Long before gasoline became readily available, leading automakers thought ethanol would be the world’s primary fuel. It is a high octane fuel that helps prevent engine knocking and is extremely important in engine designed to operate at a higher compression ratio thus generating more power. These types of engines are most likely to be found in high-performance vehicles.

Due to its high octane nature, ethanol is sometimes blended with gasoline in small amounts to boost octane rating. High-performance engines will benefit from this mixture. Ethanol is primarily produced from corn or sugar crops either by dry-mill or wet-mill processing. At present, dry-mill facilities account for more than 80% of the industry’s capacity in spite of the relative popularity of wet-mill facilities during the early days.