page_title: Ethanol fuel
section_title: Distillation
hierarchical_section_title: Ethanol fuel / Production / Distillation
context_page_description: Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, used as fuel. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. The first production car running entirely on ethanol was the Fiat 147, introduced in 1978 in Brazil by Fiat. Ethanol is commonly made from biomass such as corn or sugarcane. World ethanol production for transport fuel tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17×10⁹ liters to more than 52×10⁹ liters. From 2007 to 2008, the share of ethanol in global gasoline type fuel use increased from 3.7% to 5.4%. In 2011 worldwide ethanol fuel production reached 8.46×10¹⁰ liters with the United States of America and Brazil being the top producers, accounting for 62.2% and 25% of global production, respectively. US ethanol production reached 57.54×10⁹ liters in 2017–04.
  Ethanol fuel has a "gasoline gallon equivalency" value of 1.5, i.e. to replace the energy of 1 volume of gasoline, 1.5 times the volume of ethanol is needed.
  Ethanol-blended fuel is widely used in Brazil, the United States, and Europe.
context_section_description: For the ethanol to be usable as a fuel, the yeast solids and the majority of the water must be removed.  After fermentation, the mash is heated so that the ethanol evaporates.  This process, known as distillation, separates the ethanol, but its purity is limited to 95–96% due to the formation of a low-boiling water-ethanol azeotrope with maximum (95.6% m/m (96.5% v/v) ethanol and 4.4% m/m (3.5% v/v) water).  This mixture is called hydrous ethanol and can be used as a fuel alone, but unlike anhydrous ethanol, hydrous ethanol is not miscible in all ratios with gasoline, so the water fraction is typically removed in further treatment to burn in combination with gasoline in gasoline engines.
caption: Ethanol plant in West Burlington, Iowa
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