ASTM creates first standard for midlevel ethanol blends

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Kris Bevill
June 01, 2012

A new midlevel ethanol blend standard recently completed by scientific standards development body ASTM International could serve as the missing link necessary for blender pumps to become widely used in all U.S. states.

The standard, titled “Blending Mid-Level Ethanol Fuel Blends for Flexible-Fuel Vehicles with Automotive Spark-Ignition Engines,” provides technical guidance for retailers and blenders who wish to offer fuel blends containing ethanol volumes between 15 and 51 percent. Prior to this standard’s completion, those blends were not covered under any other ASTM guidance. Some states, primarily those located in the Midwest, had formed their own guidelines and regulations to allow blender pumps to dispense midlevel ethanol blends, but states that had not taken those measures were hesitant to allow blender pumps into the market without appropriate ASTM guidance. Kristy Moore, vice president of technical services at the Renewable Fuels Association and member of ASTM’s gasoline and oxygenate committee, said the new standard should ease those states’ concerns. “All of the state regulators who initially had apprehension about blender pumps weighed in on this document and said, ‘This is exactly what we need to help usher blender pumps into our state,’” she said.

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