Advanced BioFuels USA

by Doug Durante (Ethanol Producer Magazine/Clean Fuels Development Coalition)  Striving for higher-octane fuels shouldn’t mean saying goodbye to the RFS. –… Why is the quest for high-octane fuels to reduce petroleum consumption and increase efficiency in vehicles paired with getting rid of the Renewable Fuel Standard? In the waning hours of the last Congress, the Energy and Commerce Committee continued its misguided effort to address largely unfounded concerns surrounding the RFS, while considering raising the minimum octane standard in gasoline. 

The ethanol industry has responded to the U.S. EPA’s requests for information about how high-octane fuels can help increase fuel economy and reduce emissions. The answer is easy—high-octane fuels allow automakers to produce higher-compression engines to achieve significant mileage increases. If that octane comes from ethanol and not the oil barrel, it achieves the additional requirement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. And it increases the market for home-grown, renewable ethanol, which enhances energy security, stimulates the economy, saves consumers money at the pump, and displaces carcinogens in gasoline. 

It is the mindset of the petroleum industry, however, that any advancement for ethanol and biofuels must be offset by some other action ….

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First of all, we need clean, low-carbon octane to meet the policy objectives of our fuel economy and greenhouse gas programs. The dirty little secret of the petroleum industry is that Clean Air Act requirements to reduce toxic, carcinogenic compounds in gasoline preclude the increased use of aromatics like benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX), which has been that industry’s go-to answer for octane. So if they can keep the octane levels low enough, they can continue to use BTX.

Legislation floated late last year not only offered a lower octane than what we are capable of, but would effectively cap ethanol blends to 20 percent volume. And, ignoring the lessons of “Sesame Street,” the oil industry and its friends in Congress said, “By the way, we’d like to sunset the RFS.” They refer to this as a “transition” from the RFS to high octane, as if the logical progression of a renewable program is to morph into a nonrenewable program. 

Second, the RFS is not broken—there is no need to fix it, at least not the 15 billion gallons (waivers notwithstanding) that are already in gasoline. If the advanced biofuel sector needs retooling, that is a separate and distinct conversation from us moving to a cleaner, lower-carbon, healthier fuel via high octane. 

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UAI (Urban Air Initiative) is calling on EPA to use its authority to regulate fuels to protect public health by establishing an octane standard that would open the door to higher ethanol blends. I would add to that the need for Congress to watch “Sesame Street” and realize cleaner fuels and efforts to kill the RFS simply do not go together.  READ MORE

VIDEO: Match Blending Octane for Vehicle Testing (Urban Air Initiative)