Ethanol from corn as a motor gasoline blend stock seems like a good idea. As an oxygenate it is supposed to clean up the air, and as a U.S grown renewable it reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil. The catch is that ethanol is being mandated under a morass of mind-numbingly complex government regulations, some of which conflict with each other, or worse yet are out of step with the realities of the market. For example, the mandatory volumes of ethanol required may soon exceed the quantity that the market can use. At the same time, high corn prices have driven margins on ethanol manufacture into the red forcing many ethanol producers to shutter their operation, reducing ethanol supplies. And if that were not enough, a government program created something called the renewable identification number – RIN – a 38-digit serial number that ‘tags’ batches of renewable fuels and has resulted in all sorts of complications. Today we’ll begin an examination of the ethanol market to understand how we got in this predicament and where we go from here. In Part I we tackle one of the most intractable problems – the Blend Wall.
Dad - What is Ethanol Made From?
Ethanol is 100 percent (200 percent “proof”) alcohol. Ethanol is produced by fermenting sugar in grain crops (e.g. corn) or fermenting sugar directly. To prevent ethanol production “escaping” into the adult beverage pool, producers add a small percentage of denaturant that makes you sick if you drink it. Fortunately denatured ethanol has other useful qualities including being an oxygenate. Oxygenates reduce the carbon monoxide created when gasoline burns. Oxygenates have therefore been blended into gasoline since the Clean Air Act amendments of 1992. Until 2004 methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was the principal oxygenate used in gasoline, but was regulated out of existence in the U.S. due to reported ground water contamination issues. Since then ethanol has been oxygenate of choice for US gasoline.
Unfortunately while ethanol may be a useful oxygenate, it does not travel well when blended with gasoline. Ethanol attracts water in pipeline or storage facilities. That quality damages gasoline if ethanol is stored or moved through a pipeline when blended with gasoline. As a result, ethanol has to be shipped to gasoline pipeline terminals separately, usually by train or truck. Once at the terminal, ethanol is then blended into gasoline just prior to delivery to gas stations. This characteristic adds cost and logistic constraints to the use of ethanol blend gasoline.
We touched on ethanol mandates a few weeks back in “Ethanol, Gasoline and Refineries – Another One Bites the Dust”. The regulations are mind numbingly complex and require refiners and blenders to use byzantine administrative systems to track receipts and deliveries of the stuff. The ethanol mandates are also a living beast and continue to be updated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a yearly basis.
A couple of years after ethanol began to be widely used as an oxygenate, growing concerns about US dependence on imported oil and the political clout of the corn lobby, led to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) that both mandated increased use of renewable fuel in place of gasoline. By renewable fuel, the legislation principally refers to ethanol produced from corn but also covers biodiesel, cellulose biofuel (ethanol produced using crops other than corn), and advanced biofuel. For the time being, we are restricting our discussion to the corn based ethanol rules.
The EISA contains a mandate for a renewable fuel standard (RFS). Under the RFS refiners are required to sell specific volumetric target quantities of renewable fuels each year. These volumetric targets increase from 26 MB/d in 2006 to 2.35 MMB/d in 2022. Each year the EPA estimates gasoline and diesel consumption ahead of time and then sets percentage targets for renewable fuels for refiners to blend into gasoline .The 2012 target for corn ethanol blended into gasoline is 861 MB/d or 9.23 percent of estimated gasoline sales by volume. Under the rules, the percentage of ethanol blended into gasoline will continue to increase each year as required to meet the growing volumetric ethanol targets.
Join Backstage Pass to Read Full Article
Ethanol kutoka mahindi kama motor petroli mchanganyiko hisa inaonekana kama wazo nzuri. Kama oksijeni, inapaswa kusafisha hewa, na kama nishati inayobadilika, inapunguza utegemezi wetu kwa mafuta ya kigeni na mafuta ya kigeni. "Kushindwa ni kwamba ethanol inapaswa kuwa chini ya marsh ya akili-numbingly tata kanuni za serikali, baadhi ya ambayo mapigano na kila mmoja, au mbaya zaidi bado ni nje ya hatua na hali halisi ya soko. """ Kwa mfano, kiasi cha lazima cha ethanol kinachohitajika huenda hivi karibuni kikazidi kiasi ambacho soko linaweza kutumia. Wakati huo huo, bei ya juu ya mahindi imeendesha faida ya utengenezaji wa ethanol kwenye nyekundu, ikilazimisha wazalishaji wengi wa ethanol kufunga shughuli zao, kupunguza usambazaji wa ethanol. "Kama hiyo haikutosha, mpango wa serikali uliunda kitu kinachoitwa ""nambari ya kitambulisho cha nishati mbadala"" (RIN), nambari ya 38 ya tarakimu ambayo ""inaashiria"" vikundi vya mafuta mbadala na imesababisha aina zote za matatizo." Leo tutaanza kuchunguza soko la ethanol kuelewa jinsi tulivyoingia katika hali hii na tunaenda wapi kutoka hapa. Katika Sehemu ya I sisi kushughulikia moja ya matatizo ya kutatanisha zaidi <unk> Blend Wall. - Baba, ethanoli hutengenezwa kutokana na nini? Ethanol ni asilimia 100 (asilimia 200 <unk> ushahidi<unk>) pombe. Ethanol hutengenezwa kwa fermenting sukari katika mazao ya nafaka (kwa mfano Kwa mfano, mahindi au sukari ya fermentation. Ili kuzuia uzalishaji wa ethanol "kutoroka" kwenye dimbwi la vinywaji vya watu wazima, wazalishaji huongeza asilimia ndogo ya denaturant ambayo inakufanya uugue ikiwa unakunywa. Kwa bahati nzuri ethanol denatured ina sifa nyingine muhimu ikiwa ni pamoja na kuwa oxygenate. Oksijeni hupunguza kaboni monoksidi inayotokezwa wakati mafuta yanapochoma. Oxygenated mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta. Tangu mwaka 2004 methyl butyl ether (MTBE) ilikuwa oksijeni ya msingi kutumika katika petroli, lakini ilikuwa imepigwa marufuku nchini Marekani kutokana na ripoti za masuala ya uchafuzi wa maji ya chini ya ardhi. Tangu wakati huo ethanol imekuwa oxygenate ya uchaguzi kwa ajili ya Marekani petroli. Kwa kusikitisha, ingawa ethanoli inaweza kuwa oksijeni yenye manufaa, haisafiri vizuri inapochanganywa na petroli. Ethanol huvutia maji katika mabomba au vifaa vya kuhifadhi. Ubora huo huharibu petroli ikiwa ethanoli huhifadhiwa au kuhamishwa kupitia bomba inapochanganywa na petroli. Matokeo ni kwamba, ethanoli inapaswa kusafirishwa kwa njia tofauti hadi kwenye vituo vya mabomba ya petroli, kwa kawaida kwa gari-moshi au lori. Mara baada ya kufika kwenye kituo hicho, ethanoli huchanganywa na petroli kabla tu ya kupelekwa kwenye vituo vya petroli. Sifa hii inaongeza gharama na vikwazo vya vifaa kwa matumizi ya ethanol mchanganyiko petroli. Tuligusa amri za ethanoli wiki chache nyuma katika "Ethanol, Gasoline na Refineries" "Mmoja mwingine anala vumbi". Sheria hizo ni ngumu sana na zinahitaji washonaji na watengenezaji wa blender kutumia mifumo ya kiutawala ya Byzantine kufuatilia mapato na utoaji wa bidhaa. Kwa mujibu wa sheria za Marekani, ethanol ni bidhaa ya kawaida na inapaswa kuhifadhiwa na idara ya ulinzi wa mazingira (EPA) kila mwaka. "Mwaka mmoja baada ya ethanol kuanza kutumika sana kama oksijeni, wasiwasi unaoongezeka juu ya utegemezi wa Marekani juu ya mafuta ya kuagiza na ushawishi wa kisiasa wa lobby ya mahindi ulisababisha Sheria ya Sera ya Nishati ya 2005 na Sheria ya Uhuru wa Nishati na Usalama ya 2007 (EISA) ambayo yote mawili yalilazimisha matumizi ya mafuta ya upya badala ya petroli.""" Kwa mafuta ya mbadala, sheria inahusu hasa ethanol inayotengenezwa kutoka mahindi lakini pia inashughulikia biodiesel, cellulosic biofuel (ethanol inayotengenezwa kwa kutumia mazao mengine isipokuwa mahindi), na biofuel ya hali ya juu. Kwa sasa, tunapunguza majadiliano yetu kwa sheria za ethanoli inayotokana na mahindi. EIA ina mamlaka ya kiwango cha mafuta ya mbadala (RFS). Kwa mujibu wa RFS, viwanda vya kusafisha vinapaswa kuuza kiasi maalum cha nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati ya nishati. Kiasi cha mimea hiyo kiliongezeka kutoka 26 mbitasi kwa siku mwaka 2006 hadi 2.5 mbitasi kwa siku mwaka 2022. EPA inakadiria matumizi ya mafuta ya petroli na dizeli kila mwaka na kisha kuweka asilimia ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta ya mafuta. Kwa mujibu wa sheria, asilimia ya ethanol iliyochanganywa katika petroli itaendelea kuongezeka kila mwaka kama inavyohitajika ili kukidhi malengo ya ethanol ya volumetric. Kujiunga Backstage Pass kusoma makala kamili