INTUSER - the Energy Debate Site

1.2 Short History

Milestones

Year	Events and scientists
4000 BC	The Sumerians discovered the process of fermentation
10th c. BC	Assyrians used biogas for heating bathing water
17th c.	Helmont observed that organic matter emits flammable gases
1808	Davy discovered methane as the end product of anaerobic digestion
mid-1800’s	Transesterification of vegetable oils is used to distil out the glycerine during soap production
1858-64	Bechamp’s experiments with fermentation
1864	Pasteur described the process of fermentation scientifically
1876	The first internal combustion engine
1880’s	Internal combustion engine for producer gas
1892-93	Diesel filed a patent for a "Working Method and Design for Combustion Engines … a new efficient, thermal engine."
1895	Exeter, Britain: biogas is used to fuel street lamps
1897	The first diesel engine suitable for practical use, operating at an efficiency of 75%
1908	Henry Ford’s Model T designed to run on ethanol
1920’s-30’s	Attempts to promote ethanol as motor fuel The anaerobic bacteria responsible for methane production were identified
1940’s	The first U.S. ethanol plant
1939-45	Extensive use of biogas to replace gasoline
1979	Marketing of commercial alcohol-blended fuels
1990	Ethanol plants began to switch from coal to natural gas and to adopt other cost-reducing technologies

Bioethanol

Fermenting grain starch is a technology known since ancient times. It was already widely used by the Sumerians who were the first to discover it, most probably by chance. They used the process of fermentation to produce alcohol, which actually led to the invention of beer brewing. However it was not given a scientific thought until the 19^th century, when Antoine Bechamp (1816-1908, a French biologist) experimented with fermentation concluding that ferments are living organisms. He was the first to attempt to determine their nature and origin, though how they really worked was not understood until the scientific description of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895, French chemist, father of bacteriology). Today the ancient technology of fermentation is still being used, as it forms the basis of ethanol production.

Although the technology was accessible and widely known, the introduction of ethanol, which had been available as an alternative fuel since before World War II, was not entirely without difficulties. When Henry Ford first designed his Model T automobile in 1908, he expected ethanol to be used as a major fuel. As a result of his efforts between 1920 and 1924 the Standard Oil Company tried to market ethanol in the Baltimore area. High corn prices combined with storage and transportation difficulties put an end to Ford’s effort, so Standard Oil opted for fossils. Later on in the 1920s there was another attempt to popularise ethanol in the USA, but the ethanol fuel program, which was supported by federal and state legislation, had also failed.

Despite these failures Ford was so committed that he went on to promote the use of ethanol throughout the 1930s. Due to his efforts a fermentation plant was built in Atchison, Kansas that produced 38,000 L/day planned to be used as motor fuel. Although more than 2,000 stations sold ethanol (called gasohol) during this period, the plant had to be closed down in the 1940’s, as it could not compete with low petroleum prices.

In 1979 oil crises reintroduced ethanol-gasoline blends to the U.S. market. As an alternative fuel it was for a short time envisioned to be a solution for the depressing problems of energy shortages. After the crises were over the American Oil Company and several of the other major oil companies did not cease distributing it, but continued to market ethanol blends as a "gasoline extender" and octane enhancer. Since then E10 (a blend containing 10% of ethanol) has been widely used. As the demand for ethanol increased, the technology to produce it from feedstock other than crops (options including such sources as agricultural and forestry wastes, municipal solid waste and industrial waste) has developed tremendously over the past 20 years.