lower volumes of ethanol, emissions of aldehydes can be controlled by catalytic converters.

6. Ethanol has a lower per liter energy value than gasoline. This means it takes more ethanol to drive the same distance and consumers will have to fill their vehicles more often.

7. When ethanol is blended above E10 (that is, above 10% anhydrous ethanol to gasoline mixture), consumers have to pay a relatively high (> $1000) fee to have their engines adapted. E10 will likely damage engines that have not undergone conversion.

8. Use of ethanol at E85 blend as primary fuel for transportation would raise the consumer’s annual fuel budget by about 33%.

9. Drivers of cars that burn higher ethanol blends, such as E85, have to drive significant distances to obtain the fuel – it is not so widely available.

10. Since ethanol is produced largely from crop, vast quantities of arable land would be required to produce ethanol in the quantities required to support a global switch from gasoline. It is thought that if all the available farmland in the United States was switched to crop for ethanol production, it would only meet a small percentage of the countries demand for fuel.

11. If the demand for ethanol were to rise markedly, the amount of arable land given over to regular farming maybe reduced in preference to ethanol crop which could affect the cost of food and other commodities in both developed and emerging economies.

12. Rapidly producing the amount of crop required to sustain even a small amount of ethanol as a percentage of a country’s fuel requirements could severely deplete land of minerals and other nutrients; this could affect domestic food production and prices.

13. Crops are susceptible to damage from weather, insects, pests, droughts and other factors. Ethanol pricing is already unstable, these factors on a large scale could introduce greater instability.

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