The tally is in: Ethanol 'blend wall' cost refiners at least $1.35 billion

Reuters

BY CEZARY PODKUL

NEW YORK Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:22am EDT

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EPA tells Congress blend wall won’t be hit until 2014

Biofuels Digest
Meghan Sapp | June 26, 2013

 

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Refiners hit 'blend wall' with ethanol. Now what?

The Christian Science Monitor


By Robert Rapier, Guest blogger / March 22, 2013

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Economists: RFS needs to adjust for blend wall, other limitations

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Susanne Retka Schill
February 14, 2013

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Expanding the Ethanol Blend Wall - a Role for E85?

University of Illinois farmdoc daily

January 31, 2013   Read more

Is the ethanol boom coming to an end?

AGprofessional.com
University of Illinois
May 30, 2012

U.S. ethanol production has increased rapidly since 2006, reaching about 13.95 billion gallons in 2011 (Table 1). The increase was driven by a combination of high crude oil prices, federal Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) for domestic renewable fuel consumption, a generous tax credit for ethanol blenders, and large net exports in 2010 and 2011. The expansion in domestic ethanol production has been one of the main drivers of the corn market since 2006, as corn is the primary feedstock for ethanol production in the U.S. The USDA estimates that corn processed for ethanol production totaled 5.021 billion bushels in the 2010-11 marketing year and projects use at 5 billion bushels for the current marketing year. Accounting for co-product production, net corn consumption for ethanol production in 2011-12 will be near 3.35 billion bushels, or about 26 percent of total expected consumption.

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Ethanol business needs E15 to survive -- experts Jeff Caldwell

Agriculture.com
05/29/2012 @ 10:57am

Last year was a big one for the ethanol business. U.S. producers refined just shy of 14 billion gallons of the biofuel and exports grew sharply, capping off a 2-year trend moving from a net importer to a next exporter.

But, despite the boom, there's a figurative wall between today's ethanol business and future growth: The 'blend wall relegating ethanol to either a 10% or 85% blend with gasoline. And, without further expansion of ethanol blending, it could mean an unwinding of the last 2 years' "boom time," experts say.

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Ethanol Blend Wall Still There

domesticfuel.com
Posted by Cindy Zimmerman – May 8th, 2012

The ethanol blend wall is still a reality for the industry, according to the chief economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“For the time being, I think we are at a blend wall and it’s a pretty hard wall,” said USDA’s Joe Glauber during a recent gathering of farm broadcasters in Washington DC. Glauber says the general feeling now is that the blend wall is about 13.5 billion gallons. “What gets produced in excess of that has to go out through the export market,” he said. “Last year we had a spectacular year, exporting more than a billion gallons, but most people think that won’t happen this year.” He expects Brazil in particular will not import as much ethanol this year.

While the industry is moving steadily toward the 15 billion gallon corn ethanol cap under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), Glauber says right now the market is steady at about 10 percent of ethanol blended fuel and getting E15 in the marketplace is moving slowly toward reality. “But you still have the underlying economics of whether or not a gas station is going to change over equipment to be able to sell E15,” he said. “The likely thing would be so-called blender pumps, which are expensive propositions.”

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Hart Energy Releases Ethanol and Biofuels Outlook to 2015

Biofuels Journal
Date Posted: June 14, 2011

Houston—The challenges facing the ethanol industry are multifaceted.

U.S. ethanol production is approaching ever closer to an E10 "blend wall," and the adoption of higher E15 blends is likely to occur slowly.

The main federal incentive for ethanol expires at the end of the year, along with the tariff on foreign ethanol, and extensions of some form of incentive and tariff are likely to be at far lower rates than the government has provided in the past.

California has implemented a statewide Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which will be progressively harder for U.S. corn-based ethanol to meet.

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U.S. lacks infrastructure to consume more ethanol

Western Farm Press
Brian Wallheimer, Purdue University
Jan. 4, 2011 10:56am

The United States doesn't have the infrastructure to meet the federal mandate for renewable fuel use with ethanol, but could meet the standard with significant increases in cellulosic and next-generation biofuels, according to a Purdue University study.

Wally Tyner, the James and Lois Ackerman Professor of Agricultural Economics, and co-authors Frank Dooley, a Purdue professor of agricultural economics, and Daniela Viteri, a former Purdue graduate student, used U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency data to determine that the United States is at the "blending wall," the saturation point for ethanol use. Without new technology or a significant increase in infrastructure, Tyner predicts that the country will not be able to consume more ethanol than is being currently produced.

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Letter to the Editor: Ethanol Is a Step to More Biofuels

Wall Street Journal - Letters to the Editor
By Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture
OCTOBER 26, 2010

Your editorial "The Ethanol Bailout" (Oct. 18) challenging the ethanol industry and the Environmental Protection Agency sidesteps the critical role the "blend wall" decision will play in building a sustainable green economy in America.

The EPA's decision to allow the increased use of ethanol in some automobiles is scientifically sound and follows a comprehensive review of extensive testing and other available data on E15's impact on engine durability and emissions. What's more, it will help ensure that the existing corn ethanol market acts as a successful stepping stone to a national biofuels industry that is creating jobs in every corner of the country using regionally appropriate feedstocks grown by American producers.

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DOE warns of ethanol blend wall

Des Moines Register
Blog post by Philip Brasher • pbrasher@dmreg.com • July 13, 2010

Unless more ethanol is allowed to be added to conventional gasoline, prices for the corn product are likely to fall because of the saturated market, the Energy Department says.

The department says that ethanol was blended into 9.2 percent of the total gasoline supply during April and that number could reach 10 percent in the first quarter of next year.

Under the EPA’s current regulations, gasoline used in conventional cars and trucks cannot contain more than 10 percent ethanol. That means that unless the EPA raises the limit, and service stations sell higher blends than 10 percent, the extra ethanol has to be sold for somewhere else. It could be sold for flexible-fuel cars as E85, 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, or shipped overseas. E85 will have to be priced significantly lower than conventional gasoline because of its poorer mileage, the department said.

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Ethanol makers fear 'blend wall' is near

Des Moines Register
By DAN PILLER • dpiller@dmreg.com • April 18, 2010

Just when Iowa's 39 ethanol plants had settled into regular profitability, demand for the fuel is waning and red ink is returning.

Motorists aren't turning away from the fuel. In fact, about 80 percent of U.S. gasoline is blended with ethanol.

The industry is running into the "blend wall" - the theoretical limit of the amount of ethanol that can be mixed with gasoline. Most gasoline can contain a blend of no more than 10 percent ethanol.

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USDA Experts Say Ethanol Blend Wall is Close

DomesticFuel.com
Posted by Cindy Zimmerman – April 11th, 2010

Ethanol is getting very close to hitting the blend wall, according to economists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

With four months in a row of record ethanol production and stagnant gasoline demand, ethanol stocks are increasing. “Margins have weakened a lot over the last few weeks,” says USDA chief economist Joe Glauber, and indicators are that the blend wall is closing in.

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