According to data from the Minnesota Department of Commerce, E15 sales in the month of May totaled 6.74 million gallons, itself a new monthly record.

The previous monthly record was 6.15 million gallons in March of this year.  

At 29.98 million gallons, the volume sold in the first five months of this year is 57 percent more than the volume sold for the whole of 2017 (19.05 million gallons).

The volume of 6.74 million gallons in May was also over five times the volume recorded in May 2017 (1.2 million gallons). 

The E15 sales reported by the Minnesota Department of Commerce is based on data provided by retailers that offer E15 and there are a significant number of stations that don't send in their numbers.

However, based on the average volume of E15 from stations that do turn in their data, the Department of Commerce estimates that E15 sales in May from all the stations that sell E15 in Minnesota totaled 8.37 millon gallons. 

Besides E15, May was also a good month for other blends of ethanol.

E85 sales totaled 1.15 million gallons, bringing the total sold this year to 5.75 million gallons. Meanwhile, E30 sales hit 61,306 gallons, the highest volume recorded since May 2011.

Picture caption: MN Biofuels and KS95 FM rewarding drivers who switched to E15 at the Winner station in Richfield on May 17.