ACE CEO Optimistic About E15, SRE Ruling

Cindy Zimmerman

There is a lot of optimism in the ethanol industry right now that 2025 is the year the ethanol industry will finally win the ability to sell 15 percent ethanol blended fuel nationwide all year long.

American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings said at the organization’s annual meeting this week that the odds seem to favor passage of legislation before the end of the year. “The board asked me to give odds for our likelihood of getting the bipartisan National Fuel Retailer and Consumer Choice Act across the finish line this year. And I told them I thought it was better than 50 percent,” said Jennings. “Congressman Dusty Johnson bested me and he said it’s north of 70%. And that’s really encouraging to hear.”

Small refinery exemptions are back in the news this week with the Trump administration expected to possibly make an announcement today on the fate of nearly 200 pending SRE requests. Jennings hopes the roller coaster saga of exemptions over the past two presidential administrations will finally find some middle ground.

“It’s a really challenging job and they’re not going to make everyone happy. And we know that they’re likely to approve some, they’re likely to deny some. The refiners are gonna complain, and we might too,” said Jennings. “The good news is that the second Trump administration is taking the approach we were hoping for all along for the future…For 2026 and 2027 when, and there will be some, when the Trump EPA allows refinery exemptions, the gallons of renewable fuel those small refineries were supposed to blend will be reallocated to other refiners. In other words, the RVOs remain whole. And that’s exactly the way we wanted it done.”

Jennings also talks about 45Z and sustainable aviation fuel, as well as the RFS 20 years later, in this interview from the ACE Annual Conference in Sioux Falls, SD.

2025 ACE conference - Brian Jennings, ACE (16:19)

2025 ACE Conference photo album

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Lamberty Honored for 25 Years with ACE

Cindy Zimmerman

ACE Board President Dave Sovereign presents Ron Lamberty with 25 year award

Ron Lamberty was honored during the American Coalition for Ethanol annual conference this week in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for his 25 years of service with the organization.

Prior to joining ACE, Lamberty had worked in the fuel business for decades, doing every job in the wholesale and retail fuel business – from pumping gas and checking oil, to c-store management jobs, to operating three c-stores of his own. At ACE he works alongside fuel marketers as they add higher ethanol blends, spreading their success stories to other retailers interested in making the switch through ACE’s FlexFuelForward.com website he developed. Lamberty built and operated several ethanol “splash-blending” facilities in the 1980’s, and in the early 1990’s, he opened the nation’s first retail E85 fueling site, right in Sioux Falls.

Lamberty joined ACE as Market Development Director in 2000, was named Senior Vice President in 2011, and transitioned to Chief Marketing Officer in 2021, and he says he has loved every minute of it. “I get to work with the retailers and talk about the real work of selling the fuel…those retailers are the ones who sell our product,” said Lamberty. “Everybody talks about we need to do this for the environment, and do this for rural economies, for this for consumers, and I get to talk to the guys who actually do it and it’s been fun.”

In this interview, Lamberty also discusses the export opportunities for ethanol and being able to bring the fuel to retailers in other countries as well.

Interview with Ron Lamberty, ACE Chief Marketing Officer – 25 years with ACE
2025 ACE conference - Ron Lamberty, ACE (15:05)

2025 ACE Conference photo album

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, autogas, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Rep. Johnson Speaks to ACE Members

Cindy Zimmerman

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) welcomed members of the American Coalition for Ethanol to his home state of South Dakota Thursday as he addressed some of the industry’s current concerns.

The biggest concern right now is the continued struggle to get nationwide E15 approval. “This is one of the more infuriating issues…I don’t understand why we don’t have E15 yet…Why are we still trapped in 2018 in the conversation with E15,” said Johnson. “I think we’re going to get it done this year…Right now I would assess our chances at better than 70 percent.”

The question is how and Johnson says they have several options. “The most likely train will be the year-end spending package,” he said. “Hopefully we can get it done before Christmas.”

Johnson is very optimistic about the potential for ethanol to make the sustainable aviation fuel market take off. “We need biofuels for the next 20 years even more than we needed it the last 20 years,” said Johnson. “We fight and scratch and claw over 16 billion gallons a year in this country, but the sustainable aviation market is 200 billion gallons a year…We just need a lot more investment in biofuels.”

Listen to Johnson’s remarks at the 38th ACE Conference in Sioux Falls.
2025 ACE conference - Rep. Dusty Johnson remarks (23:38)

2025 ACE Conference photo album

ACE, Audio, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News

ACE Kicks Off Conference With Full House

Cindy Zimmerman

The 38th American Coalition for Ethanol annual conference officially kicked off Thursday morning in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with the biggest crowd in a decade, full of enthusiasm for ethanol’s Homefield Advantage.

On Wednesday, the ACE board of directors met to elect and re-elect members during the organization’s annual business meeting. New to the board is Zac Griess, Director of Petroleum with Bosselman Enterprises, who as elected to succeed Randy Gard. Other newly elected members include Chad Miller, CFO of Al-Corn Clean Fuel, LLC, and Seth Harder, General Manager and CEO of Husker AG, LLC.

Board members re-elected to three-year terms include: Absolute Energy – Rick Schwarck; Chief Ethanol Fuels – Wayne Garrett; East River Electric Cooperative – Chris Studer; Golden Grain Energy – Dave Sovereign; KAAPA Ethanol – Scott McPheeters; Redfield Energy – Troy Knecht.

Sovereign remains as president of the board and he is excited about the optimism in the industry right now. “I think we’ve got a great turn out here. I think there’s a lot of enthusiasm,” said Sovereign. “People want to learn more about 45 Z, how these tax credits are going to work, how they’re going to be able to monetize them and also the technology that we can implement into our plants and to bring our CI scores down to maximize those values.”

Sovereign joined ACE CEO Brian Jennings and Chief Marketing Officer Ron Lamberty in the opening panel at the conference to discuss some of the top issues right now, including a record corn crop, potential for nationwide E15, and export opportunities. Listen to that discussion and an interview with Sovereign below.

ACE Leadership Panel: Homefield Advantage – Brian Jennings, Dave Sovereign, Ron Lamberty
2025 ACE conference - opening panel (44:15)

Interview with ACE Board president Dave Sovereign, Golden Grain Energy
2025 ACE conference - Dave Sovereign, Golden Grain Energy (6:31)

2025 ACE Conference photo album

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, Audio, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Industry Supports Brazil Trade Investigation

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol stakeholders support the U.S. Trade Representative taking action against unfair trading practices by Brazil with a Section 301 investigation.

In comments sent Monday to USTR, the Renewable Fuels Association noted Brazil’s punitive ethanol tariff regime and restrictive regulations demonstrate that the country is clearly not committed to fair and reciprocal trade in ethanol.

“Brazil’s tariff rates have no doubt had a demonstrable impact on U.S. ethanol exports,” wrote RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “While Brazil was once the top export market for U.S. ethanol, the imposition of tariffs (without a duty-free quota) in recent years has essentially closed the market. To make matters worse, while U.S. ethanol faces a significant 18 percent import duty, Brazilian ethanol enters the U.S. market with just a 2.5 percent ad valorem duty, granting Brazilian producers preferential access and market competitiveness in America.”

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Kenneth Hartman Jr. said there is clear evidence demonstrating that Brazil’s ethanol tariff and other actions are unreasonable, discriminatory and burden U.S. commerce.

“Brazil is actively looking to unseat the historic and obvious success of the American corn industry by a series of trade actions that directly and indirectly harm U.S. corn growers,” Hartman said.

USTR’s Section 301 investigation will allow the agency to determine if a foreign country has taken unfair trade actions that burden or restrict U.S. commerce. Following the imposition of an 18% tariff on U.S. fuel ethanol, exports to Brazil fell to zero in 2023 and just $43 million in 2024. In 2024, exports to Brazil accounted for just 1.3 percent of total U.S. ethanol exports, after accounting for approximately one-third of total U.S. exports as recently as 2018.

USTR initiated the investigation of Brazil under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 in July, citing its actions in several trade arenas, including ethanol market access.

Meanwhile, Brazil submitted its own comments, rejecting the authority of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) under Section 301 and saying only the World Trade Organization has the authority to handle trade disputes.

In its 90-page rebuttal, Brazil claims it “maintains an open ethanol market and has not imposed discriminatory barriers against U.S. ethanol.”

Historically, Brazil has maintained tariffs on ethanol well below its bound tariff agreed to as part of its membership to the WTO (i.e., 35 percent). This tariff applies equally to all countries, including the United States, and is lower than the tariff the United States currently applies to Brazil’s exports of ethanol (Brazil’s tariff is 18 percent, whereas the United States’ tariff is now 52.5 percent).

Brazil, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, NCGA, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, Trade

NREL Releases 2024 BQ-9000 Biodiesel Assessment

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released the Assessment of BQ-9000 Biodiesel Properties for 2024, the eighth in a series of annual reports documenting the quality of biodiesel from U.S. and Canadian producers participating in the industry’s voluntary BQ-9000® accreditation program.

The report was developed in partnership with Clean Fuels Alliance America and authored by Robert L. McCormick of NREL and analyzes monthly quality data provided by BQ-9000 accredited producers throughout 2024.

The study evaluates critical fuel quality parameters within the ASTM D6751 and Canadian CAN/CGSB-3.524 specifications. These include test methods such as kinematic viscosity, sulfated ash, distillation temperature, carbon residue, cetane number, and levels of key metals including sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

Results from the 2024 assessment reaffirm that biodiesel produced under BQ-9000 accreditation consistently exceeds the performance limits set by ASTM International’s D6751 specification — the industry’s global consensus standard for biodiesel quality.

“ASTM specifications, such as D6751 for biodiesel, are designed to reflect the minimum performance parameters and limits that provide the fuel performance that consumers and fleets have expected and deserve,” said Scott Fenwick, Technical Director for Clean Fuels. “This report demonstrates that the quality of biodiesel supplied by a BQ-9000 accredited producer exceeds the limits of the consensus, global specification from ASTM International.”

This level of quality is now being translated into requests for higher volumes and higher blends by high-demand fleets such as on-road trucking, railroads, marine shipping companies and home heating applications.

Read more from Clean Fuels Alliance America.

Biodiesel, Clean Fuels Alliance, Energy

Ethanol Stocks at Lowest Level This Year

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol stocks hit their lowest level this year during the week ending August 8, according to Energy Information Administration data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association.

Ethanol stocks retreated 4.7% to 22.6 million barrels, the lowest volume since mid-December 2024. Stocks were 3.0% less than the same week last year and 3.3% below the three-year average.

Ethanol production increased by a little over one percent that same week to 1.09 million b/d, equivalent to 45.91 million gallons daily. Output was two percent higher than the same week last year and five percent above the three-year average for the week. The four-week average ethanol production rate is equivalent to an annualized rate of 16.71 billion gallons (bg).

Ethanol exports expanded 6.0% to an estimated 123,000 b/d (5.2 million gallons/day). It has been more than a year since EIA indicated ethanol was imported.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

More Corn Shows Need for Ethanol Expansion

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s August Supply and Demand Estimate calls for sharply higher supplies, greater domestic use and exports, and larger ending stocks, which all highlight the need to remove artificial regulatory barriers that are undercutting demand and constraining market opportunities for both corn and ethanol, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

For 2024/25, larger corn exports are partly offset by reductions in corn used for ethanol and glucose and dextrose. Corn production for 2025/26 is forecast at a record 16.7 billion bushels, up 1.0 billion from last month with a 1.9-million acre increase in harvested area and higher yield. If realized, this total would be 1.4 billion bushels more than the prior record set in 2023/24. The season’s first survey-based corn yield forecast, at a record 188.8 bushels per acre, is 7.8 bushels higher than last month’s projection.

For 2025/26, total U.S. corn use is forecast 545 million bushels higher to 16.0 billion with feed and residual use up 250 million bushels to 6.1 billion based on a larger crop and lower expected prices. Corn used for ethanol for 2025/26 is raised 100 million bushels to 5.6 billion. With supply rising more than use, ending stocks are up 457 million bushels to 2.1 billion and if realized would be the highest in absolute terms since 2018/19. The season-average corn price received by producers is lowered 30 cents $3.90 per bushel.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper says the report is a cause for alarm. “Our nation’s farmers are doing their job—they are sustainably and efficiently producing the largest corn crop in history. But antiquated policies and regulations—like the summertime prohibition on E15, outdated pump labeling obligations, and needless equipment certification requirements—are stifling demand and failing America’s farmers,” Cooper said. “The best way to boost demand for U.S. crops is to truly unleash American ethanol and open the market to higher blends.”

RFA is calling on Congress to pass the Nationwide Fuel Retailer and Consumer Choice Act to allow year-round, nationwide E15; adopt the Ethanol for America Act, which would streamline regulatory requirements related to E15 pump labeling and equipment compatibility; and eliminate the century-old “denaturant” requirements, which “obligate ethanol producers to poison their clean, renewable fuel with dirty, toxic substances.” In addition, the Administration should finalize strong RFS volumes, limit small refinery exemptions, and reallocate any exempted volumes.

“Congress and the Administration can take these simple steps to strengthen America’s agriculture sector and stave off an impending crisis in farm country,” Cooper said. “We urge our nation’s leaders to act quickly to open new market opportunities for America’s farmers by removing barriers to increased ethanol consumption.”

USDA is forecasting that direct government payments to farmers will hit $42.4 billion in 2025, more than quadruple the 2024 level and the second-highest ever (trailing only the $45.6 billion distributed in 2020, when the COVID pandemic cratered global demand for farm products). According to RFA, opening new market opportunities for corn and ethanol—like year-round E15—would restore demand-driven dynamics in the grain market and significantly reduce the need for government assistance.

corn, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, USDA

Iowa Corn 350 Helps Drive Corn Demand

Cindy Zimmerman

Iowa Corn Growers celebrate with Iowa Corn 350 winner William Byron

The Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol NASCAR race was held this month at the Iowa Speedway with over 40,000 fans gathered to see the power and performance of ethanol

“The Iowa Corn 350, Powered by Ethanol NASCAR race is an event like no other,” said Iowa Corn Promotion Board President Ralph Lents. “Over half of Iowa’s corn crop is processed into ethanol, making it our largest market. So, the fact that this race not only demonstrates the power and performance of ethanol but also showcases Iowa Corn farmers sustainable practices growing one of the most versatile crops used for fuel, feed, food and 4,000 everyday products.”

In 2024, ethanol production added $437 million to the value of Iowa’s corn crop, lifting corn prices an average of 18 cents per bushel since 2002. Blending corn-based ethanol into fuel has saved Iowans $11 billion at the pump over the past 15 years and investments in programs, like the Iowa Corn 350, are only working to grow those savings.

The Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol debuted last year, presenting corn growers in the state the opportunity to showcase their product and promote cleaner burning, homegrown Unleaded 88/E15.

corn, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NASCAR

Vietnam Starts E10 Trials

Cindy Zimmerman

Two of Vietnam’s largest fuel distributors and retailers this month launched the country’s first commercial trials of gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol (E10) in three major cities. A total of 42 fuel stations in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong began selling E10 RON95 gasoline as part of the trial that follows the Government’s recent announcement of a nationwide E10 mandate to begin in January.

Vietnam had implemented an E5 mandate in 2018 for its RON92 grade of gasoline, one of two gasoline grades widely used throughout the country. The decision to expand to E10 next year will help amplify the environmental and economic benefits of fuel ethanol use, according to U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council President and CEO Ryan LeGrand. “This month’s rollout of E10 gasoline at retail stations is a massive step toward decarbonizing Vietnam’s transportation sector and a new potential partner for the U.S. ethanol industry and the American farmer,” said LeGrand.

Vietnam’s gasoline consumption surpassed 2.8 billion gallons in 2024, increasing 8.1 percent from 2023 consumption levels. A nationwide E10 mandate will create a total fuel ethanol demand of 280 to 300 million gallons per year, depending on gasoline demand. “We look forward to continuing our partnerships with government and industry stakeholders in support of the upcoming nationwide rollout of E10 gasoline,” LeGrand said.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, International, USGC