Last week, a reader left a comment on my blog about Procter & Gamble’s decision to include cellulosic ethanol in Tide laundry detergent. He asked some questions. “I thought that ethanol was ethanol. Is there a chemical difference between beverage ethanol and fuel ethanol or between fuel ethanol and industrial ethanol? Is there a chemical difference between grain ethanol and cellulosic ethanol? Or are these products not just ethanol (and water) but mixtures of some sort?”

I thought I knew the answer, but I wasn’t sure, so I contacted the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center for some backup. Sabrina Trupia, assistant director of biological research, gave me the skinny. “Chemically, there is no difference between grain and cellulosic ethanol,” she said. “Ethanol can be made a variety of different ways that do not necessarily involve biomass, but in every case the end molecule is identical. The only difference is the feedstock and the efficiency of the process used to produce the ethanol.”

The commenter was also right on the ratios of water being different. “The only difference between beverage ethanol and fuel ethanol is that fuel ethanol is 100 percent ethanol, also known as 200 proof,” she said. “Most distilled beverages for human consumption are 50 percent or less. The ethanol molecule is always the same molecule; only the ratio of ethanol to water varies. Fuel ethanol, by law, must have very little water (less than 1 percent) by ASTM (American Society of Testing and Materials) standards.”

Another variable for fuel ethanol vs. alcohol to drink is that producers of the latter must adhere to food grade standards. “However, once ethanol is distilled and is pure, the only variable is the quality of the water,” she said.

So, basically, on a chemical level, it doesn’t matter if Procter & Gamble uses ethanol made from corn stover or ethanol made from corn. Either ingredient will leave my daughter’s tiny outfits smelling just as fresh and clean. In the same way, if there was a fuel dispenser for E85 cellulosic ethanol from Poet or DuPont’s plants right next to E85 produced at a corn dry mill, it wouldn’t make a difference, mechanically, which one I pulled up to and pumped into my flex-fuel vehicle.

Does it mean something different, to the consumer, purchasing the product, however? Yes, to some, it does. I suggested last week that some would purchase Tide containing cellulosic ethanol because they like the idea of using a product produced using agricultural waste, a sustainable resource. Might I buy some myself? Maybe. Do I think that I would jump at the chance to fill up with fuel containing cellulosic ethanol? Probably, and I’d certainly call my dad on my cell phone to tell him all about it.

Does that mean I think that corn ethanol is bad? Absolutely not. Corn ethanol got us to where we are today. Corn ethanol had a huge positive impact on corn producers and revitalized rural economies. There would be no cellulosic ethanol plants if it were not for corn ethanol producers. It’s not two separate industries, it’s the next phase in the same industry and many of the players produce both types of ethanol.

To me, it’s a little bit like the chicken meat and eggs I can buy in my grocery store, compared to what I can get from Sue Retka Schill, my coworker and fellow writer for Ethanol Producer Magazine. She and her husband raise chickens and other farm animals and sell the eggs and meat.

Do I like cooking and eating farm-fresh eggs in a rainbow of browns and pinks and chickens that are able to run around outside and scratch in the dirt? Yes, I do. Do I believe it’s healthier for my family and that it actually tastes better? Yes, I do. Does that mean I never buy chicken or eggs from my local grocery store, which, by the way, happens to be cheaper and more convenient? No, it doesn’t.

With the way things are today, we can’t feed the world as much chicken and eggs as it wants to eat on the kind of chicken and eggs my coworker and her farmer husband raise and sell. Not unless the eaters decide they want to do what it takes to change the way grocery store eggs and chicken is raised and delivered to their plates. There is a need for and a value in both types.

Just like there is a need for and value in both corn-ethanol and cellulosic ethanol. We can’t fuel all vehicles with only cellulosic ethanol. And there’s not, currently, enough of it for all laundry detergent or other products containing industrial ethanol to be made from ag waste. But if the world decides that it wants cellulosic ethanol enough to stimulate more plants to be built, the industry will respond. The equation isn’t about getting rid of corn-ethanol plants, it’s about adding more cellulosic ethanol facilities so we can produce more ethanol and consume less petroleum-based products. When the politicians of the world get that, we will finally have, in our reach, energy security and the ability to positively impact the environment.