Advanced BioFuels USA

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  I really enjoyed learning about research into midlevel ethanol blends from Timothy Theiss and Brian West, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “E25, E40 for the masses” went live on our website last week … First, there’s the issue of what to call the fuel. If a new midlevel blend does reach consumers, how should it be branded? West said some suggested “renewable super premium,” but says others have expressed concern that the word premium could lead to the fuel being priced too high. One of the key pieces of the puzzle in making optimized vehicles and a new midlevel ethanol blend a reality is that the fuel cannot be more expensive than E10, West said. When oil prices once again go up and ethanol is less expensive than gas, a midlevel ethanol blend could be priced very attractively. “You could make a high octane E25 and sell it in a way that the consumer wins, the retailer wins and everybody wins,” West says.

Another issue I wasn’t able to include in my story was West’s thoughts on a possible performance specification. In this scenario, as long as the performance spec is met, the ethanol content wouldn’t have to be dictated, so E25 could potentially met the spec but another blend could as well.

One possible way to get there is by adding an additive to an ethanol and gasoline blend, West said.

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Apparently, the U.S. EPA is assessing a possible change from the current R-Factor of 0.6. If the R-Factor was set closer to 1 vehicle manufactures would be favorably inclined to build vehicles optimized for midlevel ethanol blends, the researchers told me. Basically, the R-factor was incorporated into fuel economy calculations in the 1980s and, with the EPA decision to add ethanol to certification fuel, data shows it needs to be updated. “Essentially it converts certification fuel economy to a gasoline equivalent fuel economy for a 1975 cert fuel,” West said. “Bottom line, if the vehicle can attain volumetric fuel economy parity with an E25 certification fuel, the CAFE benefit to the manufacturer is significant if R is close to 1.0.”

R-Factor is an incredibly complicated issue that I don’t pretend to understand fully. If you’d like to read more about it, you can do so in this ORNL publication or this one, published by SAE International.

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Vehicle manufacturers already have the technology to build the vehicles. And the ethanol industry stands, ready and able, to provide the ethanol. Another piece of good news is that work to expand midlevel ethanol compatible refueling infrastructure is already ongoing. Every single blender pump installed is one more pump where consumers could, someday, fill up with a midlevel ethanol blend with their optimized vehicle.  READ MORE and MORE