Recently in Ethanol Category

Some very specific proposals in the US' landmark new renewable fuel standards are reportedly threatening Caribbean ethanol producers, who represent a small but a significant chunk of alternative fuel's imports. 

Japan is getting serious about diversifying into biofuels and non-hydrocarbon sources of power generation. The country's parliament, the Diet, on July 1 passed a legislation that provides for imposing fines of up to Yen 1 million or $10,500 on companies failing to meet the minimum government requirements of non-fossil fuel consumption.

The new regulation, expected to come into force within two years, leaves out smaller players, who might not have the financial capability to make the necessary changes. The government is set to kick off a series of panel discussions August 3 to fill in the details in the broad framework that has been agreed and define the legal obligations of the companies that will be covered by the regulation.

As if US ethanol producers didn't have enough to worry about, the man behind the design of Nintendo's popular wii game controller, Thomas Quinn, says his E-Fuel Corp has invented a device that will make ethanol for consumers right in their own homes.

The first shipments of the so-called MicroFueler are expected this month. After "the world's first home ethanol system" arrives, the customer's "sole task" is "to simply fill their vehicles with E-Fuel100 ethanol," according to an E-Fuel press release. The machine makes up to 35 gallons of ethanol per week and can double that using alcohol as feedstock.

Since the early 1980s, the US has imposed a tariff on imported ethanol, but recent dynamics may call into question the need to maintain one at all. Brazilian imports to the US have dried up in recent months.

For March, total US imports of fuel ethanol were 78,000 barrels, following 51,000 barrels in February, according the latest available Energy Information Administration data on the topic. To be clear, those figures are monthly totals, not barrel/day stats. So, in a grand scheme with a US Renewable Fuel Standard calling for 11.1 billion gallons of renewable transportation fuels in the mix this year, Brazilian imports have fallen to nearly zilch.

What exactly is E15 and what does it mean for transportation fuels here in the US?

The Environmental Protection Agency's review of a possible hike in ethanol blend levels for conventional vehicles has called into question the use of what many are calling "E15," a term commonly misconstrued as a 15% ethanol-gasoline blend.

When members of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America gather each fall and spring, meetings of the legislative affairs committee always draw a crowd. The forum covers a broad spectrum of topics - from global warming to renewable fuels to tobacco regulations - and it gives members a chance to learn about government actions that might affect them and an opportunity to weigh in with opinions.

This year was no exception. Members packed a ballroom at SIGMA's spring meeting in San Antonio for a three-hour briefing Friday by outside counsel Tim Columbus. On the agenda:

Out at SIGMA's annual meeting in San Francisco, on Saturday John Melo, CEO of Amyris, gave a talk about the future of Bio-refining.

Now, naturally, as head of a company that is a bio-refiner, he sees a great future for biofuels. There were a couple of interesting points he had that make more sense following the election season.

This was a brutal week for the ethanol industry.

A study that concluded US autos can run just fine on a 20% ethanol blend, released Tuesday, makes one immediately turn to the market to see if financial incentives exist for blending 20% ethanol into a finished gasoline mix.

The Environmental Protection Agency on October 7 joined the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture in releasing the preliminary report, which showed that when E20 was injected into 13 popular late-model vehicles that were not designed to run on more than 10% ethanol, tailpipe emissions were similar to E10 levels. Concerns remain among auto makers about whether a 20% blend would damage engines; that is a separate issue from the tailpipe emissions.