The future of fuel was the topic of an educational session hosted by Syngenta at the recent Commodity Classic in New Orleans. The event brought together leaders representing industry, ethanol producer and agricultural perspectives to discuss opportunities to grow demand for American ethanol in the wake of the EPA’s 2015 ruling on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Growth Energy vice president for development Kelly Manning told attendees that the EPA ruling makes retail partnerships, like the industry’s Prime the Pump fund, more important than ever to grow ethanol demand. “Prime the Pump is helping high-volume, progressive-minded and industry-leading fuel retailers, who will demonstrate the performance, cost savings and profit opportunity of marketing higher ethanol blends such as E15,” said Manning.

In addition to retail partnerships, new technologies are also critical to the future of fuel. Specifically, advances in cellulosic technology are helping to make biofuels more sustainable and produce more ethanol from the same bushel of corn.

Galva, Iowa-based Quad County Corn Processors (QCCP) achieved EPA certification in 2014 to generate D3 Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) for cellulosic ethanol using Cellerate™ process technology. Cellerate is a collaboration between Syngenta and Cellulosic Ethanol Technologies, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of QCCP.

According to Delayne Johnson, chief executive officer at QCCP, the generation of D3 RINs helps fulfill advanced and cellulosic requirements set forth by the RFS. Issuing D3 RINs has also enabled the company to expand sales into racing and advanced biofuels markets. “With Cellerate, the biofuels industry now has the technology available to create 2 billion gallons of additional cellulosic ethanol – all from the same kernel of corn,” Johnson said. “QCCP is proud to be one of the first companies to issue D3 RINs. We look forward to higher D3 RIN requirements as new production comes on.”

Jack Bernens, head of Enogen at Syngenta, noted that the company is helping in both the retail partnership and technology arenas. Last year, Syngenta announced that it will donate approximately $600,000 to the Prime the Pump Fund as part of a commitment initiated in 2013 to contribute $1 to the ethanol industry for every acre planted with Enogen corn enzyme technology.

“Ethanol is helping America reduce its dependence on foreign oil, lowering prices at the pump, improving the environment with lower emissions and growing the economy with jobs that can’t be outsourced,” said Bernens. “Syngenta recognizes the importance of retail partnerships to help grow demand for American ethanol and initiatives to help make cellulosic ethanol a reality. We believe both are key to the long-term success of the ethanol industry.