Bioethanol is a high-octane alcohol produced from sugar or starch and is considered an important alternative fuel to petroleum-based products. One of the first fuels used in the automobile business, it was used extensively during World War II in Germany, the United States, Brazil, and the Philippines. After the war, bioethanol was generally replaced by cheaper petroleum-based fuels.
Brazil has been the worldwide leader of bioethanol development since the 1973 oil crisis, with the initiation of the Brazilian Alcohol Program (PROALCOOL), whose aim was to produce bioethanol to combine with gasoline. Sugar cane was to be used as the source of bioethanol, and in the first phase of the project (from 1975 to 1979), distilleries were attached to existing sugar mills. In the later phase of the project, autonomous distilleries were built for bioethanol production.
The 1979 crisis, when the price of crude oil soared following the Iranian Revolution, reinforced the need for Brazil to become independent of foreign oil, and the government ordered automobile manufacturers to shift production to new engines that would run exclusively on ethanol. The first of these was a Fiat model 147, produced by Fiat's local subsidiary.
The PROALCOOL program lost momentum in the 1980s due to a drop in oil prices, and again in the 1990s due to an ethanol supply shortage. However, the market has turned around again since the late 1990s and sales of cars powered by bioethanol have risen.
A question still remains about the carbon footprint of bioethanol production. It appears that the labor and energy requirements of producing bioethanol are high and that it may someday be replaced by other alternative fuel sources.
