Pre-Commercialization of 'E diesel' Fuels In Off-Road Applications

摘要

Ethanol is a clean burning, renewable fuel made primarily from the microbial fermentation of simple sugars. Illinois, the second largest annual producer of corn in the nation, is the leading producer of American ethanol derived from corn. The ethanol production capacity in the United States is rapidly approaching 2.0 billion gallons per year, and continues to grow. Of this, Illinois' annual ethanol production currently exceeds 600 million gallons and could reach 700 million gallons within a few years. Potential new markets such as California and the East Coast offer the ethanol industry an opportunity to expand even further. The United States consumes approximately 130 billion gallons of gasoline and 32 billion gallons of diesel fuel each year just to meet transportation demands. The use of ethanol-blended gasoline (on a continuous basis) in America dates back to the 1970's. The most common blend is called E-10 or gasohol, and is composed of 10% ethanol (by volume) with 90% unleaded gasoline. Ethanol blended gasoline has been shown to reduce carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by up to 25 percent, especially in older vehicles. At this time, E-10 gasoline accounts for about 12%) of all the gasoline sold in the U.S. annually. In the Chicago gasoline market, ethanol blended gasoline accounts for over 95%) of all the gasoline sold annually. Of equal importance is the fact that all gasoline powered vehicles manufactured and/or sold in this country over the last 10 years are fully factory warranted for the use of 10%) ethanol blended gasoline. In major metropolitan areas that require oxygenated gasoline in order to reduce urban air pollution, ethanol plays a major role adding up to 3.5%) oxygen to the fuel. The Chicago/Milwaukee market, for instance, uses ethanol-blended gasoline almost exclusively, creating a 400 million gallon per year market for ethanol. This extensive use of ethanol-blended gasoline has helped Chicago to regain USEPA attainment for ozone levels.