Bioethanol

Ethanol fermented from sugarcane, maize, rice or beet and blended into petrol; about 121 billion litres of fuel ethanol a year, half of it American.

Capture · Bioenergy · No. 39

• Single chemical
• Feedstock: Crops and biomass
• about 121 billion litres (about 96 Mt) of fuel ethanol in 2025; about 139 billion litres of ethanol for all uses in 2024
• 1.2 t CO₂e per t
• HS 220710, 220720

The same alcohol as in a glass of spirits now fills a tenth of many petrol tanks, from Iowa to Uttar Pradesh.

Chart: Illustration: Bioethanol

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Yeast ferments sugar from cane or starch from maize and rice into alcohol, which is distilled and dried; the world made about 121 billion litres of fuel ethanol in 2025.

Three things to know

1. Together the US, Brazil and India made 87% of the world's fuel ethanol in 2025.
2. In India's 2025-26 supply year, about 70% of ethanol delivered by end-August 2026 came from grain rather than cane.
3. EU default values rate cane ethanol 70% lower in emissions than petrol, against 40-48% for maize ethanol, before land-use change.

The journey

1. 1 CropMaize, sugarcane, molasses or surplus rice
2. 2 Pre-treatmentCane juice direct; grain milled and enzyme-converted
3. 3 FermentationYeast turns glucose into ethanol over 40-60 hours
4. 4 DistillationDried to over 99.5% for blending
5. 5 Co-productsAnimal feed, corn oil, CO2 or bagasse power
6. 6 BlendingMixed into petrol at 10-30% at depots

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