I didn’t include water in the above calcs because....
To produce one US gallon of ethanol (C2H5OH) electrochemically from (CO2) with a 93% Faradaic efficiency using boron-doped nanodiamonds, you would need approximately 0.84 gallons of water for the chemical reaction alone. At 2026 wholesale industrial water rates, this water is worth approximately $0.0028 (roughly 1/4 of a penny).
Propane is similar in water use and costs.
I should point out that just in the distillery alone you need 4 gallons of water for mash formation and distillation alone vs 0.84 gal all in for electrochemical ethanol.
This says nothing of growing the corn to take the grain from for that gallon of ethanol.
Oh yeah buddy.
It takes anywhere from 700 to 800 gallons of water to grow the corn required to make a single gallon of ethanol, largely depending on whether the corn is rain-fed or irrigated.
The exact amount of water varies drastically depending on local growing conditions, climate, and farming practices:
National Average (Irrigated Corn): Studies from the USDA and the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) estimate that when corn is irrigated, it requires about 785 gallons of water to produce the crop feedstock for one gallon of ethanol.
Rain-Fed Corn (Lower Water Footprint): Over 70-90% of the field corn used for ethanol isn’t artificially irrigated at all and relies entirely on natural rainfall. In these regions, the crop’s “blue water” irrigation footprint is practically zero.
Dry Climates (Higher Water Footprint): In more arid farming regions (such as the Northern Plains), relying heavily on irrigation can require upwards of 300 to 2,600 gallons of water just to grow the corn needed for a single gallon of ethanol.
All of this ^^
Or 0.84 gallons of H20 and 5.6kg of CO2 from coal stacks and 25 ish kWh from a wind turbine or solar panel.
Yeah let’s do the electrochemical way and stop the farm welfare program that is draining aquifers and sending topsoil down the Mississippi River into the Gulf and making a giant deadzone.