Is ethanol a dead end?

As North America seeks to end its reliance on foreign oil, ethanol – and hydrogen produced as a by-product – had gained momentum to be the replacement fuel that powered our vehicles.

But three and a half years after George W. Bush told the world in his presidential state of the union address that ethanol would be a major reason why North America could get over its addiction to oil, little progress appears to have been made.

The reasons are simple. Ethanol is expensive to produce and lacks the same power as gasoline.

In North America and Canada, specifically, ethanol is made from extracting the sugars from corn. Corn isn't as effective in ethanol production as crops used in other countries. Brazil has a much higher penetration of ethanol use than Canada because it relies on sugar cane. That crop produces 3,370 litres of ethanol per acre while corn produces barely a third of that total, 1,400 litres per acre.

Jane West, a professor of consumer studies at Laval University, has taken a particular interest in ethanol as a fuel in Canada. She says the inefficiencies of ethanol production from corn combined with its diminished power output are facts Canada should consider before subsidizing ethanol development.

"You need more ethanol than gasoline to drive the same distance so consumers will have to fill up their cars more often," she says.

Ethanol doesn't produce the same amount of power that regular gasoline does, she says. The car will still go as fast and it won't affect torque, but it will take more ethanol to produce the same results as gas.

Gordon Quaiattini, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, says ethanol producers have long been aware of the small amounts of ethanol produced from corn and have researched other ways of making the fuel.

"There's research being done to use forestry waste, farm waste and garbage into ethanol fuel," he says.

The real problem with ethanol produced by corn, and even sugar cane, is the less fuel produced per acre, the more it costs. A study by David Pimentel, a professor at Cornell University, found the cost per gallon of ethanol just to get it off the farm was $1.05 per gallon ($3.98 per litre), that doesn't include refining or delivery costs.

Ethanol's delivery costs are substantially higher than oil. Because ethanol can mix with water, existing oil pipes can't be used to transport it unless they are watertight. Trains, trucks and barges would have to be used to get it to refineries then to distribution centres and eventually to pumps.

Hydrogen, which can be extracted from ethanol, is further away from commercial success. Hydrogen and the fuel cells it requires to work are bulky and expensive. Water has to be constantly stored in a fuel-cell system, which means if you live in an area where the temperature drops below freezing your hydrogen-powered car just won't work.

The Canadian government adopted plans to require 5 per cent renewable fuel standards in gasoline by 2010. This aggressive plan may end up costing Canadians more in the short term as the cost of incorporating more ethanol into the fuel mix would actually encourage the increase at the pumps.

Still abandoning ethanol research and development isn't the right thing to do, West says.

"I do believe it will get to the point where biomass is a suitable alternative to fuel. We need to keep development up so when it does get to that point, Canada is ready with the technology to capitalize on it."

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