RFA Analysis Finds Improvement of Corn Ethanol Net Energy Balance
(Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine) An analysis conducted by the Renewable Fuels Association and released March 7 finds the net energy balance of corn-based ethanol at U.S. dry mill biorefineries averages 2.6–2.8, an improvement over previous estimates, reflecting efficiency gains.
The figures build on USDA’s recent findings of a 2.1–2.3 net energy balance. RFA’s own analysis uses more current dry mill energy use data than the recent USDA study, which explains why the RFA results are approximately one-third higher than USDA’s findings.
The net energy balance is a ratio of how much energy is required to produce the corn and ethanol, and then transport the fuel to end users. In simple terms, a ratio of 2.8, for example, means every BTU of energy invested in the process to make and deliver ethanol results in 2.8 BTUs of available energy to the end user.
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The previous USDA report, conducted in 2010, was based on 2008-era data and found that the balance was 1.9–2.3. RFA’s analysis found that USDA used the same 2008-era dry mill energy use estimates for both its 2010 and 2016 reports.
According to RFA’s own analysis, “[t]he energy balance of the top-performing quartile of biorefineries is in the range of 3.2–3.4, which approaches the USDA estimate of 4.0 for an ideally situated dry mill producing wet distillers grains.” READ MORE / MORE Download report Download USDA report