In the News
Jan 20, 2022
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack discussed the important role biofuels and biobased manufacturing play in the rural economy and highlighted the agency’s efforts to support those industries during a Jan. 20 hearing held by the House Agriculture Committee.
In his opening statement, Vilsack focused on the phrase “an extraction economy" and the need to create a circular economy where wealth is created and stays in rural areas. He explained that many of the raw resources produced by the ag economy are currently transported long distances, and value-added at some other location. As a result, opportunities and jobs are created in areas other than rural America. “I think it’s going to be important to us as we look forward to try to develop what is called a circular economy, in which the wealth is created and stays in rural areas," he said.
Vilsack offered several examples of a circular economy, including biobased manufacturing. “Biofuels is one example, but there are a multitude of ways in which we can convert agricultural waste products into a wide variety of things beyond renewable energy and fuel, to include chemicals, materials, fabrics, fibers—again creating opportunities for farmers and additional income sources as well as rural jobs.”
He also stressed that climate change creates an opportunity for the ag sector. “As we look at ways in which rural lands can be used to sequester carbon—as we embrace climate smart agricultural practices—it opens up a whole new vista of opportunity for farmers to essentially be paid for the carbon sequestration that they are currently doing and will do in the future,” Vilsack said.
Vilsack also field several questions related to biofuels, the Renewable Fuel Standard, E15 and electric vehicles during the hearing.
Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., referenced recent media reports that the Biden administration is considering lowering its proposed 2022 renewable volume obligation (RVO) and asked Vilsack to comment on those rumors.
In response, Vilsack stressed that the proposed RVO for 2022 is the highest in the history of the RFS program. He also discussed the $700 million in COVID-19 relief for biofuels and the $100 million in biofuel infrastructure funds that the USDA has announced it will distribute this year and highlighted the importance of the U.S. EPA’s proposal to deny more than 65 small refinery exemption (SRE) petitions.
Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., also questioned Vilsack on the importance of biofuels and the Biden administration’s support for the industry.
Vilsack outlined four primary benefits of the biofuels industry. He said the industry supports stability in farm income, increases jobs in rural areas, provides consumers with choice at the pump, and benefits the environment. “That’s why it’s important for the industry to have stability,” he said. “And, stability comes not just from setting a [strong RVO], but from making sure that number is real.” He discussed the Trump administration’s overuse of SRE waivers, noting that RVOs finalized by Trump’s EPA were not real, rather they were greatly dissipated by the granting of SREs. The current administration plans to deny more than 65 pending SRE petitions, which will result in a “real” RVO. “I think the stability is going to be very helpful to this industry,” he said.
Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., said her constituents are concerned about the Biden administration’s focus on electric vehicles and questioned if the administration has shown sufficient support for biofuels.
In response, Vilsack reiterated the importance of the $700 million in pandemic relief and $100 million in infrastructure support that the USDA is offering to the biofuels industry, along with the impact of the EPA’s decision to reign in the SRE program. He also stressed that the Biden administration has also set an ambitious goal for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). “I think it’s very unfair to suggest that this administration has not been supportive of the biofuel industry,” he said.
Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., also questioned Vilsack regarding the focus on electric vehicles. “There is a lot of conversation about electric cars,” Vilsack said, but stressed that cars with internal combustion engines will continue to remain on the road for the foreseeable future and will require the use of biofuels. Liquid biofuels will also continue to be necessary for aviation and marine transport. “We won’t see the elimination of [the biofuels industry]—we’ll see an expansion of it,” Vilsack said. “I’m excited about this industry and think the future is bright.”
Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., expressed concern that the fact that biofuels reduce emissions is getting lost in the conversion on climate change, and asked about the agency’s support for biofuels. “I am confidence that I am one of the most ardent proponents of biofuels anywhere in this country and have been for years—decades,” Vilsack said in response, assuring the committee that biobased fuels remain a priority for the current administration.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said Vilsack has long championed efforts to expand biomanufacturing and asked about the impact recently allocated funding will have that sector.
Vilsack explained that a Congress allocated a relatively small amount of funds the agency in a recent infrastructure bill to look at the issue of biobased manufacturing. That funding, he said, could have a profound impact on rural America. Biobased manufacturing provides a market for a variety of agricultural waste products, Vilsack said. Those materials can be used to produce not only fuels, but also chemicals, materials, fabrics, fibers and renewable energy—all of which creates a circular economy, creates new income sources for farmers, and helps avoid some of the environmental challenges associated with some ag industries. He potential, he said, is unlimited and “rural America is ripe for this opportunity.”
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Jan 19, 2022
A press conference in the run-up to the 19th International Conference on Renewable Mobility Fuels of the Future 2022 addressed the contribution that sustainable renewable fuels has already made to mitigating climate change.
That means an additional saving of almost 4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions were achieved that year, compared with the previous 12 months.
“This success is due to raising the greenhouse gas reduction quota (GHG quota) to 6% for 2020 (4% in 2019) and shows that the GHG quota and the ensuing competition for greenhouse gas efficiency are having an impact,” said Artur Auernhammer, chairman of the board, German Bioenergy Association (BBE). Sustainable biofuels played an indispensable part in effective climate protection in the transport sector and will continue to do so in future, he added.
“Biofuels outperform the minimum requirements on climate protection stipulated in the current EU Directive, notching up average greenhouse gas savings of 81% for biodiesel, 90.5% for biomethane and 92% for bioethanol compared to fossil fuels. The GHG quota rewards use of biofuels that ensure the highest possible greenhouse gas savings."
The German Bundestag’s decision to continue raising the GHG quotas means greater climate protection in the transport sector, while at the same time offering planning security for manufacturers of renewable fuels and feedstock producers.
Specifically, the GHG quota will increase from 6% in 2021 to 7% in 2022, subsequently rising step-by-step to 25% in 2030. “We assume that the increased GHG reduction quota will save a total of around 175 million t CO2 in the transport industry by 2030.
He explained: “Sustainable biofuels will contribute 110 million t CO2 of these overall savings. That makes clear that there is no alternative to commercially available biofuels if climate protection targets are to be achieved, despite the potential of electromobility and fuel cells.”
It is already apparent that the vast bulk of the vehicle fleet will still be powered by internal combustion engines in 2030, even if the ambitious electromobility targets are met by that deadline. Those vehicles will also need to make a growing contribution to climate protection. As a minimum, it will be appropriate to safeguard the contribution that commercially available biofuels make to climate protection of biofuels, while supplementing this by continuing to develop advanced biofuels and ultimately also synthetic fuels.”
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Jan 17, 2021
The ethanol industry entered 2022 with considerable momentum after profit margins rose to all-time records during the fourth quarter, according to CoBank’s latest Quarterly Research Report, released in January. Several risks, however, are expected to emerge during the first half of 2022.
The report shows that ethanol production surged above pre-COVID levels during the fourth quarter of 2021, delivering a massive profit margin surge. CoBank said strong consumer demand, higher ethanol prices, and sharply falling natural gas prices offset a modest rise in corn prices during the quarter, noting that fourth quarter profit margins rose to all-time records, currently averaging $1.34 per gallon. Daily operating margins peaked at $1.55 per gallon in late November, according to CoBank.
Despite the momentum with which the ethanol industry has entered 2022, CoBank said it sees several risks emerging over the next six months, including overproduction prompted by current extreme profitability, higher financing costs as the Federal Reserve raises benchmark interest rate targets, and possible economic shocks and/or demand volatility from the omicron variant. In addition, the global transition toward electric vehicles, urbanization, ride-sharing and remote work were identified as long-term challenges that collectively decrease fuel vehicle miles driven.
A full copy of the report is available on the CoBank website.
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Jan 13, 2022
U.S. ethanol exports for the first quarter of the 2021/2022 marketing year (MY) landed five percent higher than the previous year, totaling 330 million gallons. Increased mobility and reduced COVID-19 restrictions have spurred a near global recovery in ethanol trade. Gains were seen in Brazil, and policy developments signal long term increased demand in Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), the European Union (EU), Colombia and India.
In Brazil, U.S. fuel ethanol exports saw a boost in the first quarter of this marketing year, totaling 32 million gallons, over six times more than the first period of the previous year. Following the implementation of a 20 percent tariff in December 2020, U.S. ethanol exports to Brazil remained near-zero for the remainder of the marketing year, ending MY 2020/2021 with a 200-million-gallon shortfall compared to the previous year. After a challenging crop year, Brazil is beginning to re-enter the market for U.S. ethanol to meet its blending mandates.
“Trade is the mechanism for countries to meet their policies, so this uptick is encouraging in this first quarter,” said Isabelle Ausdal, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) manager of ethanol trade policy and economics. “The removal of this and all tariffs remains a priority globally.”
In Canada, fuel ethanol was slightly higher than last year, as drivers continued to return to the road. Policies such as the national Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) and provincial policies including Quebec’s low carbon fuel standard and E15 in Ontario are expected to drive further demand for ethanol in that market. Final CFS legislation is expected to be published in Spring 2022. Quebec’s new standard will require 10 percent renewable content in gasoline by 2023 and 15 percent by 2030 in alignment with Quebec’s 2030 Plan for a Green Economy. Ontario will require 15 percent ethanol blending in gasoline by 2030 and will directly increase blending in Canada’s most populous province. The two provinces account for roughly 55 percent of fuel demand in Canada.
“According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. ethanol on average decreases greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by over 50 percent compared to traditional gasoline and provides countries with tangible progress toward their GHG reduction goals,” Ausdal said.
Exports to the EU and UK totaled 58 million gallons for the first quarter of the 2021/2022 marketing year as drivers also returned to the road in those markets. In the UK, the Renewable Fuel Transport Obligation (RTFO) officially came into force on Jan. 1, 2022, boosting the national blend mandate implemented in September 2021 and providing additional GHG reductions. Implementation of the RTFO may increase the national blending average to eight percent. In the EU, member states are beginning to incorporate the requirements of the RED II Directive into their national legislation, requiring at least 14 percent renewable energy in the transport sector by 2030. This includes increased blending of biofuels such as ethanol. The launch of E10 in Sweden and higher blending rates in France and Germany are also expected to increase EU demand in 2022.
In Colombia, the reinstatement of Colombia’s E10 mandate was postponed for a second time and is now expected to occur in August 2022. As a result, demand was down more than 50 percent in the first quarter of this marketing year compared to the last year.
Industrial ethanol exports to South Korea in the first three months of this marketing year experienced a notable boost, totaling 35 million gallons, two times higher than last year. Exports to India remained nearly equal, with the bulk of exports occurring in the last two months.
“The Council is encouraged by this uptick in global ethanol trade,” said Brian Healy, USGC director of global ethanol market development. “Our offices are hard at work with local partners in demonstrating the ongoing value of using globally available, low carbon ethanol to meet their policy goals.”
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Jan 12, 2022
Both electric vehicles and the increased production and use of renewable fuels like ethanol will be necessary to achieve a national goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper told the House Agriculture Committee today.
“While increased deployment of electric vehicles will indeed play a vital role in reducing GHG emissions from transportation, other complementary solutions will also be required to truly decarbonize the sector by mid-century,” Cooper said in his submitted testimony. “That’s where agriculture comes in. Through the increased production and use of low-carbon renewable fuels like ethanol, the U.S. agriculture sector offers an effective and immediate solution for further reducing carbon emissions from liquid fuels across all segments of the transportation sector.”
An increased role for low-carbon biofuels is especially important in the near term, given the relatively small number of electric vehicles and barriers to EV adoption, Cooper said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts that roughly 80 percent of new light-duty vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2050 will be powered by an internal combustion engine. “Even with increased electric vehicle sales expected in the years ahead, it would take decades to entirely turn over the fleet. As such, hundreds of billions of gallons of liquid fuel will continue to be used in ICE vehicles for many years to come. To achieve true carbon neutrality in the U.S. transportation system by mid-century, strategies focused on decarbonizing those liquid fuels will need to be undertaken.”
Today’s corn ethanol already reduces greenhouse gas emissions by roughly half, on average, compared to gasoline, Cooper told the lawmakers. According to the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, typical corn ethanol provides a 44-52 percent GHG savings compared to gasoline. “With the rapid emergence of new technologies and more efficient practices, even greater GHG reductions are coming to the corn ethanol sector,” Cooper said, noting that RFA’s board of directors last summer adopted a commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions, on average, by 2050 or sooner. Cooper said this requires, in addition to a level playing for lifecycle GHG analysis, “certain policy and regulatory actions … to fully leverage the potential of agriculture and biofuels to decarbonize transportation.” These include:
- The removal of EPA’s arcane fuel volatility barrier, which would facilitate the rapid expansion of E15 in the marketplace.
- Implementation of strong Renewable Fuel Standard volume requirements in 2023 and beyond to ensure low-carbon biofuels have access to a growing market.
- Incentives that encourage automakers to increase production and deployment of flex-fuel vehicles.
- Additional public and private investment in the infrastructure necessary to distribute higher ethanol blends like E15 and flex fuels like E85.
- Future decarbonization policies that take a technology-neutral, performance-based approach to focus on reducing carbon emissions and increasing fuel efficiency without dictating the use of specific fuels or vehicles.
Read the original story here.
Jan 11, 2022
The U.S. Energy Information Administration increased its forecast for 2022 U.S. fuel ethanol production in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, released Jan. 11. The outlook for ethanol blending in 2022 was also increased.
The EIA currently predicts that U.S. fuel ethanol production will average 1.02 million barrels per day in both 2022 and 2023, up from an estimated 980,000 barrels per day in 2021. In its December STEO, the agency predicted that 2022 fuel ethanol production would average 1.01 million barrels per day, up from an expected 970,000 barrels per day in 2021. The predictions for 2022 and 2023 production are significantly higher than the 910,000 barrels per day of production reported for 2020, but lower than the 1.03 million barrels per day of production reported for 2019.
Fuel ethanol blending is currently expected to average 930,000 barrels per day in 2022, increasing to 950,000 barrels per day in 2023. Fuel ethanol blending averaged an estimated 910,000 barrels per day in 2021. In December, the EIA predicted 2022 ethanol blending would average 920,000 barrels per day, up from an expected 900,000 barrels per day for 2021. Ethanol blending averaged only 820,000 barrels per day in 2020. The EIA said the increased forecast in ethanol consumption included in the January STEO reflects the agency’s expectation of increasing gasoline demand. At the forecasted levels for 2022 and 2023, the EIA said the ethanol share of gasoline consumption would be near the 2020 and 2021 levels of 10.3 percent.
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Jan 10, 2022
Despite a slight drop, U.S. ethanol production kept above the million barrels per day level for the last week of 2021. Production maintained a million barrels per day for 12 weeks in a row the last half of the year, for a total of 24 weeks in 2021.
According to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association for the week ending December 31, ethanol production eased by 11,000 barrels per day (b/d), or 1.0%, to 1.048 million b/d, equivalent to 44.02 million gallons daily. Production was 12.1% above the same week last year, which was affected by the pandemic, but 1.3% less than the same week two years ago. The four-week average ethanol production volume decreased 1.0% to 1.061 million b/d, equivalent to an annualized rate of 16.27 billion gallons (bg).
Ethanol stocks jumped 3.3% to a twenty-week high of 21.4 million barrels. Stocks were 8.3% below the year-ago level and 4.9% less than the same week two years ago
In 2020, ethanol production was over a million barrels per day for the first 12 weeks of the year but never hit that mark again after COVID struck and total production for the year was under 14 billion gallons, the lowest in more than five years. Production this year is expected to be well above 15 billion gallons, but not as high as the record 16 billion set in 2018.
Read the original story here.
Jan 5, 2022
The director of global ethanol market development for the U.S. Grains Council says ethanol exports felt the full weight of the pandemic during the last marketing year.
But Brian Healy tells Brownfield the numbers were still relatively positive and the fifth highest ever at 1.31 billion gallons.
“A lot of the losses that we saw in early 2020 rebounded as some of those stay-at-home orders eased. We saw that demand change here in the U.S. and certainly saw that pick up in terms of fuel demand around the world.”
Canada was the largest market last year, followed by India.
“It’s an industrial use market, so not for fuel use at this time. But certainly (USGC) is optimistic that their policy for E20 will hold and create some new demand opportunities there.”
Healy says South Korea, China and the European Union rounded out the top five markets for U.S. ethanol in 2021.
Read the original story here.
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Renewable Fuels Association
Jan 4, 2022
By Randall Doyal
I write today in response to an opinion piece published on Wednesday. This piece, authored by John DeCicco, is rampant with errors and false assumptions concerning the biofuels industry. As a 40 year veteran of the industry, I have seen and heard a lot of misinformation concerning biofuels, particularly ethanol. The petroleum industry has been fighting against ethanol since the early 1900s and that fight to control the market continues on with the DeCicco piece. Would it surprise your readers to learn that the “research” done by DeCicco and his group at the University of Michigan was actually heavily funded by API, the American Petroleum Institute? That is a fact.
The author claims that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was enacted in the wake of 9/11. That is not true. The RFS was enacted after the petroleum industry was unsuccessful in getting Congress to protect the use of a petroleum product called MTBE as an oxygenate in gasoline. Because MTBE is very hazardous and causes serious environmental harm, states began to ban its use around 2004. So, the petroleum industry made the switch to using ethanol, which is also an oxygenate, instead, in 2005, and agreed to support the RFS requiring ethanol’s use. Communities all over the corn belt responded quickly to the RFS by building additional ethanol plants. In light of that rapid response to the new demand, and in recognition of increasing dependence on foreign crude oil, Congress decided to move forward with an expanded RFS in 2007. The vision here was to use cleaner, less polluting fuels that could be produced sustainably and renewably and thus help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, while also reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and tailpipe pollutants.
The Renewable Fuel Standard has been an outstanding success in reducing harmful emissions from gasoline by displacing some of the worst actors, which are called “aromatics.” These chemicals were used primarily for their high octane value (octane helps gasoline burn more completely and efficiently). But ethanol has the highest octane value of any fuel and is available at the lowest cost. And according to various universities and government research labs, the use of ethanol in our fuel in 2020 alone reduced the total CO2 emissions from our vehicles by 47.3 million metric tons. And that calculation even includes excessive and speculative modeling assumptions for CO2 production from farming and ethanol production, as well as an additional emissions penalty for hypothetical and unproven “land-use changes.” This CO2 emissions reduction is the same as if we had removed 10 million vehicles from the roads for the year, or if we had shut down 12 large coal-fired power plants. This is the one place we are actually having a huge impact on the reduction of atmospheric carbon, and the real results are even better. Hopefully, the research will one day catch up to the dynamic improvements in farming and in ethanol production, rather than lagging behind more than 5 years as they do currently.
It is important to note the huge anti-farm, and particularly the anti-corn, bias built into the emissions models used by EPA in the creation of the RFS. People assumed that if we created all this new demand for corn to produce ethanol, we would have to convert a whole lot of land into new farmland to continue to supply all the food and feed that land currently supplied. So, a large carbon emissions penalty was added to ethanol to account for this supposed “land-use change” that would occur if forest and grassland were converted to cropland. Now, even if that false assumption were true, the penalty for conversion would be a one-time penalty. Instead, it is added to every gallon produced over all these years. That makes no sense at all. But even with that added carbon penalty and using data that is more than 5 years old in terms of efficiency and energy consumption, ethanol still reduces total carbon emission by about half compared to gasoline. And the actual results are better than that!
How much has our land use changed? The change has indeed been significant…but is the exact opposite of what Professor DeCicco would lead you to think. In 1999, the U.S. had 365 million acres of land planted to crops, or listed as prevented plant, or in CRP. The assumptions in the models behind the RFS would lead you to believe that we would need about another 35 million acres planted after the RFS was enacted in 2007. Looking to 2017-2020 after the ethanol industry reached full capacity under the RFS, the actual amount of land that was planted to crops, prevent planted, or in CRP actually dropped to 345 million acres. Instead of needing more land, we are actually using less land for crop production than we did before the RFS. Why? The first reason is urbanization, where one to two million acres of prime farmland is lost to houses every year. But what is also overlooked is how much more efficient our farmers are, producing more and more bushels per acre while using fewer inputs and energy each year. Here are the facts: in 2007 (the year the RFS was expanded), Minnesota farmers planted 8.4 million acres of corn and averaged 146 bushels per acre. In 2021, farmers here planted 8.3 million acres of corn and averaged 186 bushels per acre – even with drought affecting parts of the state! Those are the facts we should all be celebrating.
But another part of what is missing is the understanding of the ethanol process. Making ethanol does not reduce our supply of livestock feed in any real sense. Our livestock need the protein in the corn, not the starch. Located in farm country, ethanol plants buy corn from local farmers, remove the starch and convert it into ethanol. The process also captures some of the corn oil for use in producing biodiesel. The remaining fractions of the corn are concentrated into a higher protein, higher value feed called distiller grains. This product then requires only one-third the volume of transportation to deliver basically the same protein value to the livestock growers. That is a huge saving in energy and reduction of carbon emissions just in transportation. So, we didn’t need more acres to produce the feed, we just changed the form to something more efficient.
America’s farmers are producing renewable, sustainable crops like corn with greater efficiencies and greater yields, while simultaneously lowering the inputs and energy consumed. They are doing so in ways that increasingly provide greater sequestration of carbon in their fields, and they have only just begun that effort. What do you see when you look at a field of corn? I see an incredible array of natural solar collectors that are using solar energy to drive photosynthesis, pulling huge volumes of CO2 out of the atmosphere, and producing huge amounts of oxygen, which we all need to breathe! Were you aware that our midwestern fields produce more oxygen than the rainforests of South America during our growing season? That is a fact. And our ethanol industry gets to access the solar energy stored by the corn in tiny batteries called corn kernels, converting it to a liquid fuel that burns cleaner and reduces CO2 emissions from our vehicles, while concentrating the protein and sending it on to feed our livestock.
Don’t fall for the false opinions funded by API or their ilk. Look instead at the facts, the reality, and see the amazing success we have created locally and sustainably that starts right here at home and positively impacts our world. DeCicco would have you use more petroleum rather than less. Let’s use more renewable, sustainable, cleaner energy produced right here from the sunlight falling on our farms.
Read the original RFA story here.
Today morning, Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association's executive director, Tim Rudnicki, testified during a virtual hearing on the EPA's proposed RVOs for 2020, 2021 and 2022. Read his prepared testimony below:
Good morning. My name is Timothy J. Rudnicki. I represent the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association, a trade organization for ethanol producers in Minnesota.
In Minnesota, the annual total ethanol production has once again exceeded 1 billion gallons. Our ethanol is a greenhouse gas emission cutting tool because our producers reuse water, operate innovative production technology, including combined heat and power systems, and explore ways to further reduce GHG emissions in the supply chain.
These and other production factors make renewable ethanol an important tool in the efforts to cut transportation sector GHG emissions. The EPA acknowledges this point in the Federal Register at page 72441.
We recognize the EPA is requesting comment on several critical provisions of the proposed rule. To keep my comments here short, we will submit written comments addressing specific issues with the proposed rule. With that, I will briefly speak to what appears to be a fundamental EPA assumption about the lack of effectiveness of the RFS and the RVOs.
At the outset, we commend the EPA for taking some steps to get the RFS back on track. Yet, perhaps, a fundamental assumption about the inability of the Renewable Fuel Standard to increase the use of higher ethanol blends may be holding the EPA back on the RVO track.
The EPA, at Federal Register page 72447, talks about the limited success the RFS has and will have in growing the use of ethanol beyond E10 even with various incentive programs.
From our vantage point in Minnesota, the RFS has actually helped to grow the use of ethanol well beyond the mythical E10 blendwall.
In Minnesota, the greater the RVO numbers, the greater the incentive for the fuel supply chain to use higher blends of renewable ethanol. In Minnesota, the combination of state and federal programs and private investments help fuel retailers transition to offering E15 as evidenced by the 408 fuel retailers that now offer E15. In Minnesota, based on the last data sets from the Energy Information Administration, at least 12.6% of the liquid fuel for internal combustion engines was renewable ethanol.
So, from our vantage point, the RFS is helping to grow the use of renewable fuel. The RFS is boosting the economy in Minnesota while helping to make us more energy independent. And the RFS is helping to cut GHG emissions. We need the EPA to stand strong and set forth aggressive RVOs to keep the focus on reducing the use of fossil fuels and using biofuels to cut transportation sector GHG emissions.
Dec 9, 2021
The U.S. Grains Council's (USGC's) South Korea office recently took part in the Seoul Mobility Show. At the event, the Council worked to display the benefits of ethanol through conversations with attendees, interviews with the media and handing out promotional items. Pictured, USGC director in South Korea Haksoo Kim speaks with show-goers on the Council's ethanol work.
Little visitors spent time with the Council's interactive booth components.
To convey the benefits of ethanol to government and industry stakeholders, the media and consumers, the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) South Korea office participated in the Seoul Mobility Show from Nov. 25 – Dec. 5.
“The Seoul Mobility Show was an excellent opportunity to inform the media and other trade show participants about the carbon-saving benefits of ethanol,” said Haksoo Kim, USGC director in South Korea. “We remain optimistic that the Korean government will include bioethanol in the carbon-neutral scenario in the transportation sector next year.”
Nearly 8,000 visitors stopped by the Council’s “I Love Bioethanol” booth throughout the 10-day event to learn more about the necessity of introducing a bioethanol policy in Korea.
Council staff conducted a survey with those who stopped by the booth, participated in more than 20 interviews for local media and passed out recycled tumblers and eco-bags that featured the “I Love Bioethanol” logo.
“Of the 2,964 people who responded to the survey, 93.4 percent said carbon reduction was necessary in the transportation sector, and 80.2 percent said it is necessary to blend bioethanol to reduce carbon in the transportation sector in South Korea,” Kim said.
South Korea, a strong industrial-use market for ethanol, is currently exploring ways for the transport sector to reduce emissions, illustrated during the Climate Crisis And Biofuel Symposium held in early September.
“Ethanol has a compelling role in Korea to reduce its transport sector carbon emissions,” said Brian Healy, USGC director of global ethanol market development. “Events like this mobility show are a great way to highlight the pathway for a direct blending policy.”
With a goal of realizing carbon neutrality by 2050, the Council’s South Korea office has emphasized the important part ethanol can play in carbon reduction in the transportation sector by hosting educational programs and participating in public events.
U.S. ethanol exports to Korea totaled 137 million gallons in the 2020/2021 marketing year, a 23 percent increase compared to the previous marketing year.
Read the original story here.
Dec 21, 2021
Happy days are here again at ethanol plants, with profits nearing the all-time high set in 2014.
The black ink has all but erased the industry’s bad old days of 2020 brought on by the pandemic-induced cutback in liquid fuel use.
Scott Irwin, Laurence J. Norton chair of agricultural marketing at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, says the rapid rise in ethanol plant profits has brought smiles to ethanol plant operators and owners across the United States.
“Happy days are here again is an accurate statement right now,” Irwin says. While he doubts 2021’s profit margins will top the record returns from seven years ago, he expects them to be close because of the incredible ethanol price spike that occurred in the last four months of the year. On March 28, 2014, a representative Iowa ethanol plant modeled by Irwin chalked up a record profit margin of $1.53 per gallon. In mid-November 2021, profits at the representative Iowa plant totaled $1.34 a gallon.
“We are in rarefied territory for ethanol prices and profits, and it’s happened over a pretty short period of time,” Irwin notes. “What’s really interesting is that on August 1, plants were basically operating at break-even margins. Since then, ethanol prices and profits have gone literally straight up.” At the beginning of 2021, Iowa plants were selling each gallon of ethanol for $1.39. By November, ethanol prices had more than doubled to $3.17 a gallon.
Connie Lindstrom, senior biofuels benchmarking analyst at Christianson, PLLP, in Willmar, Minnesota, says ethanol prices have been pushed higher because ethanol demand has outpaced supplies and corn prices have stabilized since harvest began. Ethanol plants also have seen strong demand for the coproducts they produce, particularly for corn oil that is processed into renewable diesel, she adds.
Christianson, which analyzes the finances of 60 ethanol plants that account for 35% of U.S. ethanol production, also has noted that prices paid for corn have stabilized because of favorable yields from the 2021 harvest, according to Lindstrom. “We had a good corn harvest this year,” she says, “which kept corn prices stable.” The twin trends of higher ethanol demand and abundant feedstock supply should continue, she adds, “which means we should get some pretty good profitability going forward.”
Scott Richman, chief economist at the Renewable Fuels Association in St. Louis, Missouri, says the financial fortunes of ethanol plants started to turn around in August. That’s when stocks of old-crop corn were running low, corn prices were relatively high, and margins for ethanol producers were quite thin, he says. Those negative factors led to a drop in ethanol production through mid-September.
PROFITS RISE
When the 2021 corn crop started arriving in September, Richman states, gasoline demand surged and ethanol plants’ profit margins rose considerably. “Since then, ethanol production has really geared up,” he says, “and we’ve been producing more than a million barrels of ethanol a day for six straight weeks, approaching all-time production records a couple of times. And because ethanol demand has remained so strong, we’ve been unable to rebuild stocks.”
Walt Wendland, president and chairman of the board of Ringneck Energy in Onida, South Dakota, says dry weather cut corn yields in the area, but the plant has been profitable because higher ethanol prices have outstripped the higher corn prices the plant is paying.
Ringneck Energy, which began production in April 2019, produces 80 million gallons of ethanol a year. After a challenging first year, Wendland says, Ringneck Energy was turning the corner financially in March 2020, when COVID-19 hit and demand for gasoline and ethanol both plummeted. “Our start-up year in 2019 was extremely challenging, but when we went into 2020, things were starting to look better until COVID hit,” Wendland recalls. “Eventually, we’ve come out of it OK, and things are looking pretty promising.”
During the depths of the economic implosion caused by the pandemic, Ringneck Energy cut production by 50% or more when there was little demand. “During the third and fourth quarters of 2020,” Wendland says, “we returned to full production.”
CORN USE JUMPS
Corn remains the preferred feedstock for ethanol plants. In November, the USDA estimated corn used for ethanol production in the 2021-2022 marketing year to total 5.25 billion bushels, up 50 million from its previous estimate.
Because dry weather cut average corn yields in central South Dakota, where Ringneck Energy is located, the plant has been bringing in 20 to 25 railcars of corn every week to supplement the local corn it purchases for processing. The plant processes 80,000 bushels of corn a day. Local corn yields averaged about 100 to 120 bushels per acre (bpa) in 2021, Wendland notes. Normal yields are closer to 150 bpa and 190 to 220 bpa in a good year.
“We had an extended shutdown in August thinking that we’d have an early harvest in mid-September,” Wendland says, “but we had some rains that delayed the start of harvest until the first of October.” The late harvest meant that Ringneck Energy had to start using a 50-50 corn-to-milo mix for processing, although corn is the preferred feedstock for the plant’s ethanol. Milo accounts for less than 5% of the plant’s production, according to Wendland, who credits the plant’s marketing team for keeping it supplied with feedstocks, despite the dry weather.
Ethanol stocks haven’t increased because ethanol demand has risen even faster, Wendland says, and higher ethanol prices have outpaced corn prices. Ringneck Energy ships 60% of its ethanol on the BNSF Railway to the West Coast, and 40% of its ethanol goes to markets in the South and western United States, he adds.
The company sells wet distillers’ grains to local cattle-feeding and cow-calf operations in the area, which means it saves on natural gas expenses by not having to dry the distillers’ grains.
“Corn oil prices have been unbelievable,” Wendland notes, because of renewable diesel demand. “That’s been a real growth market for our corn oil and an industry-wide focus for increasing profits.” Ringneck Energy has capitalized on those high prices by increasing its corn oil yields by 50%, he says.
2022 OUTLOOK
Steve Roe, general manager and CEO at Little Sioux Corn Processors, LLC, in Marcus, Iowa, says the plant had one of its best quarters ever in the third quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter looks to be even better.
As for 2022, “I don’t see how we are going to have as good a year as we’ve had in 2021,” he notes. “I just don’t think these large returns are sustainable.”
Exports are the wild card for 2022. “Export prospects look promising because oil prices are high worldwide, so that will push ethanol exports up as people substitute ethanol for gasoline,” Roe says. Domestic demand for ethanol will be 14.5 billion gallons in 2021 based on the amount of gasoline consumed. With U.S. ethanol production expected to exceed 15 billion gallons this year, exports are going to have to make up the difference, he adds.
Domestic demand is expected to remain high.
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Dec 14, 2021
A new material developed by the University of Central Florida may one day mean people could be pouring a drink for their car. That’s because UCF researchers are developing an alcohol-based power source for cars and other technology.
The power source —an ethanol fuel cell — is a renewable energy alternative to fossil fuels and uses less fuel and produces less emissions compared to a combustion engine.
This is because ethanol is used as a fuel to generate electricity rather than heat generated by combustion as in an engine. As a bonus, the approach requires no recharging time like is needed for battery-based electric vehicles, meaning consumers will have more options for alternatives to fossil fuels.
The fuel cell would be replenished similar to refilling a gas tank in a car, but instead of gasoline, ethanol would be used. Ethanol can be generated through fermentation of biomass such as corn and other plants.
The new technology is described in this month’s edition of the journal Nature Energy.
“Our research enables direct ethanol fuel cells to become a new player to compete with hydrogen-fuel cells and batteries in various sustainable energy fields,” says Yang Yang, an associate professor in UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center and study co-author.
The development of ethanol fuel cells has been hindered in the past by sluggish internal reactions that hamper their performance, he says.
UCF researchers are overcoming this problem by adding the element fluorine to the palladium-nitrogen-carbon catalysts that spur electrical production in the fuel cell.
“Our lab has continued to work on fluorine-doped materials for energy and sustainability,” Yang says. “We spent more than two years on this project, we never stop because we believe this invention will change the world.”
Yang says the fluorine works to increase the effectiveness of the ethanol fuel cell by enhancing catalytic activity and decreasing corrosion.
The researchers found their designed catalyst achieves a maximum power density of 0.57 watts per centimeter square and more than 5,900 hours of operation in direct energy ethanol fuel cells. This has several times more power and operation time than previously developed ethanol fuel cells.
Yang says the technology is ready for commercialization now, and the research team is working on reducing the raw materials used and to reduce the manufacturing cost of the developed catalysts.
Study co-authors at UCF were Jinfa Chang, a postdoctoral researcher with UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center; Guanzhi Wang and Wei Zhang, doctoral students with the NanoScience Technology Center and UCF’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering; and Nina Orlovskaya, an associate professor in UCF’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Yang holds joint appointments in UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, which is part of the university’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. He is a member of UCF’s Renewable Energy and Chemical Transformation (REACT) Cluster. He also holds a secondary joint-appointment in UCF’s Department of Chemistry. Before joining UCF in 2015, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. He received his doctorate in materials science from Tsinghua University in China.
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Dec 14, 2021
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced bipartisan legislation to prohibit the EPA from reducing the minimum applicable volume of biofuels into transportation fuel once the RVO levels are finalized for any given year. This would prevent the EPA from retroactively reducing 2020 or future finalized RVO levels.
TheDefend the Blend Actis cosponsored by Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Joni Ernst (R-IA). Companion legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representatives Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Angie Craig (D-MN), and Ron Kind (D-WI).
“Our farmers and rural communities are counting on us to uphold the integrity of the Renewable Fuel Standard,”said Klobuchar.“This legislation will stop retroactive changes to Renewable Volume Obligations so the renewable fuels industry has the certainty and stability it needs to create jobs, drive investment, and cut carbon emissions from the existing vehicle fleet.”
“Time and time again, renewable fuels have shown to be key in cutting both greenhouse gas emissions and costs at the pump. Yet, past and present administrations have overlooked the value of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), creating uncertainty for Iowa farmers and producers. With EPA’s most recent proposed action of lowering RVO numbers from 2020’s final rule, who’s to say that won’t happen again? It is critical that we establish new safeguards that uphold the RFS and ensure all administrations remain committed to following the law,”said Grassley.
“Upholding the Renewable Fuel Standard helps strengthen the Midwest and our entire nation by diversifying our fuel sources, bolstering our national security, cutting carbon emissions and driving economic opportunity in the heartland,”said Duckworth.“I’m proud to join Senator Klobuchar in introducing this important bipartisan bill that would create more stability for hardworking farmers who feed and fuel our country by halting these harmful retroactive changes to RVO levels.”
“Iowa’s farmers and producers work day in and day out to offer consumers cleaner, more affordable choices at the pump, yet their livelihoods continue to be impacted by bureaucrats in Washington who refuse to uphold the integrity of the Renewable Fuel Standard. This bipartisan bill will ensure the law is followed and in turn provide more certainty and predictability to our renewable fuel industry,”said Ernst.
“This bill comes at a critical time,”said Geoff Cooper, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO.“Just last week, EPA proposed an unprecedented retroactive reduction to the 2020 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) that were finalized more than two years ago. The RFS was created to provide long-term market certainty for our nation’s ethanol producers and farmers. Going back in time to slash RFS volumes—long after they have been finalized—undermines the purpose and intent of program and destabilizes the marketplace. We thank Sens. Klobuchar, Grassley, Duckworth and Ernst for working together to ensure the integrity of the RFS is being maintained and EPA is being held accountable.”
“ACE thanks these bipartisan Senators for introducing the Defend the Blend Act to help ensure EPA and oil refiners follow the law when it comes to the Renewable Fuel Standard,”said Brian Jennings, American Coalition for Ethanol CEO.“In light of last week’s proposed retroactive cuts to the 2020 biofuel blending obligations, this bill makes clear that going back in time and revising targets that already self-adjusted not only goes against Congressional intent but is likely illegal. We need EPA to quit playing politics when it comes to administering the program and instead look to it as an important tool to immediately make progress toward decarbonization goals for the transportation sector.”
“We’re grateful to Senators Klobuchar, Grassley, Duckworth and Ernst for introducing the Defend the Blend Act in the Senate, legislation that would offer more certainty in the marketplace, especially after EPA’s recent proposal to retroactively lower 2020 RVOs,” said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy.“The Renewable Fuel Standard was put into place to blend more low-carbon biofuels into our nation’s transportation fuel supply, and it includes a built-in mechanism that adjusts for changes in fuel demand. Retroactively reducing RVO levels is completely unwarranted and unnecessary, adds uncertainty to the marketplace, and exceeds EPA’s legal authority.”
Klobuchar has been a strong advocate for investing in renewable fuel infrastructure and upholding theClean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
In June, Klobuchar introduced a package of bipartisan bills to expand the availability of low-carbon renewable fuels, incentivize the use of higher blends of biofuels, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Co-led by Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), theBiofuel Infrastructure and Agricultural Product Market Expansion Actwould expand the availability of low-carbon renewable fuels in the marketplace, resulting in cleaner air, lower fuel process, and rural economic vitality.
Also in June, Klobuchar led a letter with 15 colleagues to the EPA and National Economic Council (NEC) expressing concern about reports that the Biden administration was considering options to exempt oil refiners from their obligations under the RFS.
In July, Klobuchar joined with Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) to introduce the bipartisan Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, which would amend theClean Air Actto allow for the year-round sale of E15.
In February, Klobuchar and Thune introduced the Adopt GREET Act to require the EPA to update its greenhouse gas modeling for ethanol and biodiesel. Klobuchar also led a letter with Grassley to the EPA highlighting the need to restore integrity to the RFS by reviewing small refinery waivers, swiftly issuing a proposed rule for the 2021 Renewable Volume Obligation, and advancing the proposed E15 streamlining proposal.
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Dec 13, 2021
The Biden administration has signaled its intent to publish a proposed rule setting Renewable Fuel Standard renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2023 and beyond next spring. A variety of other rulemakings impacting biofuel producers are also scheduled to be taken up by federal agencies in the near-term, including those related to RFS fuel pathways, the Biopreferred program, and permitting for certain corn ethanol plants.
Abstracts of the expected rulemakings are included in the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, published on Dec. 10.
The OMB’s unified fall agenda provides expected timelines for several rulemakings already in progress, including the EPA’s recently released proposed rules to set 2020, 2021 and 2022 RVOs and extend certain RFS compliance reporting deadlines, and the agency’s ongoing rulemaking to revise greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for model year (MY) 2023 and later light-duty vehicles.
The EPA released a proposed rule to revise 2020 RFS RVOs and set new RVOs for 2021 and 2022 on Dec. 7. The proposed rule also updates and re-proposes a provision originally included in the long-stalled Renewables Enhancement and Growth Support rule to allow for the production, transfer and use of biointermediates to generate qualifying fuel under the RFS program, and includes a variety of other provisions updating the RFS program. A public comment period on the rule is open through Feb. 4. The OMB’s unified agenda indicates a final rule could be released as soon as February 2022.
The unified agenda also addresses the proposed rule released by EPA in mid-November that aims to further delay certain RFS compliance and attest engagement report deadlines and change the way the agency sets those deadlines moving forward, but does not provide an expected date for publication of a final rule.
The EPA’s final rule to revise GHG emissions standards for MY 2023 and later vehicles is currently expected to be released before the end of the year, according to the OMB. Representatives of the ethanol industry have urged the EPA to address GHG reductions made possible through the use of high-octane, low-carbon renewable fuels as part of the rulemaking.
According to the 2021 fall unified agenda, the EPA is currently expected to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking for the post-2022 RFS in May 2022. Statutory provisions of the Clean Air Act governing the RFS program provides target RVOs only through 2022. Starting in 2023, the EPA must set those volumes based on an analysis of factors specified in statute. The upcoming rulemaking will establish volume requirements beginning in 2023, according to the OMB. A final rule is currently expected to be issued in December 2022.
The unified agenda also indicates that the EPA plans to issue a proposed rule in January 2022 focused on RFS canola oil pathways for renewable diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and liquid propane gas (LPG). An abstract published by the OMB states that the proposed rule will provide an opportunity to comment on an analysis of lifecycle GHGs associated with biofuels produced from canola oil via a hydrotreating process. A final rule is currently expected to be published in July 2022.
The EPA is also set to reconsider prevention of significant deterioration (PSD), nonattainment new source review, and Title V treatment of corn milling facilities under the “major emitting facility” definition, according to the unified agenda. The OMB said the rulemaking would convene a proceeding to reconsider portions of a final rule issued in May 2007 that applies to nonattainment areas. A notice of proposed rulemaking is expected to be released in February. The OMB provided no estimate of when a final rule could be issued.
The USDA is also expected to issue a final rule on its Biobased Markets Program, also referred to as the BIopreferred program, in June 2022. The rulemaking will update the program to reflect provisions included in the 2018 Farm Bill.
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Dec 8, 2021
U.S. fuel ethanol production expanded by more than 5 percent the week ending Dec. 3, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Dec. 8. Fuel ethanol stocks were up approximately 1 percent.
U.S. ethanol production averaged 1.09 million barrels per day the week ending Dec. 3, up 55,000 barrels per day when compared to the 1.035 million barrels per day of production reported for the previous week. When compared to the same week of last year, production for the week ending Dec. 3 was up 99,000 barrels per day.
Weekly ending stocks for fuel ethanol expanded to 20.464 million barrels the week ending Dec. 3, up 163,000 barrels per day when compared to the 20.301 million barrels of stocks reported for the previous week. When compared to the same week of last year, stocks for the week ending Dec. 3 were down 1.619 million barrels.
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