The EPA recently announced changes to the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) that improves opportunities for biogas to be utilized as a vehicular fuel by qualifying it as an advanced cellulosic biofuel. Biogas-derived Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) produced from landfills, municipal waste-water treatment facility digesters, agricultural digesters, and separated MSW digesters… Keep reading →
Biofuels proponents have been meeting with White House officials this week in attempts to ensure Renewable Fuel Standard blending requirements will not be reduced this year, as first indicated by EPA. The various groups also want new classifications of biofuels to be included as accepted fuels under the legislation. “More than 35 applications for new… Keep reading →
Fuel stability woes challenge the increase of FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester) biodiesel beyond the current B5, or 5% blend. Mercedes-Benz and some other original engine manufacturers (OEM’s) will not warranty their engines when blends of B6 or higher are used. The reason is due to poor oxidation stability that causes the fuel to biodegrade… Keep reading →
A tanker carrying 1 million barrels of crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan reportedly just rounded the Florida pan handle and is scheduled to land in Galveston, Texas. The buyer is unclear and Iraq’s official crude oil marketer SOMO is threatening to sue anyone purchasing the cargoes, which the government in Baghdad views as violating the… Keep reading →
Almost half of 2014 is behind us, and yet EPA still hasn’t finalized the ethanol requirements for this year. This is not a recipe for predictability and reliability in the gasoline markets, and the administration’s inability to meet the congressionally-mandated deadline of November 30th is a clear example of how unworkable the RFS is. Given… Keep reading →
With winter grudgingly giving way to spring, the guess here is discussion of the flawed Renewable Fuel Standard’s ethanol mandates, higher ethanol-blend fuels like E15 and the “blend wall” will rekindle debate in Congress. Lawmakers must act, because while EPA has proposed lowering ethanol-mandate levels from 2013, the rule still isn’t final (it was due at the end of November last year) and… Keep reading →
In recent years we’ve regularly disagreed with the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) because its ethanol mandates could harm consumers and the broader economy. The conversation with Big Ethanol has been, well, spirited. That said, hats off to RFA for including an oil and natural gas industry executive as one of the keynote… Keep reading →
We’ve written quite a bit about bad things that could occur because of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) mandates for ever-increasing ethanol use in the fuel supply – from potential damage to vehicle engines and small power equipment engines to broader impacts in the economy. A study by NERA Economic Consulting warned that RFS mandates could lead to fuel rationing and supply… Keep reading →
Ethanol requirements for U.S. gasoline appear to be losing friends and influencing the wrong people, with calls growing to reform or scrap the government mandates altogether. The Environmental Protection Agency in November proposed reducing the amount of renewable fuels, including corn-based ethanol, that oil refiners must blend with gasoline. The rule is a centerpiece of… Keep reading →
More problems with the Renewable Fuel Standard – an ethanol and biodiesel US transportation fuel supply blending requirement – have arisen with fraud allegations against an Indiana company that sold 33.5 million renewable-fuel credits for biofuel it never produced. This is not the first time fraudulent renewable-fuel credits have disrupted the RIN market and the EPA has been… Keep reading →
