Ethanol Blog
Todd Neeley DTN Staff Reporter

Thursday 07/29/10
Agriculture to Benefit from E15



The Environmental Protection Agency reviews a proposal to approve the use of 15 percent ethanol blend as a means to meet the 2022 Renewable Fuel Standards, according to the Farmland Forecast Blog at Agweb.com. Since the new energy bill requires the U.S. to use 36 billion gallons of bio-fuels by 2022, the EPA is receiving pressure from ethanol producers and energy group to deliver a decision as soon as possible. The groups fear that approval of the 15 percent blend could cause ethanol supply to catch up with demand, whereas demand now is constrained by the 10 percent blend cap. Advocates of the measure worry that hitting such a "blend wall" could slow industry growth and innovation, as implementation of E15 may mean restriction that could limit the higher blend to newer vehicles made in 2007 or after.

(Agweb.com, July 29, 2010)

(http://www.agweb.com/…)

DTN: An EPA approval of the E15 blend could, however, bump up demand for grain used in ethanol production and would provide long-term support for grain prices. With ethanol producers needing more grain, farmers would be encouraged to produce more corn and soybeans. Net farm income could increase as much as $13 billion by 2022 if the blend is approved, according to EPA estimates. (Cheryl Anderson)
Posted at 11:50AM CDT 07/29/10
Comments (10)
Rather than splitting up the market with different age cars getting different fuels, it is seems the EPA could just increase the allowable ethanol content in gasoline by 1% per year for the next 5 years to get to E-15. Keep the trend going to get to even higher blends like E-20 or E-30. This is predictable and gradual which should help stabilize agricultural and other markets. Could be a concept worth looking at.
Posted by Thomas Blazek at 12:15PM CDT 07/29/10
Predictability is important to industry and agriculture. Its time to stop jerking the biofuels industry around and get on a predictable - sustainable path to the future, for everyone’s benefit, including farmers, consumers and industry as a whole.
Posted by Thomas Blazek at 1:17PM CDT 07/29/10
Thomas, What is the theory behind the gradualist approach to higher blends? If the seals in your car dissolve as a result of the higher blends, will a gradual changeover give you a different outcome? Do you think that a 1996 Chevy Impala would build up a tolerance to the higher blends like an addict builds up a tolerance to heroin? Or is this the boiling frog metaphor? If you do a bad thing gradually, the victim won't react.
Posted by Marcus Anonymous at 9:28PM CDT 07/30/10
More debunked propaganda from Marcus...ethanol will not "dissolve" the seals in your car! Especially vehicles made after about 1982 when lead (an octane booster) was pretty much phased out and automakers were making all their cars alcohol tolerant since alcohol is also a tremendous octane booster without the nasty side effects caused by lead or benzene exposure. Alcohol (ethanol) is non toxic, clean burning, very high octane & renewable. Oil companies hate it because alcohol can be made by anybody which means they can't patent it and charge an arm & a leg for it to boost their profits!
Posted by Patrick Reid at 11:47PM CDT 07/30/10
Patrick, You don't need permission from an oil company to sell E85. Go do it! Put it in your own car! Go do it! When the Germans and Japanese ran out of gasoline at the end of WWII, their planes stayed on the ground. It wasn't because they couldn't get permission from Exxon to fill them with E85. And it wasn't because they didn't need higher octane. It was because their machines weren't built for hooch.
Posted by Marcus Anonymous at 9:39AM CDT 07/31/10
Who's afraid of ethanol? Marcus for the record I use ethanol in the following vehicles: 1989 Honda Civic 263,000 miles, 1989 GMC Sierra Pick Up, 105,000 miles, 1991 Buick Park Avenue, 163,000 miles, 2002 Yukon XL (Flex Fuel), 125,000 miles, 2003 Honda Civic, 100,000 miles, and when I get the 1992 Dodge Caravan running, 199,000 miles, that was in a wreck several years ago, I'll use some ethanol in that too. People say a lot of hype against ethanol but it is actually superior to gasoline when all things are considered. Did you know that Big Oil mixes low octane gasoline with ethanol when they can because the ethanol will pick up the slack with its high octane boost. Just a little tidbit for the ethanol haters. Put a little ethanol in your tank and say goodbye to engine ping! It works for me. One more thing, all my cars new and old, run like a top.
Posted by Thomas Blazek at 10:19PM CDT 07/31/10
Marcus, I run E85 exclusively in my vehicles (2) and have been for over 4 years now. Exceptional fuel! Burns clean, 300-400 degrees cooler in the combustion process, and my fuel money is not leaving the country to finance hostile regimes around the world. BTW...E85 has an octane rating of over 105 which makes it better than AVGAS at only 100 octane (which uses lead to do this). If you don't recall, lead was faced out in the late '70s because it has the nasty characteristic of being toxic to human life.
Posted by Patrick Reid at 12:11AM CDT 08/01/10
When they took the lead of gasoline car engine life seemed to go from 100,000 miles to 200,000 miles. Spark plug life went from 10,000 miles to over 100,000 miles. I've changed plugs out now after over 100,000 miles and wondered why because the old plugs looked so good. Gee I wonder what taking the lacquer and varnish filled gasoline out of our fuel supply will do!
Posted by Thomas Blazek at 3:54AM CDT 08/01/10
Thomas, Patrick, Your research is wonderful news! You need to tell the RFA and maybe that will convince the ethanol industry to guarantee its own product!
Posted by Marcus Anonymous at 3:39PM CDT 08/01/10
Marcus, Does Exxon, BP, Shell, etc guarantee gasoline? What do you want the ethanol industry to guarantee? You just want to be able to blame ethanol for anything that goes wrong with your vehicles just like most misinformed (or defenders of the status quo) people do. You are now a little more educated about ethanol...get past all the negative propaganda put out by Big Oil. These myths or general fear of ethanol is designed to cast doubt and give people like you a scapegoat to go after. Gasoline is the junk that causes more engine problems and damage because of all the left over waste from the oil refining process that make up its contents!
Posted by Patrick Reid at 8:52PM CDT 08/01/10
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