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Ethanol’s single largest use is, as a motor vehicle fuel and fuel additive, in which Brazil has long been the pioneer. Brazilian gasoline contains 25 percent ethanol. Strangely, Henry Ford’s original concept of the fuel for the Model T Ford was ethanol, which he projected to be the car of the future.
Using a blend of ethanol with gasoline yields many pollutants which produces far more ground level ozone. Ethanol is said to create 2.14 times the amount of ozone as gasoline exhaust. The result is 1.7 times the amount of smog-generation when compared with gasoline.
Notwithstanding such alarming statistics, there is a global move towards increasing use of ethanol to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels. President Bush passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which sought to replace 75 percent of imported oil into the US by 2025 with alternative sources of energy, including biofuels.
Many developing countries have substantial biomass resources that they are actively exploiting, to produce alternative fuels. There are different approaches according to prevailing circumstances.
Israel Corp., for example, through its subsidiary, IC Green Energy aims to meet 4 to 5 percent of the world biofuels market by 2012. For raw material, Israel proposes to concentrate on non-edible feedstock. Seambiotic of Tel Aviv, Israel, announced a joint venture with Inventure Chemical of Seattle, Washington in June 2008. The objective is to use carbon dioxide emissions-fed algae to make ethanol and biodiesel at a plant in Israel.
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