RINs As Commodity: Biofuels Plants Could Market Fuel, RINs Separately

GrainNet.com
Date Posted: February 16, 2009
by Myke Feinman, BioFuels Journal editor

Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs)—which are assigned by biofuels producers when their ethanol or biodiesel is sold—can also be sold as a commodity in addition to the fuel.

Most producers sell the fuel and the RINs without charging extra for them, according to Clayton McMartin, president of Clean Fuels Clearinghouse, Taos, NM.

Clean Fuels Clearinghouse started the RINSTAR Renewable Fuel Registry last fall, providing a centralized database for the RINs. RINs ultimately are separated from the renewable fuel after it reaches its final point downstream at the retail level.

Those RINs sold as high as 15 cents apiece as of late January. McMartin pointed out "that this value is higher than the margin most ethanol plants are currently experiencing."

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