Ethanol is a clear colorless liquid that at low levels has a sweet taste, but at levels needed for fuel use it has a burning taste. Since 1990, when the government decided that gasoline burned had unsafe levels of carbon monoxide, ethanol has been added to gasoline in order to make it a higher octane level, burn cleaner, and to over all improve the emissions of gasoline. In order for an ethanol mixture to be considered …show more content…
Sugar beets and sugar cane are examples of feed stocks that contain sugar. Corn contains starch that can relatively easily be converted into sugar. Even most trees and grasses have cellulose that can easily be turned into sugar and then used in the making of ethanol. The ethanol process starts by grinding up the feedstock so it is more easily and quickly processed. Once ground up, the sugar is either dissolved out of the material or the starch or cellulose is converted into sugar. Then the sugar is fed to microbes and used for food, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide in the process. Lastly the ethanol is purified to the desired