Fuel alcohol

Fuel alcohol
Renewable energy. In Brazil, the main way to obtain ethanol is through sugarcane

Fuel ethanol (ethanol) is a biofuel produced generally from sugar cane, cassava, corn or beet.

It has been used since the beginning of the automotive industry, serving as fuel for the Otto cycle-type explosion-fueled engines. However, with the use of fossil fuels, at the beginning of the 20th century, cheaper and more abundant, ethanol became a practically ignored option.

The use of ethanol, which is undoubtedly the most frequent one, and which began as soon as the first internal combustion engines appeared, is its use as fuel: most of the world's ethanol production is destined for energy purposes, and the largest Part used for energy purposes is ethanol. In this aspect, it is also used mixed with gasoline, (see: Common fuel alcohol mixtures) to increase the compressive strength of it (octane). Governments have stimulated these substitutions already aiming at the depletion of natural reserves of fossil fuels.