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Compared with conventional unleaded gasoline, ethanol is a particulate-free burning fuel source that combusts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water and aldehydes. The Clean Air Act requires the addition of oxygenates to reduce carbon monoxide emissions in the United States.
Similarly, is ethanol a good fuel source?
Ethanol is a renewable fuel because it is produced from biomass. Ethanol also burns more cleanly and completely than gasoline or diesel fuel. Ethanol reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because the grain or other biomass used to make the ethanol absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows.
Subsequently, one may also ask, is ethanol cleaner burning than gasoline?
Ethanol and ethanol-gasoline mixtures burn cleaner and have higher octane levels than pure gasoline, but they also have higher evaporative emissions from fuel tanks and dispensing equipment.
There are two key reasons ethanol is no longer net energy negative. First, corn production efficiency has increased dramatically: Producers now grow 160 bushels per acre today versus the 95 grown in 1980, and corn yield continues to increase. Second, ethanol production has become more energy-efficient.