Ethanol

The chemical structure of ethanol. The symbols are: C is carbon, H is hydrogen and O is oxygen. The lines show what atoms are linked together by chemical bonds.

An ethanol molecule showing atoms filing space (hydrogen is white, carbon is gray, and oxygen is red)

A bottle of Ethanol

Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, is a flammable, colorless chemical compound, one of the alcohols that is most often found in alcoholic drinks. When people talk about it, they often name it simply as alcohol. Its chemical formula is C₂H₅OH, also written as C₂H₆O. It is used as a solvent because it can dissolve many other chemicals and is not very toxic.

Ethanol fuel

Ethanol fuel can be used instead of gasoline in cars and other engines. Engines can use pure ethanol or ethanol mixed with gasoline.

In Brazil, ethanol fuel made from sugar cane provides 18 percent of the country's fuel for cars. Because of this, Brazil does not have to buy oil from other countries. To do this, Brazil cut down much of the rain forests to grow more sugar cane, which is then fermented into Ethanol.

Most cars in the U.S. can run on fuels that have of up to 10% ethanol in them. Car makers like Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and GM also make vehicles run that run higher ethanol blends. Some of their engines can run on up to 85% ethanol (E85). By mid-2006, there were about six million E85-compatible vehicles on U.S. roads.

Other websites

• E85 is an alcohol fuel mixture: 85% ethanol + 15% gasoline - US E85 refueling map
• International Chemical Safety Card 0044
• Molview from bluerhinos.co.uk See Ethanol in 3D (may take over a minute to load using a dial-up connection)