The U.S. EPA on March 12 announced it has approved a change in fuel requirements that will allow E15 to be sold year-round in the Kansas City metro area. Representatives of the ethanol industry are applauding the EPA's action.
Alto Ingredients Inc., formerly known as Pacific Ethanol Inc., announced on March 11 plans to sell its two idle ethanol plants located in California as part of its effort to focus on the production of specialty alcohols and essential ingredients.
Legislation introduced in the Minnesota Legislature in March aims to establish a clean fuels standard (CFS) that would require a 20 percent reduction in the carbon intensity of transportation fuel sold within the state by 2035.
Considerable attention has been focused on President Biden's call for widespread use of electric vehicles, but we shouldn't pit EVs against biofuels. We should leverage both. They can be combined to more seamlessly transition away from fossil fuels.
Mother Nature has already given us an extraordinary solar panel that covers several hundred million acres of cropland in America's breadbasket, where energy absorbed from the sun is stored for later use in a perfect battery: an ear of corn.
After a tough year marked by unprecedented challenges, the biofuel sector is hitting the ground running with exciting progress on higher ethanol blends, said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor, noting that 20 billion miles have now been driven on E15.
With the support of USDA's Market Access Program funds, the USGC, in partnership with USDA's FAS and domestic industry associations Growth Energy and the RFA, has seen continued success in the promotion of ethanol use globally.
Fluid Quip Technologies on March 4 announced São Martinho SA has selected and contracted Fluid Quip's Flex Plant Technology to be installed at its Boa Vista sugarcane ethanol facility. The project is expected to be complete in Q4 2022.
The U.S. exported 164.63 million gallons of ethanol and 916,541 metric tons of distillers grains in January, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on March 5. Exports of both products were up from the previous month.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts on March 8 announced that research conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with support from the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services clearly demonstrates that E30 is safe for long-term use in non-FFVs.
The Washington House of Representatives on Feb. 27 voted 52 to 46 to pass H.B. 1091, a bill that aims to establish a state-wide Clean Fuels Standard. The legislation is currently pending in the Washington Senate.
Ethanol sales by production units the south-central region of Brazil were up 5 percent during the first half of February when compared to the same period of 2020, according to data released by UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association.
The Renewable Fuels Association, U.S. Grains Council and Growth Energy on March 4 submitted joint comments to Environment and Climate Change Canada in support of proposed regulations for the country's Clean Fuel Standard.
Thanks to the U.S. Grain's Council's work promoting the benefits of DDGS to Irish swine, producers in the country have upped their inclusion of U.S. DDGS significantly, opening a market worth tens of millions annually.
Despite a lack of federal grant programs and higher ethanol prices, ACE's Ron Lamberty says now is the perfect time to add E15. Adding the fuel blend, he says, can help retailers offer a higher octane fuel at a lower pump price than competitors.
U.S. ethanol production rebounded significantly the week ending Feb. 26, reaching 849,000 barrels per day following a substantial downturn the previous week related to disruptions caused by February's polar vortex.
The USGC participated in the USDA's Agricultural Trade Mission to Ghana in October 2019, followed by a side trip to Nigeria to meet with participants from the Global Ethanol Summit. The events helped increase U.S. ethanol exports.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, E15 availability continued to increase last year. The U.S. saw a 10 percent of retail sites offering E15 in 2020, and the fuel is now offered at more than 2,300 stations in 30 states.
The U.K. Department for Transport on Feb. 25 announced that the country will adopt E10 as its standard gasoline blend by September. The move will allow idle ethanol production capacity in the U.K. to be brought back online.
U.S. ethanol production fell 28 percent to 658,000 barrels per day the week ending Feb. 19, reaching its lowest level since May 8, 2020, according to data released by the EIA on Feb. 24. The drop reflects issues related to the recent polar vortex.
Using ATP program funds, the U.S. Grains Council sponsored participation at the Global Ethanol Summit of ethanol buyers from nearly two dozen Middle Eastern, European and African countries, who subsequently purchased $245 million in U.S. ethanol.
Tom Vilsack is once again leading the USDA. The Senate on Feb. 23 voted 92 to seven to confirm him as secretary of agriculture. Vilsack, a former two-term governor of Iowa, served as ag secretary during all eight years of the Obama administration.
The USGC conducted a virtual ethanol workshop in January to show stakeholders from Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco ethanol-blended fuel's substantial benefits in emissions reduction, environmental impacts and improving health outcomes.
The USDA predicts that corn use for ethanol will remain relatively flat, increasing by 0.5 percent over the next decade, according to data released by the agency in February as part of its long-term agricultural projections through 2030.
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced that domestic ethanol sales by mills in the south-central region of the country were up nearly 2 percent during the second half of January.
Summit Agricultural Group and Green Plains Inc. on Feb. 18 announced the launch of a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the Midwest that will lower the carbon footprint of biorefineries and other carbon dioxide emissions sources.
The COVID-19 pandemic slammed Minnesota's ethanol industry in 2020 with production falling under 1 billion gallons for the first time since 2009. The industry, however, still contributed $1.5 billion to the state's economy last year.
Just as ethanol has played an essential role in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, the low-carbon fuel will also serve as essential energy for combatting climate change, RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper said Feb. 16 at the 26th annual NEC.
Even after experiencing a drop in demand due to the COVID pandemic, the U.S. ethanol industry still had a significantly positive impact on the U.S. economy in 2020, according to the annual ethanol industry economic impact study released by RFA.
A bill recently introduced in the Minnesota legislature aims to provide gasoline dealers with a refundable 5 cent per gallon tax credit for sales of gasoline blended with between 15 percent and 85 percent ethanol.
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