It was a year when the number of stations offering E15 hit 250, the highest in the nation. It was also, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the year E15 sales hit 19.05 million gallons, a new all-time high and nearly four times the 5.68 million gallons sold in 2016. 

According to the Commerce Department's report, the E15 volume in December clocked in at 4.6 million gallons, 23 percent higher than the 3.74 million gallons recorded in November.

Moreover, it was the first time monthly E15 sales in Minnesota breached the 4-million-gallon mark. For context, E15 monthly sales had just breached the 3-million-gallon mark in October while the first time sales exceeded 1 million gallons was in March 2017.

The volume in December 2017 was also five times higher than the volume in December 2016 (841,589 gallons).

It was also a record year for other blends of ethanol.

E85 sales hit 14.82 million gallons, the highest on record since 2013 when the Minnesota Department of Commerce first began compiling E85 sales based on data from the Minnesota Department of Revenue. 

The E85 volume in 2017 was 17.8 percent higher than the volume in 2016, which totaled 12.58 million gallons. 

For the month of December, specifically, the E85 volume was 25 percent higher than the volume in December 2016 (1.09 million gallons). 

Meanwhile, E30 sales hit an all time high of 634,864 gallons in 2017, 28 percent higher than the 494,688 gallons recorded in 2016.