Ethanol as an alternative fuel for vehicles in Malawi

The dependence on the use of fossil fuel as a source of energy for driving vehicles has resulted in Malawi spending a lot of its foreign exchange in the importation of fossil fuel from other countries. The use of ethanol, which is locally produced in the country as an alternative source of fuel energy, might reduce the impact imposed by the importation of fossil fuel. Hence subject publication of the topic on the use of ethanol, as an alternative fuel to petrol will provide a literature review and assessment of the contemporary state of knowledge on the topic together with the prospect to convert the ordinary spark ignition engine to use ethanol as its fuel in the country.ETHANOL AS AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL IN MALAWI The source of energy for vehicles in Malawi is imported crude oil, which constitutes a significant item in the country’s budget. An alternative solution is the production of ethyl alcohol from domestic products, for example, sugar cane. The subject of this statement is an analysis of the issue using available literature.
1. INTRODUCTION
Ethanol has been used as an alternative fuel worldwide for a long time, it is also called ethyl-alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, and it is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug, best known as alcohol, found in alcoholic beverages which is simply referred to as spirit [Blume, 2007].
The largest use of ethanol, as a motor vehicle fuel and fuel additive are USA and Brazil; they have the largest national fuel ethanol industries, and together both countries were responsible for 89% of the world’s ethanol fuel production in 2008 [Licht, 2008] – Table 1, Figure 1. (…)

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