Ethanol Production Costs

Ethanol production costs are related to quite a few factors, therefore there is not one specific number that can be announced. It depends of the different steps that are needed in ethanol production. Here is a list that can help you figure out your numbers.

1) Feedstock – if one is using material that can waste like for example sawdust or grain, it will cost you nothing. If one is breeding feedstock, one need to calculate the cost of seeds as well plus the energy and the time that it takes to harvest and to grow the crop. As an example we see that corn takes less time to grow than switch grass.
2) Equipment – a solar ethanol can still be made usually with materials found simply around the house. A boiler and a reflux column will have a price tag of somewhere around $30 in blueprints and about $50 in supplies, to somewhere that is around $200 for fully built reflux that is still there on eBay. If one is looking for something very reasonable then they should buy an EFuel100 Micro Fueler for something around $10000
3) Gasoline – one needs to see the price of gasoline per gallon. One needs to mix it with the ethanol. Example, if someone wants to make E95 with gasoline that has a cost of something around $4 per gallon, one will be mixing 20 cents worth gasoline into every ethanol gallon that is manufactured
4) Output – to become as efficient in distilling you need get as much ethanol as possible from your still and thus will cause the cost to go down significantly.

The government is always on the lookout to see where people are manufacturing ethanol. To be able to produce ethanol legally one need to file a permit with The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade bureau. It is free of cost. The application takes around 1 month to process and it is around 5 pages long. The authorities make sure that you are not drinking your product and surprise checks are very common. You can make E100 for your automobile, the finest way to make the authorities believe you are to make ethanol that has 4-6 % of gasoline per gallon of ethanol.

Ethanol is basically very safe to make-as some people say that it will take you less time to make it than to go to a gas station. Everything will be well-regulated and self contained if the still is made correctly. But Murphy’s Law is always there. Since the point of ethanol in combustion engine is to explode – one need to respect that. Safety instructions should be always followed. While installing timers, vents special attention needs to be given. Smoking is strictly prohibited near the ethanol.

Small amount of ethanol is good enough to run any gasoline engine. If one plans to use large quantities of ethanol (E85), your automobile will require a conversion kit of E85. These kits can be bought online from many sellers. They cost from around $100 to something around $1000 depending on how comfortable you feel on installing them and also on the type of technology involved.

Flex-fuel vehicles can already run on ethanol. In practice thousands of cars can run on ethanol, and the owners don’t have a clue about that fact. Check your owner’s manual to find out if your car is ethanol compatible or not. There will be some ID sticker or some kind if indication which will tell you that your car can run on ethanol.

Lawnmowers, chainsaws and other small engines do not require a thing to be converted to run on ethanol. By playing with fuel additives and check valves some people find ways to get higher output thus killing the disadvantage of ethanol that naturally gives a low output.