Minneapolis, Feb 16 – Making E15 (gasoline with 15 percent ethanol) the new regular unleaded fuel in Minnesota would eliminate 358,000 tons of CO2 annually, according to a technical analysis by the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In response to a query by the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association, Dr Steffen Mueller, principal research economist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said a gallon of E15 saves 1.26 g of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per megajoule over regular E10 (gasoline that contains 10 percent ethanol). CO2e includes carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane.

Annual gasoline consumption in Minnesota averages 2.4 billion gallons. Should all 2.4 billion gallons be converted to E15 from E10, CO2e savings in the state would total 358,000 metric tons annually, Mueller said.

Using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, this would amount to eliminating 75,368 passenger vehicles from Minnesota’s roads annually.

“Dr Mueller’s technical analysis is a clear illustration of the benefits E15 has in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Minnesota.

“With the use of E15 approved for all light-duty vehicles model year 2001 and newer (which is over 80 percent of the vehicles on the road), it is clear that the best path towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Minnesota is by making E15 the new regular fuel,” said Tim Rudnicki, executive director at the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

The reduction in CO2e in Minnesota from using E15 is on top of the amount of CO2e already eliminated by using E10. By comparing E15 to gasoline that contains no ethanol, the CO2e savings would total 1.07 million metric tons annually in Minnesota, Mueller said.

This, according to the EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, is the same as removing 225,895 vehicles from Minnesota’s roads annually.

Dr Mueller’s analysis were based on a life cycle basis which includes emissions incurred during the production of ethanol including fuel feedstock origination (corn growing), feedstock conversion at refineries and combustion in a vehicle.

Included in the analysis were land use change (LUC) requirements for feedstock production. In his analysis, he said published studies on LUC emissions have shown a significant reduction in the predicted magnitude of carbon emissions over time and the downward trend is due to:

1) An evolving understanding of the elasticity of land transition and yield-price relationships

2) Better understanding of ethanol co-product substitutions in animal feed markets

3) Better understanding and data availability of global land types

4) Carbon adjustments during land transitions

Dr Mueller’s analysis on E15 was arrived at using Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET (greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in transportation) model which incorporates detailed carbon stock factors for different ecosystems that enable an exhaustive analysis of carbon emissions and sequestration from LUC.

Argonne National Laboratory is managed by the UChicago Argonne LLC for the U.S Department of Energy.

Access to E15 in Minnesota has steadily increased in recent months. Today, there are 18 stations in Minnesota - of which 11 are in the Twin Cities metro area - that offer E15 with several more stations expected to begin offering E15 in the coming months.

For a full list of E15 stations in Minnesota, please visit mnbiofuels.org/map.

For inquiries on Dr Mueller's analysis, please contact us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Minneapolis, May 7 – Minnesota’s ethanol industry accounted for $2.34 billion of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014, according to a new study by ABF Economics.

The study, which examines the ethanol industry’s economic impact in Minnesota in 2014, concludes that the industry generated $7.6 billion in gross sales for Minnesota businesses and supported 18,630 full time jobs in the state last year.

This in turn generated $1.74 billion in household income in Minnesota in 2014 as well as $132 million to state and local government tax rolls.

“This study by ABF Economics clearly shows how significant the ethanol industry is to Minnesota’s economy, especially in rural areas where it supports other industries,” said Tim Rudnicki, executive director of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

The study was prepared by ABF Economics for the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

For the study, ABF Economics estimated the impact of the ethanol industry on Minnesota’s economy by applying expenditures by the relevant supplying industry to the final demand multipliers for value added output, earnings and employment.

“In this study, ABF used the IMPLAN (Impact Analysis for Planning) economic model to construct a model of the Minnesota economy including the sectors that support the ethanol industry, the links between them, and the level of economic activity,” noted John Urbanchuk, managing partner for ABF Economics, in the study.

The IMPLAN model evaluated the gross output, value added (GDP), household earnings and employment generated by the ethanol industry in 2014.

In 2014, the study notes, Minnesota’s 21 ethanol plants spent $2.7 billion to produce 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol, 3.3 million tons of dried distiller’s grains (DDGs) and 184 million pounds of corn oil.

The ethanol industry’s expenditure included corn, industrial chemicals, electricity, natural gas, water, labor and services such as maintenance, insurance and general overheads. Spending for these goods and services represented the purchase of output of other industries that operate in Minnesota, ABF Economics said.

Jobs supported by the ethanol industry in 2014 included employment in ethanol production, agriculture, retail trade, healthcare, natural gas distribution, banking and finance, real estate, accounting, legal services, construction, wholesale trade and transportation.

The study also notes that a recent USDA study concluded that one ton of DDGs is the equivalent of 1.22 tons of feed consisting of corn and soybean meal.

As such, ABF Economics said, the 3.3 million tons of DDGs (a high-protein animal feed) produced by the industry last year was sufficient to meet the annual feed requirements of nearly 2.5 million beef and dairy cattle, or the entire inventory of cattle and calves in Minnesota.

“Thus, given the availability of DDGs from ethanol production, the livestock and poultry industry require less grain corn and soybean meal to feed the same number of animals and produce the same amount of meat and dairy products,” it said.

The full study can be found here.

Minneapolis, July 7 – Phibro Animal Health Corporation’s Ethanol Performance Group has become the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association’s newest vendor member.

The Phibro Ethanol Performance Group was formed in 2007 and its portfolio comprises of antimicrobials, yeast, process cleaning products, corn oil recovery and other products aimed at boosting ethanol plant profits.

“We are pleased to welcome Phibro Ethanol Performance Group to our portfolio of members. Phibro has worked with ethanol plants in Minnesota and other parts of the country and we look forward to working closer with them,” said Tim Rudnicki, executive director of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

Phibro’s products include LACTROL antimicrobial, which provides effective, flexible, safe and cost-effective reduction of bacterial contamination during the alcohol fermentation process.

Phibro has a 4,100 sq ft Ethanol Performance Diagnostic Center in St Paul that performs a wide range of ethanol specific protocols with state of the art equipment that includes 15 bio-reactors.

Testing at the facility is used for diagnostic kits for an ethanol plant’s health, fermentation analysis, chemical analysis and Round Robin benchmarking.

Photo Caption : Phibro's Ethanol Performance Diagnostic Center in St Paul

“The Phibro Ethanol Performance Group staff have engineering and science backgrounds to provide technical assistance. The average tenure of our staff in ethanol and fermentation is over a decade that collaboratively work together as a team to provide unparalleled support,” said Steve Rust, director of industry relations at Phibro Ethanol Performance Group.

Phibro Ethanol Performance Group is a division of Phibro Animal Health Corporation, serving customers worldwide through animal health & nutrition and performance products industries. It has 1,200 employees that manufacture and market over 1,200 specialty products in over 65 countries with a combined annual sales of over $692 million.

Click here to find out more about Phibro Ethanol Performance Group.

Janesville, Sept 30 – Thirty-five high schools students today toured the Guardian Energy ethanol plant to gain a better understanding of renewable fuel production.

The students, from Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Secondary School, toured the various processes of ethanol production at the 120 million gallon-a-year facility in Janesville.

“We were pleased to welcome the students of Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial School. We have been hosting tours at our plant since we began operations in 2009.”

“Science – especially biology and chemistry – plays a very important role in ethanol production and we want to give students a first-hand look at how clean Minnesota-grown renewable energy is produced,” said Tracey Olson, chief operations officer at Guardian Energy.

The students, from grades nine to 12, learned several different components of ethanol production during the tour including incoming grain grading, grain handling, grain storage, liquefaction, fermentation, distillation, distiller grain drying, corn oil separation, product storage and product shipment.

The plant tour was organized by the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association. Guardian Energy is a member of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

“Today’s visit is part of our annual grant program to schools in Minnesota to tour and learn about ethanol production.”

“The ethanol industry plays a vital role in Minnesota’s agriculture industry and through these tours, students are given a chance to see and understand the process of converting a homegrown renewable ingredient into clean energy,” said Tim Rudnicki, executive director of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

Guardian Energy is the largest ethanol plant in Minnesota. Built in 2008, it currently has 47 employees, many of whom are from Janesville and nearby towns.

Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial’s agriculture / science teacher, Mike Thofson, who accompanied his students, said the tour provided his students with a deeper understanding of the skills, knowledge and qualifications needed for employment at an ethanol plant.

“My students need to see first-hand the jobs that are available to them and what the work environment is like,” he said.

Guardian Energy’s Olson said among the skills that are needed at an ethanol plant include good written and verbal communication, mechanical aptitude, grain merchandising, grain grading, accounting, biological processes, chemistry as well as software and hardware technology knowledge.

Tholson, who has been teaching in the Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial district for 18 years, said some of his former students have pursued careers in the ethanol industry. A few of them are currently employed at the POET ethanol plant in Lake Crystal, he added.