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Prospects and technological advancement of cellulosic bioethanol ecofuel production 213

8.2 History of bioethanol production

Production of bioethanol and its use as an alternative to automotive fuel has a long,
untold history. It is very hard to explore when humans being exactly started production
of bioethanol from solid phase feedstock. Fig. 8.1 illustrates the history of bioethanol
production from a different feedstock.
Evidence of ethanol production was found in China from approximately 9000years
ago [17]. The Chinese used the distillation process for increasing the concentration of
ethanol. In that ancient time, the Egyptians also produced alcohol from vegetable
waste using a natural fermentation process. Sugarcane is the oldest feedstock for bio-
ethanol, which has been used for bioethanol production since 6000BCE. In the 12th
century, starchy feedstock was first employed for the production of ethanol in Ireland
[18]. During the 1800s, ethanol produced from corn feedstock was mainly used for
lamp oil in replacement of whale oil [19]. Ethanol was first used in the internal com-
bustion engine by Samuel Morey in 1826 in the United States. Later in the 1880s, eth-
anol produced from grain was used in the automobile and presented in an alcohol fuel
exhibition in Paris. In 1908, the Ford Model-T car was manufactured, and it was
able to use ethanol or any mixture of ethanol and gasoline as fuel [20]. Brazil started
using bioethanol as an automobile fuel in 1925 and they produced more than 70 times
the consumption of gasoline [21]. However, some years later in 1933, the first
ethanol-gasoline blend fueling station–“Corn Alcohol gasoline”–was installed in
Nebraska by the Earl Coryell Company. During that period, ethanol production from
corn and blending with gasoline gained attention due to the low price of the corn
feedstock.
In 1940, some cheap oil fields were discovered; hence there was no urgency of
finding alternatives to gasoline [22]. In that time, the production of ethanol and the
share of ethanol in the fuel mixture suddenly reduced. However, because of the global
oil crisis and the increasing price of the petroleum oil, the fuel ethanol market was
upturned again in the 1970s [17]. In that time, the United States produced almost
90 million gallons of ethanol per year. Consequently, the Brazilian government made
a strategic plan, called the “National Alcohol Program (ProAlcool),” in 1975 [22].
The aim of the program was the large-scale production of ethanol from sugarcane
as an alternative to gasoline. As a result, Brazil used 95% anhydrous ethanol to run
more than half its cars [20]. However, the number of cars using ethanol as fuel
was reduced to 20%; ethanol contributed 40% of total fuel consumption in transport
in 2007.
In the mid-1920s, almost all the industrial countries except the United States
widely used ethanol-gasoline blends as vehicle fuel due to their safety and environ-
mental benefits [23]. Later, in 1978, the United States implemented the “Energy
Tax Act of 1978,” under which they exempted tax for 10% bioethanol-gasoline blends
to increase bioethanol production and consumption [22]. On the other hand, Brazil
used hydrated bioethanol consisting of 96% bioethanol and 4% water as car fuel in
1984. In 2007, Brazil set a policy to use at least 25% anhydrous alcohol-gasoline blend
for vehicle fuel.