U.S. Unable to Meet EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standards?
The EPA, through its Renewable Fuel Standards program, has set a pretty idealistic goal for the introduction of cellulosic biofuels, and many are wondering if the goal will be able to be met.
In its mandate, the EPA has ordered that 36 billion gallons of biofuel be blended into the fuel supply by 2022. That doesn’t seem like such an unrealistic goal, until you consider that as of this writing, there are no commercial-scale refineries in existence in the United States and no distribution network to move the fuel once it has been developed. With these two roadblocks, 2022 doesn’t seem so far distant.
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Of the 36 billion gallons of biofuel, half must be cellulosic ethanol and no more than 15 billion can be corn ethanol, with the rest coming from other biofuel sources, such as residue from sugar production.
So how do we get there? We would need approximately 200 large scale facilities to meet the standards, each one capable of producing about 100 million gallons a year, but of the 13 biofuel projects that are being planned, only four of them are of a commercial scale.
BlueFire Ethanol, based in Irvine, Calif., produces fuel from lawn trimmings and other landfill waste products. Arnold Klann, co-founder and chief executive officer, says he could open dozens of commercial-scale plants from now until 2022 and produce only 5 billion gallons a year. His first plant, the recipient of $40 million in federal startup money, won’t open until late next year.
Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Poet LLC, says one of the solutions to meeting the cellulosic standard is building plants capable of producing both kinds of ethanol, with one of those plants opening this month on a 90-acre site in Marion County Ohio.
According to Mark Stowers, Poet’s vice president for research and development, the plant will be able to process about 30,000 bushels of corn an hour, producing about 65 million gallons of corn-based ethanol annually. The biorefinery can then add cellulosic material to the mix, upping the output.
“We can use the same farmers, the same fields, the same infrastructure to get cellulose to the plants, We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he added
With many countries lowering their ethanol standards in the face of rising global food prices and questions of environmental sustainability, it remains to be seen if the EPA will lower it’s 2022 mandate, or if we will even be able to meet it.
Source: MSNBC
Photo courtesy of Plus45 via Creative Commons license.
Looks like traffic jam in Birmingham.
This is the problem with politicians deciding fuel problems. Ethanol is the worst possible biofuel. It reduces mileage when blended or just delivers about half when used by itself.
Of course if the Government would just get out of the way and instead of offering “incentives” for a particular solution, offer say 5 years with no taxes for an innovative solution like biodiesel from algae or some other bio-renewable, or non bio-renewable fuel, we would be more likely to get answers that were both better and faster.
That would have the political disadvantage that no politician could claim credit. Of course several would try anyway.
FlexFuel vehicle are not tuned to run optimally on either fuel, therefore the advantages of E85 are lost. To run at it’s most efficient, the engine needs to have a compression ratio of approx. 13.0 to 1. Most vehicles on the road barely reach 9.0 to 1.
Unlike CNG and hydrogen, existing modern engines (1980 & up) require very little modification to run strictly E85. Remember, drag racing has been burning alcohol for decades and the Indy Racing League mandated E85 use a couple years ago. NASCAR is under pressure to do the same. Henry Ford powered his first cars on ethanol.
Additionally, ethanol produces a fraction of the emissions that gasoline does, and even none of some of them. THIS should be the focus of the green movement, not initial infrastructure costs and world food issues.
Last year, a tanker truck full of ethanol crashed and a couple thousand gallons leaked onto the freeway. How did they handle the spill? They simply stood by and let it evaporate. No environmental damage resulted!
Corn is the easiest grain to ferment, but it yields the least amount of ethanol. Sugaer cane, sugar beets and Jerusalem artichokes yield much more per bushel.
The U.S should eliminate tariffs on imported ethanol and form a partnership with places like the Dominican Republic to import raw fermentation stock.
If our Congress can ever pull it’s head out of Big Oil’s rectal opening, then E85 could be an immediate “bridge” solution, until other more efficient and green technologies can be developed and brought on line.
Additionally, you can obtain a license from the government to brew your own ethanol. You can’t do that with gasoline, hydrogen or CNG!
The “either/or” mentality has blocked progress for political reasons.
Ethanol…no drilling required, no supertankers to pollute shorelines!
The E.P.A. mandates something, and then makes regulations that make meeting that mandate virtually impossible.
Yep, that’s our government! If they imposed the same level of efficiency requirements on themselves as they do on industry and business, something might actually get done. But then, the pockets of the politicians would be emptier. Can’t have that, can we?