ABSTRACT
Since Henry Ford’s time, there had been interest in using grain-based alcohol as a transportation fuel. Prohibition, however, severely constrained development in the United States. After Prohibition ended, both the beverage and fuel ethanol industries grew. But it was not until the price of petroleum escalated during the Oil Crises of the 1970s that the fuel ethanol industry truly began to grow in the United States. And grow it has. At the end of 2010, over 13.1 billion gal/y (49.7 billion L/y) of fuel ethanol were produced, and 204 fuel ethanol manufacturing plants were operating in the United States. These are primarily located in midwestern states (coinciding with the U.S. Corn Belt), because this is where the raw materials (mainly corn) are mostly grown. Due to the growth in demand for ethanol, new plants are now being constructed outside the corn-producing regions of the United States as well. By the time this book is published, the statistics will undoubtedly have changed. Updated information can be found at RFA (2010) and its website (www.ethanolrfa.org).
