America has a huge appetite for fuels to run our cars, trucks, farming and industrial equipment. We are currently dependent on foreign suppliers for 60% of our oil. Ethanol from corn fermentation and biodiesel from soybeans offer clean, home-grown alternatives to foreign oil.
McHenry County Farmers deliver Fuels
to make America more Independent!
Ethanol: Fermented Fruits and Corn
Distilled alcohol is made from fermented grain mash or fermented fruit juice. The mash or juice is heated, giving off vapors of alcohol. These vapors are collected and cooled to form a liquid alcohol known as Ethanol.
This is nothing new...the first fermentation of fruit juices was recorded 4,000 years before the birth of Christ. Henry Ford's fuel of choice was Ethanol. When oil was not plentiful, alcohol was mixed with gasoline in France during WWI, used as a substitute fuel during the Depression, and by the Germans WWII.
Soy Biodiesel
Biodiesel is an alternative to fossil fuels. It creates lower emissions and gets comparable miles-per-gallon to gasoline. Biodiesel is usually used in a blend with petroleum diesel
Soybeans are cleaned, dried, dehulled, crushed and pressed, then the oil is extracted and refined. Refining is a chemical separation process
that leaves behind two products: Methyl Esters (or what is known as biodiesel) and Glycerine (a byproduct used in soaps, cosmetics and other products). One bushel of soybeans makes 1.5 gallons of biodiesel.
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