Evaluation of Transportation Fuel from Bioethanol

Abstract

For this study, we established and evaluated two usage scenarios of ethanol (EtOH) from biomass for transportation: direct use of ethanol and use of hydrogen produced from EtOH. As a result, we examined the effectiveness of fuel cell vehicles of the latter case. In the EtOH direct-use scenario, the EtOH-to-Tank efficiency was 63.6-81.0% (energy loss: 706-289 kJ/mol) with 30% Tank-to-Wheel efficiency of EtOH hybrid cars. In other words, in the scenario of fuel cell vehicles with 60% Tank-to-Wheel efficiency, the efficiency of EtOH-to-Tank should be more than 31.8-40.5%. From the results of the present study, it can be concluded that the two evaluated scenarios have comparative efficiencies, considering the currently published EtOH-to-Tank efficiency using steam reforming of 34.0-43.0%. For the realization of bioEtOH-oriented fuel cell vehicles, the development of higher hydrogen production efficiency is required.