Biofuels and Multifuel Vehicles

In addition to the biofuel sources that come from food products, non-food grasses and reeds can also be harmful. Being an alien, powerful and invasive species, they can overrun adjacent farms or natural lands. Some of these species, such as Jatropha, are also poisonous and if they invade pastures, they can harm the grazing herds. Other species, such as giant reeds can drain wetlands and clog drainage systems. Therefore, not all the sources of cellu-losic biofuels are useful or desirable. 

By 2020, the EU wants to have 10% ethanol in its transportation fuel, and China is aiming for 15%. The United States Senate is proposing a biofuel production target of 36 billion gallons by 2020, of which 21 billion would come from corn-based ethanol. As a result, com prices doubled (from 1.65 to 3/bushel), and the number of ethanol plants also nearly doubled (from 81 to 129). 

It is estimated that food production would be severely disrupted if more than 15 billion gallons of com ethanol were produced. At the same time, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) estimated that replacement of 10% of America s motor fuels with biofuels would require about one third of all the cropland that is devoted to the production of cereals, oilseeds, and sugar crops. 

Brazil is the leader in biofuel technology. Flex-fuel cars that can also run on biofuels comprise 70% of the new cars in Brazil. In other regions of the world, such as in Hawaii, large (28 million gal/yr) biofuel plants are being built. 

The ethanol concentration in gasoline can vary from 10% (called E10) to 70% and up to 85% (called E85). All automobiles can use E10 fuel, but only the flex-fuel vehicles (6 million cars in the United States, which is 2.4% of the automobile fleet) can run on E85. The flex-fuel car gas tanks are 

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