Bioethanol: Relationships

Every element and industry that Bioethanol is linked to, and how. Each pair has its own card explaining the relationships between the two.

Combustion road vehicles: Almost all fuel ethanol is burned in petrol vehicles, so blending mandates such as India's E20 decide its market, while its lower energy content trims fuel economy by a few per cent. (researched)
MTBE: Ethanol and MTBE compete for the same job in petrol: adding octane and oxygen. The US switched from MTBE to ethanol in 2006 after groundwater contamination, and India's 20% ethanol blending, reached in 2025, leaves less room for octane ethers. (researched)
Maize: Maize is the main feedstock for US ethanol, with about a third of the 2025/26 US crop expected to go to distilleries, and India turned into a maize importer in 2024 as its distilleries switched to maize. Just under a third of each tonne returns to the feed market as distillers grains, so ethanol and livestock compete for, and share, the same grain. (researched)
Sugar: Sugar and ethanol are made from the same cane, so mills in Brazil and India choose how much sucrose to turn into each. In India the choice is regulated: diverting about 3.5 Mt of sugar a year into ethanol supports E20 but is cut back when sugar supply looks tight. (researched)
Rice: In India, rice from the government's surplus stocks has become a major ethanol feedstock, sold to distilleries at a fixed price. Its use rises and falls with official judgements about food stocks, so the link is a policy valve rather than a market price relationship. (researched)
Biomass: Energy flows from biomass to bioethanol; their prices have moved together.
Bio-based polyethylene and MEG: Their prices have moved together.
Biodiesel (FAME): Their prices have moved together.
Biomass and biofuel stores: Energy flows from bioethanol to biomass and biofuel stores.
Carbon dioxide: Their prices have moved together.
Crude oil: Their prices have moved together.
Isopropanol: Their prices have moved together.
Refining and reforming: Their prices have moved together.
Sorghum: Their prices have moved together.
Starch and cellulose derivatives: Their prices have moved together.
Tankers, barges and fuel trucks: Energy flows from bioethanol to tankers, barges and fuel trucks.