Advanced BioFuels USA

(Biofuels International)  … In the Administration’s adjoining Summer Fuels Outlook, the forecast for the average price of petroleum and diesel is that the next few months will see prices reaching their highest inflation-adjusted levels since the summer of 2014.

This is the background against which Biofuels International spoke to both the US Grains Council (USGC) and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) about the current state of the North American ethanol sector. The views of the two organisations were also sought on how producers and processors feel about the future as they move deeper into a decade which was not supposed to have been like this.

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With further growth in ethanol consumption expected to continue in 2022, both USGC, focusing on ethanol export opportunities, and RFA, concentrating on the domestic US market, are bullish about the future and the scope for their relevant points of interest to continue being moved forward.

Ethanol producers are also celebrating US President Biden’s recent commitment to enable E15 blended petroleum to be sold over the coming summer.

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RFA’s leaders also believe it is ‘especially significant’ that the EPA is on the verge of ending the small refinery exemption (SRE) programme, plus denying more than 60 remaining SRE petitions.

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Asked to also address any negatives present in today’s market, however, Healy (Brian Healy, director of global ethanol market development at USGC) selected the persistence of the high tariff rates which are still being applied by some countries to ethanol imports at a time when, he suggested, countries are also looking to diversify their sources of energy.

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“Consider also,” said Cooper (Geoff Cooper, RFA president and CEO), “that certain key states, such as Iowa and Minnesota, are doing more to ensure E15 is available at all or most of their filling stations.

“In addition, the cost of ethanol compared to gasoline blend-stock remains significantly lower, all of which provides incentives for blenders as the cost of oil is expected to stay high throughout the year.

“Finally, going forward, we continue to see new uses for ethanol emerging, such as for sustainable aviation fuel which is showing good promise in current trials and for which, literally, the sky is the limit.”

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In Canada, meanwhile, the country’s 564 million-gallons-a-year ethanol industry, shared across 15 production plants, appears to be facing the ultimate positive/negative scenario, judging by the Canadian Government’s newly released 2022 budget.

The 300-page financial statement is strong on climate change and clean energy objectives, both issues being supported by substantial funding commitments. The document, however, does not embrace the role currently being played by ethanol in helping to reduce GHG emissions, preferring to focus instead on how to accelerate the manufacturing and adoption of cleaner cars, which is seen as the main transport path towards achieving Canada’s target of a 40-45% emission reduction by 2030 (from a 2005 starting point), leading to net-zero emissions by 2050.  READ MORE