A new University of Nebraska study finds that higher ethanol blends increase engine efficiency.
The study, which was funded by the Nebraska Corn Board, found that high ethanol blends provide better energy conversion within an engine than other fuels, meaning less energy to travel further. The report says that e85 improved energy conversion by 13, 9 and 14 percent, respectively when compared to e10, for the light, medium and heavy loaded vehicles tested.
Vehicles went through chassis dynamometer testing as part of the study. The dynamometer simulated different road and vehicle operating conditions, allowing researchers to fully measure a number of important data points to measure the performance of different ethanol blends.
The researchers acknowledged that higher ethanol blends like e85 have a lower energy density, or fewer BTUs per gallon, than e10. That often leads to fewer miles per gallon for higher ethanol blends, but that gets partly offset by ethanol’s improved efficiency.
“While fewer BTUs typically means fewer miles per gallon, energy density is only part of the equation when considering fuel economy,” said Loren Isom, one of the researchers in the study.
“Fuel economy is actually a combination of fuel efficiency and fuel price, and on that point, higher ethanol blends may be the better choice,” said Isom, who is with the University of Nebraska’s Industrial Agricultural Products Center. “It just depends on fuel prices at the time. Specific vehicles may test out differently based on engine design and settings, but increased efficiency from ethanol blends make sense, and for the fuel prices we looked at in the study, e85 was the best choice every time.”
According to the company, the offering is expected to price before 9:30 am EDT on Tuesday, October 6. Lazard Capital Markets LLC is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering.
Richard Jundzil, 
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Chris Standlee, Executive Vice President of Abengoa Bioenergy, was reelected Chairman of the Board for a third term. Chris was first elected chair in October 2007. Joining Standlee in reelection as an officer is long time RFA member and ethanol industry veteran Nate Kimpel. Kimpel, General Manager of New Energy Corporation in South Bend, Indiana, will continue to serve as RFA Treasurer. Bob Dinneen was also reelected as President of the association, a post he has held since 2001.
On the plus side, the GAO report indicated that using indirect land use change to evaluate the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard may be difficult due to uncertainty in how that can accurately be measured. According to the report, “Many researchers told GAO there is general agreement on the approach for measuring the direct effects of biofuels production on lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions but disagreement about how to estimate the indirect effects on global land use change, which EPA is required to assess in determining RFS compliance. In particular, researchers disagree about what nonagricultural lands will be converted to sustain world food production to replace land used to grow biofuels crops.”
According to the Alexandria Times, about thirty gallons of ethanol was spilled on a concrete pade at the Norfolk Southern Corporation’s “transloading” facility this morning and the facility failed to notify the Alexandria Fire Department about the spill. 