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Concept
Timeline of alcohol fuel
Summary
Ethanol, an alcohol fuel, is an important fuel for the operation of internal combustion engines that are used in cars, trucks, and other kinds of machinery.
Ethanol was first isolated from wine in approximately 1100 and was found to burn shortly thereafter. These early solutions distilled from wine-salt mixtures were referred to as aqua ardens (burning water) or aqua flamens (flaming water) and had such low alcohol content that they burned without producing noticeable heat. By the 13th century, the development of the cooling coil allowed the isolation of nearly pure ethanol by distillation.
Ethanol has been used for lamp oil and cooking, along with plant and animal oils. Small alcohol stoves (also called "spirit lamps") were commonly used by travelers in the 17th century to warm food and themselves.
Before the American Civil War many farmers in the United States had an alcohol still to turn crop waste into free lamp oil and stove fuel for the farmers' family use. Conflict over taxation was not unusual; one example was the Whiskey Rebellion in 1791.
In 1826, Samuel Morey uses alcohol in the first American internal combustion engine prototype.
In the 1830s, alcohol blends had replaced increasingly expensive whale oil in most parts of the country. It "easily took the lead as the illuminant" because it was "a decided improvement on other oils then in use."
By 1860, thousands of distilleries churned out at least of alcohol per year for lighting. Camphene / alcohol blends (at 1.30 to 2.00 per gallon. A new product from petroleum, called kerosene, is taxed at 10 cents a gallon.
Official source
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