# 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.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/

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
 Capture · Bio-based chemicals · Foundation · Energy

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 **Crop**Maize, sugarcane, molasses or surplus rice
2. 2 **Pre-treatment**Cane juice direct; grain milled and enzyme-converted
3. 3 **Fermentation**Yeast turns glucose into ethanol over 40-60 hours
4. 4 **Distillation**Dried to over 99.5% for blending
5. 5 **Co-products**Animal feed, corn oil, CO2 or bagasse power
6. 6 **Blending**Mixed into petrol at 10-30% at depots
 Covered in [Pharmaceuticals and fermentation: from molecule to medicineChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/pharmaceuticals-and-fermentation/)[Bioplastics: PLA, PHA, bio-PE and starch blendsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/bioplastics-pla-pha-biope-starch/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Energy overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/energy/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/correlation/index.md)
- [Efficiency](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/efficiency/index.md)
- [Techniques](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/techniques/index.md)
- [Resources and labour](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/resources/index.md)
- [Impact on the biosphere](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/biosphere/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/overview/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/bioethanol/links/index.md)