Pearson Fuels Opens 300th E85 Retail Site

Cindy Zimmerman

California-based Pearson Fuels, the country’s largest E85 distributor, has opened its 300th retail E85 site.

The use of E85 has dramatically increased across California recently and Pearson Fuels expects the state will set its 16th record in 17 years when the official 2022 volume data is released by the California Air Resources Board. E85 in California is typically priced at least 70% of the price of regular unleaded gasoline.

“In the current state of the economy, E85 is a no-brainer,” said Pearson Fuels Managing Partner Doug Vind. “Part of our 2022 growth came from last year’s severe gasoline price spikes which saw E85 priced nearly $3 per gallon cheaper than regular unleaded gasoline. In 2022 alone, we estimate FFV owners using E85 saved upwards of $200 million at the pump. E85 is both a buffer and a bridge to California’s aggressive clean fuel policies. Electrification of California’s vehicle fleet will take many years to successfully implement. In the meantime, there are over a million FFVs on California roads capable of using E85 today.”

More than 200 additional E85 sites are contracted to open over the next few years with Pearson Fuels. The Nebraska Corn Board, Missouri Corn and the Kansas Corn Commission have contributed grant funding, which allows the company to accelerate the growth of E85 across California.

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News

RFA Testifies at Low Carbon, Clean Fuels Hearing

Cindy Zimmerman

The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee held a hearing Wednesday on “The Future of Low Carbon Transportation Fuels and Considerations for a National Clean Fuels Program.”

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper testified at the hearing, stressing that implementing a national clean fuel program that incorporates a market-based, technology-neutral approach will be critical to decarbonizing the U.S. transportation sector.

“While policies such as the Renewable Fuel Standard, the Inflation Reduction Act, and light-duty vehicle fuel economy and tailpipe standards will play a vital role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, other complementary solutions will also be required to truly decarbonize the sector by mid-century,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “If properly structured, a national Clean Fuel Program (sometimes called a Low Carbon Fuel Standard or Clean Fuel Standard) offers the best potential to rapidly accelerate the decarbonization of the transportation sector, while simultaneously enhancing energy security, creating jobs, and reducing tailpipe emissions of pollutants linked to poor air quality and human health challenges.”

Cooper noted that RFA member companies have committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner and a workable pathway has been developed toward that goal. However, he says such a goal requires policies that align with it, including:

-fairness and consistency in how the carbon footprint of different fuels and vehicles is measured;
-removal of unnecessary regulatory barriers that are blocking the use of fuel blends that contain higher levels of ethanol, such as 15 percent ethanol blends (E15);
-continued investment in storage and distribution infrastructure for higher ethanol blends like E15 and flex fuels like E85;
-implementation of strong Renewable Fuel Standard volume requirements in 2023 and beyond;
-equitable incentives for the production of flex-fuel vehicles that can operate on fuels containing up to 85 percent ethanol; and
-a well-structured nationwide clean fuels policy.

Read Cooper’s written testimony and listen to his remarks below.
RFA CEO Geoff Cooper, Senate EPW hearing (4:28)

Audio, biofuels, Carbon, carbon capture, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Report Shows Carbon Sequestration Vital to Iowa Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) released a new study this week that found without viable access to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), Iowa could see 75 percent of its ethanol production migrate to states that facilitate sequestration.

The study, conducted by Decision Innovation Solutions (DIS), determined that current market and policy dynamics would results in Iowa ethanol production becoming noncompetitive with catastrophic results for Iowa ethanol producers, Iowa farmers and the Iowa economy.

The study found that without carbon sequestration, ethanol production will move out of state and by the end of the decade Iowa ethanol production could drop as much as 3.5 billion gallons per year, which would lead many plants to shut down. That would cause Iowa farmers to lose local markets for over 1 billion bushels of corn annually, depressing local corn prices and Iowa would realize an eventual decline in revenues from ethanol plants of more than $10 billion per year.

Read the study

Listen to a press conference with IRFA president Al Giese, Quad County Corn Processors; IRFA Executive Director Monte Shaw, and study author David Miller, Consulting Chief Economist, Decision Innovation Solutions (DIS).
Iowa RFA Study release (23:48)

Audio, Carbon, carbon capture, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Iowa RFA

Yield10 Bioscience Offers 2023 Camelina Production Contracts

Cindy Zimmerman

a href=”http://agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/y-10.png”>Yield10 Bioscience has announced its 2023 enrollment program for contract production of Camelina in targeted areas of the United States and Canada. Contracts are being offered for both spring and winter varieties of Camelina to farmers in Western Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba), and Northern U.S. states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho and Minnesota.

In 2023, Yield10 plans to contract with growers for planting high-performing, spring and winter Camelina varieties as part of an initiative to establish pre-commercial production and offtake relationships in the biofuels market. These grower contracts currently do not require up-front costs for seed and provide a guaranteed minimum revenue per acre. Among the benefits of the program is that it allows for the product to be moved off the farm quickly following harvest. Yield10 plans to expand the planting acreage going forward by providing growers improved varieties, including introducing herbicide tolerant Camelina to enable better weed control and higher yields over time. Yield10 is currently field-testing herbicide tolerant Camelina varieties for seed scale up, regulatory approval, and commercial development for the biofuel market.

More information is available on Yield10’s Camelina Opportunities for Growers, please contact Darren Greenfield or Davis McCarthy at growers@yield10bio.com.

biofuels, Farming, feedstocks

NCGA Analyses Ethanol Demand and Corn Stocks

Cindy Zimmerman

National Corn Growers Association economist Krista Swanson analyzed the most recent data from USDA and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) regarding ethanol demand and corn supplies.

Swanson notes that projected corn ethanol use for the 2022/23 marketing year declined by 25 million bushels from last month, according to the February UDSA World Agriculture Supply & Demand Estimates report. “As the only change on the supply or demand side of the corn balance sheet, it resulted in a corresponding increase of 25 million bushels in projected corn ending stocks for the current marketing year.”

Despite a return to the post-COVID normal in 2022, fuel ethanol produced using corn trailed the years leading up to the 2020 COVID disruptions. “After dropping to 13.9 billion gallons in 2020 and recovering to 15.0 billion gallons in 2021, production in 2022 was 15.4 billion gallons. This is 88% of the 17.4 billion gallon per year total of U.S. ethanol production capacity.”

The February EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook projects a 2023 fuel ethanol production of 15.2 billion gallons, a 1% decline from 2022. Though not a significant reduction from 2022, the sector is falling about 5% short of the pre-COVID production levels.

Among the factors that impact ethanol production are motor gas consumption and ethanol blend rate. Motor gas consumption fell to 123.4 billion gallons in 2020, a 13.7% decline from the 2017 to 2019 annual average of 142.9 billion gallons. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation show that vehicle traffic volume for 2022 was back to pre-COVID levels, indicating that miles driven is not a factor in lower ethanol use.

The ethanol blend rate, the amount of ethanol blended relative to the amount of motor gasoline consumed, has moved incrementally higher annually but still would round to 10% for the past decade. This is not surprising given nearly all gas sold in the U.S. contains 10% ethanol. Higher blends such as E15, marketed as UNL88 and E85, are available in various markets across the U.S. Expansion of and availability of higher ethanol blends is needed to break through this 10% blend wall.

Swanson concludes that the “capacity for greater corn ethanol production is already available, and the U.S. could be using more of it.”

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA

Biofuels Groups Submit Final RFS Proposal Comments

Cindy Zimmerman

Biofuels stakeholder organizations have submitted final comments on the proposed Renewable Fuel Standards for 2023, 2024, and 2025 to the Environmental Protection Agency prior to the deadline on February 10.

The Renewable Fuels Association said the proposed renewable volume obligations for 2023-2025 will bolster the Renewable Fuel Standard and provide for sustainable growth in low-carbon renewable liquid fuels. “Moving forward, expanding the use of low-carbon renewable fuels like ethanol is the most immediate and effective strategy for meeting the Administration’s carbon reduction goals,” wrote RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper, who noted that under the RFS, renewable fuels like ethanol have already resulted in the avoidance of more than 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. “Once finalized, the 2023-2025 RVOs will further enhance the energy security, carbon reduction, and economic benefits that have already been realized under the RFS program.”

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings highlighted areas of support in the proposal, while detailing how to adjust the rule to maximize this significant new phase of the RFS to ensure the overall goal of the program is left intact — to increase the percentage of renewable fuels consumed in the U.S. Among ACE’s objections to the proposal are concerns it may retroactively waive blending levels established by this rulemaking and breaking precedent by giving Tesla and other vehicle manufacturers the ability to generate eRINs when all other RINs are generated by the producer of the renewable fuel.

In its formal comments, Clean Fuels Alliance America urged EPA to either raise RFS multiyear volumes or only finalize 2023 volumes. The group – which represents biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel – wants EPA to significantly increase the volumes for biomass-based diesel and other advanced biofuels over the next three years, based on the factors that EPA is required to consider, such as the commercial development of these fuels, the positive impact on the economy, the benefits for consumers, and the significant environmental benefits.

Comments from the Advanced Biofuels Association also urge the agency to increase the Renewable Fuels Standard Program’s proposed Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for 2023 – 2025 to accurately reflect the volumes of advanced, biomass-based diesel, and cellulosic pools available in the market.

“The EPA’s multiyear RFS proposal ignores the proven production capacity of advanced low-carbon liquid transportation fuels, essentially undermining Congress’ intent for the program by flatlining renewable fuel obligations and stretching the law to categorize electricity as a ‘fuel’,” said Michael McAdams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Association.

ACE, advanced biofuels, aviation biofuels, Biodiesel, biofuels, Carbon, Clean Fuels Alliance, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, RFS

Lawmakers Seek Immediate Action on Year-Round E15

Cindy Zimmerman

With the 2023 summer driving season quickly approaching, a bipartisan, bicameral groups of lawmakers sent a letter this week to the Biden administration demanding immediate action to approve a petition from Midwest governors to allow the year-round sale of E15 in their states.

The group of 31 U.S. Senators and Representatives, led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wrote, “Relying on an annual emergency waiver is not a permanent solution for fuel retailers, consumers, or the environment…By working swiftly to finalize the Governors’ requests, you will bring much needed certainty to our corn growers, fuel retailers, and consumers to enjoy the clean-burning, lower cost benefits of year-round E15 through the 2023 summer driving season.”

Ethanol groups applauded the action. “We thank this group of proactive biofuel supporters for seeking swift action on a petition that has been delayed for far too long,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “With the summer driving season rapidly approaching, the unnecessary and illegal delay of the Governors’ petition threatens the availability of lower-cost, lower-carbon E15.”

“This letter is the most recent example of the strong bipartisan support ethanol has in Congress,” said American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings. “In addition to supporting the governors’ plan for E15 in their states, we echo the Members of Congress in calling for a nationwide and permanent solution for fuel retailers, consumers and the environment, and this will be a top priority at our fly-in in DC next month.”

Joining Ernst and Duckworth on the letter are Senators Baldwin (D-Wis.), Brown (D-Ohio), Fischer (R-Neb.), Grassley (R-Iowa), Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Marshall (R-Kans.), Ricketts (R-Neb.), and Smith (D-Minn.), and Representatives Alford (R-Mo.), Bost (R-Ill.), Budzinski (D-Ill.), Craig (D-Minn.), Davids (D-Kans.), Emmer (R-Minn.), Feenstra (R-Iowa), Finstad (R-Minn.), Fischbach (R-Minn.), Flood (R-Neb.), Hinson (R-Iowa), Johnson (R-S.D.), Kaptur (D-Ohio), LaHood (R-Ill.), Mann (R-Kans.), Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Nunn (R-Iowa), Pocan (D-Wis.), Smith (R-Neb.), Sorensen (D-Ill.), and Stauber (R-Minn.).

ACE, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Illinois Passes Sustainable Aviation Fuel Tax Credit

Cindy Zimmerman

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed a package of tax and revenue changes for the state which includes the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) purchasers credit. The bill creates a $1.50 per U.S. gallon SAF tax credit airlines can use to satisfy all or part of their state use tax liabilities.

Illinois Soybean Growers (ISG) Vice Chairman Ron Kindred says the credit supports soybean and corn farmers by promoting the domestic production of renewable fuels. “This bill represents acknowledgment of the need for Illinois-made renewable fuels that are good for the environment, economy and energy security. It also shows support for the hard work of the 43,000 Illinois soybean farmers and creates incentive to grow even more bushels of soybeans than the record-breaking 677.25 million bushels grown in Illinois in 2022.”

The legislation creates a tax credit for every gallon of SAF sold to or used by an air carrier in Illinois from June 1, 2023, to June 1, 2033. This tax credit effectively lowers the price airlines pay for SAF pumped into aircraft at airports in Illinois.

Beginning in June 2028, the state tax credit will only apply to SAF derived from domestic feedstocks, creating a new demand for Illinois soybeans and other environmentally-friendly agricultural feedstocks.

aviation biofuels, biofuels, SAF, Soybeans

Global Demand for Fuel Ethanol Through 2030

Cindy Zimmerman

A new report from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows consumption of ethanol as a transportation fuel has seen significant growth in the last couple of decades in the United States, and growth is expected to continue through 2030.

Global Demand for Fuel Ethanol Through 2030 summarizes the current U.S. and international fuel ethanol markets and provides projections of future fuel ethanol demand in these markets.

Here are a few of the report findings:

For 2021 to 2030, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates and projections indicate U.S. consumption of ethanol in motor gasoline and E85 is expected to increase between 196 million gallons (1.4 percent) and 1.4 billion gallons (10.4 percent), depending on U.S. economic growth over the decade.

Though U.S. ethanol consumption has largely recovered from COVID-19 impacts, increased adoption of hybrid or electric vehicles and continued fuel efficiency gains in gasoline vehicles may decrease domestic gasoline consumption, which in turn could decrease fuel ethanol demand.

Total global demand for gasoline is expected to stagnate over the next decade, leaving changes in blend rates—domestically or abroad—as the main determinant for future changes in fuel ethanol demand.

Read the report.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, USDA

Value of Ethanol and DDGS Exports Hit Record Highs

Cindy Zimmerman

New statistical reports just released by the Renewable Fuels Association show the value of the U.S. ethanol industry’s exports soared to a record level of $7.2 billion in 2022.

Ethanol export volumes strengthened to 1.35 billion gallons in 2022, an increase of 9 percent over 2021 and the fourth-highest level on record, amid tight global fuel supplies. The value of U.S. ethanol exports surged to $3.77 billion, a record high and an increase of $1 billion over 2021. Shipments to Canada set an annual record for a single destination, tallying more than 500 million gallons. South Korea, the European Union, India, Mexico, and the United Kingdom also were sizable markets.

Meanwhile, the 2022 distillers grains trade report registers shipments at 11.0 million metric tons, five percent lower in volume than 2021 but the value of those exports surged to a record $3.4 billion. The U.S. supplied distillers grains to more than 50 countries. Mexico remained the top export market with a 20 percent share, followed by Vietnam and South Korea.

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