Only a Headline Possible In Today’s Circumstances: Ethanol Producers Switch from Biofuels to Making Hand Sanitizer

March 26, 2020 – I took a day off from posting to this blog site yesterday to deal with a medical issue involving our dog, Maya. She is 14 and showing her age, unfortunately. So we got in the car and drove to the veterinarian office through what feels like an almost deserted city. A trip that normally takes 40 minutes, took 18. Once we arrived, the surrealness of the situation continued with my wife, Sherry, staying in the car while I took Maya into the office to talk to our vet who stood a social distance away from me as we discussed my dog’s symptoms. I was asked to take off Maya’s leash and halter before the vet was willing to handle her. She took Maya away while I returned to the car to wait with Sherry. About 20 minutes later we got a callback. I went back into the office to pay the bill and get a report. We were asked to collect a urine sample and return it to the office later which meant another 18-minute drive. This morning the vet called and told us that Maya’s tests were all normal. But at least, the three of us, Maya, Sherry and me had two outings, getting out of our confining apartment in midtown Toronto. I was thinking about Maya and wondering if maybe all she’s doing is reacting to being permanently cooped up with us as we all begin to feel the stress of the “new normal” of social confinement.

Speaking of the new normal, there appears to be a global shortage of hand sanitizer as well as toilet paper based on surveys of my local grocery and drugstore shelves. It appears people have been loading up on both of these items to combat COVID-19. The truth be known, washing hands thoroughly is better than hand sanitizer. And as for toilet paper, diarrhea is way down on the list of COVID-19 symptoms, so the toilet paper Armageddon makes no sense whatsoever.

The hand sanitizer scarcity is creating an opportunity, however, for businesses currently feeling the pinch of lower than normal sales. A few weeks ago those who make alcoholic beverages started taking a portion of their onhand alcohol to produce hand sanitizer. And now it appears that ethanol producers are doing the same.

Ethanol in North America is produced from corn. It is a gasoline additive and a component in jet fuel. As an agricultural product, I have my concerns about using land to grow a biofuel which when added to fossil fuels contributes further to global warming. The idea of converting to hand sanitizer doesn’t evoke in me the same level of concern, but it has contributed to giving me the content for this posting. For that I’m grateful.

For the most part, the move away from biofuels to hand sanitizer by ethanol producers is to some degree altruistic, but not entirely. National policies leading to social isolation throughout the world are causing a significant drop in ethanol sales. Global consumption of biofuel content for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel is way down which means ethanol sales have crashed.

But the medical emergency for hand sanitizer has national regulators giving permission to their ethanol producers to switch to hand sanitizer production which also means some people will still keep their jobs producing both denatured and undenatured alcohol. The former has additives making it toxic to drink (isopropyl or rubbing alcohol). The latter is used by distilleries for alcoholic beverages. Both are suitable for hand sanitizer.

Some companies have been driven by community “spirit,” no pun intended, to donate their ethanol production. Green Plains Inc., located in Nebraska, is giving its ethanol to the state. Another, Western Iowa Energy, is doing the same in its state. In both cases, state prisons are manufacturing the stuff. How weird is that?

For countries that are sugar cane producers where ethanol production is significant, we could meet the global hand sanitizer shortage in no time at all by the donation or selling of a portion of total production. Here too, prison labour can make the stuff. Or better yet, growers and refiners can get into the business themselves and keep employees working (sorry prisoners). Can you imagine turning sugar into something that actually can keep people healthy rather than contribute to obesity, diabetes, and premature death?

That has me thinking, can I buy bags of sugar at the grocery store and start making my own hand sanitizer? I’ve gone online looking for a recipe but, so far, no luck.

And for those of you who are still feeling the lack of hand sanitizer products is limiting your ability to deal with COVID-19, and feeling trapped within your homes, you can make your own by buying rubbing alcohol and mixing it with a lotion containing aloe, or the drippings from your own aloe vera plants.

But wait a minute, by the empty shelves in my local supermarket and drugstore, and the disappearance of aloe vera plants from local nurseries and garden centers, I think many of you have already beaten me to the punch.