Ethanol was first prepared synthetically in 1826 through the independent efforts of Henry Hennel in Great Britain and S.G. Se'rullas in France. In 1828, Michael Faraday prepared ethanol by acid-catalyzed hydration of ethylene, a process similar to that which is used today for industrial ethanol synthesis.[6]

Ethanol was used as lamp fuel in the United States as early as 1840, but a tax levied on industrial alcohol during the Civil War made this use uneconomical. This tax was repealed in 1906,[7] and from 1908 onward Ford Model T automobiles could be adapted to run on ethanol.[8] With the advent of Prohibition in 1920 though, sellers of ethanol fuel were accused of being allied with moonshiners,[7] and ethanol fuel again fell into disuse until late in the 20th century.