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The Pros And Cons Of Ethanoline

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Gas is an invaluable commodity in today’s society. It is used in everything from cars, to lawnmowers, to generators, to boats. Everyone uses it, but what exactly goes into it besides oil? One of the answers to this is ethanol. Ethanol has been going into gasoline since the 1920’s and was widely used during WWII (Gustafson, 2010). Ethanol gasoline became popular in the 1970’s due to the climbing prices of gasoline (Gustafson, 2010). The high price of gasoline was a result of oil shortages because of production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. (The Washington Times, 2006). The reason a rise in prices and a shortage of oil led to adding ethanol to gasoline was because ethanol was an easily and cheaply created (Gustafson, …show more content…

This is the creation of acetic acid from ethanol and a bacteria called Acetobacter aceti (NIST, 2014). The Acetic acid in the gas tanks under gas stations has lead to a faster than projected corrosion of the walls of gas tanks under gas stations (NIST, 2014). This increased corrosion will create holes in the walls of gas tanks letting the gas spill out into the ground around the tank. This could pollute groundwater in the surrounding area and kill plant life. The walls of gas tanks are typically made of cast iron or steel, which the acetic acid will eat through at a rate of about 1mm per year (NIST, 2014). This is not only much faster than expected, but a reason for research on a better metal to use for gas storage …show more content…

Microbially influenced corrosion “is the biologically mediated deterioration of material” (Williamson et al, 2015). This includes the microbial production of organic acids, like acetic acid (Williamson et al, 2015). Normally, ethanol would kill bacteria, but there are some cases where it becomes a carbon donor for the creation of acids (Williamson et al, 2015). This is what happens in the gas tanks under gas stations that creates the acetic acid that corrodes the

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