Ethanol from wood chips? Can you make ethanol from wood chips?

Question

Can ethanol be made from wood chips for running weed eaters and chainsaws? If so what is the cheapest method, how long must it ferment and what proof of ethanol is the end result?

Answer 1

Yes it can and is being done. It is old WWII technology, it is a complicated process to break down the sugar in the wood fibers.  I know it is being done on a commercial scale in Georgia.

Answer 2

Yes. Commercially, wood (which is mostly linked sugars) is broken down into glucose and the glucose is fermented to alcohol. Brazil does this in large quantities with woody sugar-cane waste.

The current process is not very efficient, especially on a small scale.

BTW, during WWII, it was difficult to get gasoline and some vehicles used direct gasification of wood to keep going: as wood was heated in a tank atop the truck, it released carbon monoxide, methanol and other chemicals that would keep an old-fashioned engine going- just barely.

Answer 3

I don't think so.  Methanol can be though.  Their are race cars that run on that.

Answer 4

Methanol.  It used to be called "wood alcohol".  If you drink it it can cause blindness or death.  There were many cases during Prohibition when it was sometimes sold to unsuspecting drinkers as liquor.