Retailers in Mexico Oil Country Learn About Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Senior Vice President Ron Lamberty was back in Mexico teaching retailers about ethanol this week, this time in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital and largest city of the southeast Mexico state of Chiapas.

This is the third time Lamberty has traveled to Mexico so far this year to speak at ethanol technical information forums for Mexican petroleum equipment installers and retailers, a joint effort of the U.S. Grains Council and the Mexican Association of Service Station Suppliers (AMPES), to inform Mexican petroleum marketers about opportunities in sourcing, marketing, and retailing ethanol-blended gasoline, as Mexico’s transportation fuel sector evolves.

“Chiapas shares a border with Guatemala to the east, the northwest part of the state touches Mexico’s largest oil fields, and Tuxtla Gutiérrez is only a few hours from PEMEX’s headquarters. For all practical purposes, it’s oil country,” Lamberty said. “It’s also an area of amazing natural beauty, and we’re helping these marketers understand ethanol can help make gasoline cleaner and more friendly to their environment while also making it more affordable.”

Lamberty has presented at 10 events in Mexico since the fall of 2017 to share his experience as an ethanol splash blender and retailer and demonstrate how marketers can make money as distributors of ethanol. Fuel equipment companies in Mexico report increased interest from retailers and prospective wholesale distributors of ethanol since the workshop series began.

ACE, Ethanol

RFA Earns Seventh Straight TRANSCAER® Award

Cindy Zimmerman

For the seventh consecutive year, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has received a TRANSCAER® National Achievement Award for its industry-leading ethanol safety program. RFA hosted numerous ethanol safety training events in 2018, giving more than 1,800 emergency responders the tools and information they need to effectively respond to any incidents involving fuel ethanol.

The TRANSCAER® National Achievement Award is given in recognition of extraordinary achievement by an individual person, company, organization or a team in support of the TRANSCAER® initiative.

In 2018, RFA held 32 ethanol safety seminars in 13 locations, four Train-the-Trainer webinars and an online ethanol safety training initiative, which trained emergency responders on how to properly respond to an ethanol incident. Collectively, these events trained more than 1,800 individuals last year.

So far this year, RFA has held 20 ethanol safety seminars and two Train-the-Trainer events, with more planned throughout the year.

For more information on ethanol safety events, visit EthanolResponse.com or contact Missy Ruff at RFA.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, safety

Ethanol Not to Blame for Higher Gas Prices

Cindy Zimmerman

Gas prices are up, but ethanol is not to blame, according to an analysis by the Renewable Fuels Association.

Gas prices at the pump have been steadily increasing since the end of January, and some have speculated that it is due to ethanol transportation issues following the Midwest floods in March. But RFA found that it is mainly because of a surge in crude oil prices since the start of the year, combined with normal seasonal gasoline pricing, as well as refinery maintenance and unplanned outages.

Ethanol prices are at a steep discount to gasoline prices (and to other sources of octane), and inventories have recently been at record levels. While transportation challenges caused issues with delivery to isolated locations in the immediate aftermath of the floods, production was not significantly affected. In the vast majority of the country, ethanol has been helping to hold down gasoline prices for consumers.
Read the analysis.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

The Improving GHG Benefits of Corn Ethanol

The lead researcher of a USDA study on the improving greenhouse gas benefits of ethanol compared to gasoline has shared more details about the agency’s findings.

Dr. Jan Lewandrowski of USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist said the study grew out of September 2017 report released by the USDA regarding 11 different emissions categories related to corn ethanol production and combustion originally studied by the EPA in 2010. Earlier numbers showed a 21% reduction in emissions relative to gasoline. New numbers from the USDA show a 39 percent improvement over gasoline on average. Other factors can raise that number to anywhere from 42 to 46 percent or more. One area addressed in the study is international land use change.

“As U.S. corn ethanol production increases, we divert more corn to ethanol. It raises pressure on prices and commodity markets, and in some international markets, world farmers respond by bringing new land into production. That’s the logic behind the numbers in the EPA. And that happens a little bit,” said Lewandrowski. “But what we have found is over time, the main reaction of global agriculture was not bringing new land into production, but using existing cropland more intensely – double cropping, triple cropping, bringing fallow and other idle land back into production. And when you use existing land more intensely, your land use change emissions are going to be a lot less than if you’re converting new land like forest or wetlands into agriculture production.”

In addition, the USDA study found that ethanol plants continue to become more efficient. Most have switched from using coal to natural gas as their process fuel. Many are investing in more efficient energy use technologies. Plants are getting more ethanol out of each bushel of corn, and corn yields per acre continue to rise.

Hear more from Dr. Lewandrowski here: Dr. Jan Lewandrowski, USDA (Audio courtesy of Gary Crawford, USDA Radio)

AgWired Energy, Ethanol, USDA

Consumers Surpass 8 Billion Miles on E15

Cindy Zimmerman

Consumers have driven more than 8 billion miles now on E15, also known as Unleaded 88, according to Growth Energy, which credits the milestone to rapid retail adoption and more terminal availability of the fuel across the nation.

“Supply of E15 into the fuel marketplace is a crucial step in further expansion, and our success with Prime the Pump has led to a steep growth in terminals offering E15 across the country,” said Growth Energy Vice President of Market Development Mike O’Brien. “Our work with the nation’s leading independent retailers has put pressure on terminals to follow suit, causing a domino effect in their offering of E15 at their locations across most of the country.”

Consumer demand from retailers like Kwik Trip, RaceTrac, Casey’s, Cumberland Farms, and others has pushed open the doors to a ready supply of E15 at terminals. Working with Prime the Pump, Growth Energy has focused its efforts on establishing partnerships with the largest, independent players in the fuel space, which in turn has spurred a significant increase in E15 availability at terminals across the country – from five in 2017 to more than 100 today.

E15, Ethanol, Growth Energy

Ethanol Report from Washington DC

Cindy Zimmerman

The Environmental Protection Agency continues to be a major source of frustration for the ethanol industry, as the agency gives with one hand and takes away with the other as it keeps granting waivers for refineries from their obligations to blend ethanol while it works toward allowing year round sales of E15.

Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Geoff Cooper has been spending a lot of time in Washington D.C. lately, along with Senior Strategic Advisor Bob Dinneen, as they keep the pressure on EPA to be fair to the ethanol industry as farmers continue to struggle. In this edition of the Ethanol Report podcast, we hear from Cooper and Dinneen who dropped by the American Coalition for Ethanol Fly-in reception to visit with ethanol advocates taking their stories to Capitol Hill.

Ethanol Report from Washington D.C.

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ACE, Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA

Corn Growers Support #ACE19DC

L to R: ACE CEO Brian Jennings; Piyush Srivastav, NAQS; and Mark Palmer, NCGA

Supporters of the ethanol industry gathered in Washington, D.C. for the American Coalition for Ethanol‘s (ACE) Annual Fly-In April 2-3. National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Director of Renewable Fuels Mark Palmer appreciated his first experience at the event.

“This is one of the most important things that our industry does in putting together these Hill visits from different trade associations that are part of ACE, different aspects of the ethanol industry, corn growers and other industry officials from companies,” said Palmer.

He said a number of the NCGA’s state organizations participated, as well, to discuss things like the Renewable Fuels Standard and the RVP [Reid Vapor Pressure] rule EPA is putting forward with policymakers.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Mark here: ACE19DC Interview with Mark Palmer, NCGA Director, Renewable Fuels

2019 American Coalition for Ethanol Fly-In Photo Album

ACE, AgWired Energy, Ethanol, NCGA

Royal DSM and Lallemand Complete License Agreement

Cindy Zimmerman

Royal DSM and Lallemand Inc. have announced a joint agreement allowing Lallemand a non-exclusive, royalty bearing license to DSM’s low-glycerol yeast technology patents.

The license agreement is part of a settlement that was reached following a 2018 US Federal Court jury verdict in Wisconsin and the technology in the agreement is for use in the fermentation of first-generation biofuels.

Royal DSM is a global, science-based company active in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living and was founded in 1902. Lallemand is a privately owned company specializing in the research, development, production, marketing and distribution of yeast, bacteria and other microorganisms for use in the food ingredient, human nutrition, animal nutrition, baking, wine, beer, distilled spirits, biofuels, plant care, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Study Finds Mid-Level Ethanol Blend Benefits for More Cars

Cindy Zimmerman

A new study concludes that mid-level ethanol blends can be used in most cars, not just flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs), and can help cars run more efficiently while reducing greenhouse gas emissions along with other pollutants. The study was conducted by North Carolina State University and commissioned by the Urban Air Initiative.

Researchers tested regular E10 with 10% ethanol to a mid-level blend with 27% ethanol or E27. They found that when splash blending or simply adding ethanol to regular consumer fuel, ethanol lowered particulate matter (PM), CO and CO2. The vehicles were also able to adjust ignition timing and properly control air-to-fuel ratios.

“When operating on the mid-level ethanol blend, the measured vehicles, on average, had lower emission rates of carbon monoxide and particles with little to no changes in other measured emissions. The advantage of this study over others is that these measurements were made in the real-world under actual driving conditions, and thus are based on representative data regarding vehicle activity,” said lead researcher Dr. Chis Frey.

UAI Technical Director Steve Vander Griend says the fact that these vehicles were tested under real world driving conditions instead of in the laboratory further validates the benefits of mid-level ethanol blends.

Read the study.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Flex Fuel Vehicles, Urban Air Initiative

Land Use Change Study Uses Incorrect Data

Cindy Zimmerman

When you do a study that claims biofuels are resulting in increased land use for agricultural production you should be sure the land you are counting is not actually a subdivision.

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) points to a new study published in the academic journal Biomass and Bioenergy that exposes major methodological problems in recent studies paid for by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), and concluded that U.S. biofuels expansion has not caused a detectable increase in the U.S. food prices.

The paper includes a captivating image showing how satellite tools mistakenly characterized large tracts of urban housing in Lemoore, Calif., as “cropland.”

“The real-world data showed no evidence of food price increases or other lands converting to agriculture because of biofuel,” according to the study, which was conducted by scientists at the University of Idaho and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The research was funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and USDA Office of the Chief Economist.

The new analysis found that the type of satellite data relied upon by NWF is error-prone, unreliable, and “misleading.” According to the report, “The automated [satellite] land use classification errors were biased towards classifying ambiguous land as agriculture.”

Specifically, the authors manually inspected actual land uses to see if the satellite imagery used by NWF correctly classified the land use. The researchers found that 10.9% of actual non-agricultural land was misclassified as agricultural land by the satellite data. Further, while automated classification using the satellite data showed an 8.53% increase in agricultural land from 2011-2015, the manual classification indicated no significant land use change at all.

“The use of satellite data is prone to error in classifying certain land uses, such as distinguishing between cropland used to grow hay, and pasture land for grazing…Although an automated satellite image classification provides a convenient way to quantify land use change, the results could be misleading if not carefully verified,” the authors explained.

Read the analysis.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA