Ten per cent ethanol-blended gasolene rolls out at Jamaican pumps next Saturday. The fuel mixture will be available in central and eastern Jamaica before moving to the rest of the country by April 2009.

Fuel-grade ethanol

Denatured 200 proof alcohol, made in Jamaica from sugar cane. Produced from locally grown sugar cane feedstock. This fuel will not run out.

Strategic to fuel diversification, ethanol, when blended with gasolene for Jamaica's transportation sector, will reduce Jamaica's dependency on petroleum energy.

Currently in great demand, it is the highest-performing biofuel for the transportation sector.

Environmentally safer, biodegradable, less toxic, it does not contaminate groundwater.

Rich in oxygen, it burns cleaner to keep vehicle engines free of carbon deposits and improves vehicle performance.

A clean fuel. In high concentrations, it will almost completely remove greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere from vehicle exhausts. It will also remove particulates to improve air quality.

Growing demand worldwide

Dr Ruth Potopsingh (left), group managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, has the ear of Russell Hadeed, National Water Commission chairman, at the press conference to announce Jamaica's rollout of ethanol-blended gasolene, at Terra Nova All Suite Hotel on Thursday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Climate change, record high crude oil prices, tight petroleum refining capacity and stringent emission-control regulations have created a strong demand for ethanol.

This will break dependence on petroleum energy in the transportation sector. By replacing petroleum energy with energy from clean, renewable sources, nations will also be responding to guidelines for protection of the environment.

Ethanol has a high oxygen content in its chemistry, which makes it an effective octane enhancer. When blended with gasolene for use as a motor fuel, it burns clean, keeps the fuel system clean, leaves little residue in the engine and reduces harmful carbon dioxide from tailpipe emissions. .

Currently, the only limiting factor to wider use of the fuel is the slow pace for dispensing the fuel at filling stations. In Brazil, ethanol has been a fuel option in the transportation sector since the mid-'80s, and E20 has been the base fuel on offer at all service stations since 1992.

Motorists in Brazil can select the blend of fuel they wish to purchase based on comparative pump prices between ethanol and gasolene at any given time.

Caribbean advantage

Trade barriers for the export of ethanol to the United States were lowered in the '80s as an incentive for countries in the Caribbean Basin to manufacture ethanol for export to the United States. Incentives for ethanol manufactured in the Caribbean Basin include flexible quotas, a favourable tax regime and few restrictions on the origin of feedstock used in the manufacture of the fuel.

In October 2007, Jamaica was the leading regional exporter of ethanol to the United States, with 12.264 million gallons in that month, followed by El Salvador with 8.9 million gallons and Brazil with 6.2 million gallons.

Ja poised to benefit

In Jamaica, the Government has moved to divest the island's sugar refineries with a view to meeting its own domestic needs for this fuel from full local production, while maintaining exports to earn foreign exchange.

Jamaica is poised to benefit from the boom now being experienced in the ethanol industry. Already well supplied with local expertise in sugar-cane cultivation and in distilling sugar into alcohol, the existing infrastructure for ethanol dehydration has been boosted by the entry of a private-sector company in 2007. Together, these two plants produce 100 million gallons of ethanol annually and are currently planning two more dehydration plants each capable of doubling their output.

By 2050, biofuels will:

Eliminate demand for gasolene.

Cost less than gasolene or diesel.

Increase employment and earnings from agriculture worldwide.

Reduce greenhouse gases from vehicle-exhaust emissions by 1.7 billion tons annually or by 80 per cent of transportation-related emissions.

PRODUCT BENEFITS FOR JAMAICA

Sugar cane-based ethanol is distilled into 200 per cent proof hydrous alcohol at sugar refineries. At ethanol dehydration plants, it is converted to anhydrous ethanol and denatured with 0.05 per cent gasolene. It is then sold as fuel-grade ethanol.

In a cogeneration process, less energy is used to manufacture ethanol than to refine petroleum fuel from crude oil.

Fuel-grade ethanol for Jamaica's transportation sector will proportionately reduce the volume of petroleum products imported for this sector.

Locally grown sugar cane used for ethanol production will expand Jamaica's sugar industry.

A biofuel and high-value fuel product currently in great demand on the worldwide market, ethanol increases the range of products now produced from sugar cane.

Foreign-exchange earnings from the export of this agricultural crop will increase and savings of foreign exchange will accrue from the replacement, MTBE, now 10 per cent of the petroleum products used in the transportation sector.

E10 as fuel

Cars manufactured after 1981 will perform efficiently on an E10 blend, while those manufactured before 1981 will require some adjustments.

Ethanol in the E10 blend will replace the 10 per cent petroleum-based MTBE now used as the octane enhancer in unleaded gasolene.

With 10 per cent ethanol in gasolene, E10 will reduce carbon dioxide exhaust emissions by up to 30 per cent.

Benefits to transportation sector

Costs less.

Reduces the quantum of petroleum products imported for the transportation sector.

Reduces the volume of crude oil imported for the local energy sector.

Reduces Jamaica's fuel-import bill and saves foreign exchange.

Increased demand for production of sugar cane feedstock for ethanol production.

Production of ethanol for export will continue to earn foreign exchange from this agricultural crop.

Locally produced ethanol will not run out.

Ethanol's 'greener' pastures

The worldwide move to increase the use of ethanol as a fuel in the transportation sector will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere from motor-vehicle exhausts, which are known to cause global warming, and significantly improve the air quality of the environment.

This clean fuel, when used in higher concentrations in flexi-fuel vehicles now on the market, will reduce harmful emissions to almost nil.

It is projected that by 2050, ethanol will be the only fuel used in the transportation sector, and will also replace approximately 50 per cent of all fuels used worldwide.

The flexible-fuel vehicles currently on the market and those now being manufactured can run on pure gasolene, ethanol-blended gasolene and pure ethanol. It is expected that the range of blends offered commercially will be between E10 and E85.

Economic benefits for Jamaica

Jamaica will save foreign exchange by replacing imported petroleum-based MTBE in gasolene with locally grown and produced ethanol.

The island will continue to earn foreign exchange from the export of locally manufactured ethanol.

Jamaica will benefit from trading carbon credits for clean air from the use of a biofuel in the transportation sector.

Environmental/health benefits

E10 reduces greenhouse gases by 12-19 per cent and particulates from the exhaust by 50 per cent. It is biodegradable, soluble in water and does not contaminate groundwater.

Ethanol, though denser and heavier than air, dispenses rapidly. It is less toxic than gasolene and there are no carcinogenic compounds in pure ethanol. However, because ethanol is blended in gasolene, and gasolene is potentially carcinogenic, ethanol blends may contain carcinogenic compounds.