At the request of the National Transportation Safety Board, the Renewable Fuels Association has published an update to its Best Practices for Rail Transport of Ethanol manual which helps promote regulatory compliance for the safe transport of ethanol via rail. “More than two-thirds of ethanol travels to the marketplace by rail, and rail transport plays a significant role in the …
E15 Soon to be Welcome in Nevada
Nevada drivers will soon be able to fill up with 15 percent ethanol-blended fuel. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has signed legislation to allow sales of E15, which passed the Nevada legislature in May with overwhelming support in both the Assembly and Senate. The bill requires the State Board of Agriculture to adopt rules governing sales of E15 by July 2022. …
Golden Grain Energy Holds Big Bin Bash
Golden Grain Energy (GGE) in Mason City, Iowa is now home to the world’s largest grain bin, built by Sukup Manufacturing Co. The bin measures 165 feet in diameter with a peak height of 155 feet, 7 inches and boasts a capacity of 2.2 million bushels. GGE held a Big Bin Bash this week to celebrate completion of the bin …
Flawed Land Use Change Study Results Corrected
A review by researchers at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) have found that two recent studies examining purported cropland expansion in the Midwest are based on a flawed methodology that “suffers from accuracy and certainty issues.” The SIUE authors found that the inherent defects in the methodology of studies by Zhang et al. and Lark et al., “severely hinder its …
POET Acquires Flint Hills Resources’ Biofuel Business
POET has acquired the bioethanol assets of Flint Hills Resources’, expanding the company’s production capacity by 40 percent. The acquisition includes six bioprocessing facilities located in Iowa and Nebraska and two terminals in Texas and Georgia. POET will now operate 33 bioprocessing facilities across eight states with a combined annual capacity of 3 billion gallons. “This acquisition will increase POET’s …
RFA Ethanol Days of Summer Contest is Back
It’s time for the Renewable Fuels Association to roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy Ethanol Days of Summer contest again. The contest, which begins Memorial Day, encourages consumers to submit pump prices for flex fuels like E85 and ethanol blends like E15 to the popular E85prices.com website or through its mobile app. Simply submitting your fuel prices this summer enters …
RFS Integrity Act Introduced in Senate
U.S. Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) this week introduced the bipartisan RFS Integrity Act of 2021 to “provide more certainty for rural America by bringing transparency and predictability to EPA’s small refinery exemption process.” The bill would require small refineries to petition for Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) hardship exemptions by June 1st of each year. This change …
Report Shows How U.S. Farmers Can Fight Climate Change
A new report commissioned by Farm Journal Foundation finds U.S. farmers have the potential to significantly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and become part of the global solution to climate change. U.S. agriculture contributes about 10% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the entire national economy, but farmers could greatly reduce those emissions if they were provided with the …
Ethanol Report – RFA 40th Anniversary Feature on Ron Miller
The Renewable Fuels Association was born in 1981 and RFA is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year by spotlighting some of the pioneers in the ethanol industry. In 1981, Ron Miller was head of marketing for the new Pekin Energy plant, which is now one of the oldest in the ethanol industry and goes by the name of Alto Ingredients. …
USDA Report Notes Role of Biofuels in Carbon Reduction
USDA’s 90-Day Progress Report on Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry which includes stakeholder input on how to best use programs, funding and financing capacities to encourage the voluntary adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. The report also supports the role of agriculture in de-carbonizing the transportation sector. The growth of the U.S. biofuels sector, driven in part by the Renewable Fuels Standard, …