Corn Ethanol Now

The U.S. produces more ethanol than any other country in the world, and will soon have the capacity to produce 10 billion gallons per year. Many people believe that ethanol needs to be made from non-food crops (cellulose), and imply new cellulosic ethanol plants will be built. How about upgrading existing ethanol plants to improve energy efficiency?

There are numerous upgrades that can be made. The first step would be to install a gasifier that would turn cellulose into biogas. Cellulose could be used to replace natural gas inputs used during ethanol production. Corn oil extraction equipment can also be installed so biodiesel can be made simultaneously. These two upgrades will greatly increase the amount of positive energy return.

Current corn ethanol facilities can be upgraded to produce three fuels: Ethanol, Biodiesel, and natural gas.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Adams on July 25, 2008 at 8:00am: Nathan,

It is not clear to me what your objective is.

My objective is to get the EPA to remove their requirement for flexfuel kit certification. Since you seem determined to argue every point, should I interprete your position as opposite to mine?

The EPA standards apply to all states. CARB in California has more stringent standards, which is why certain vehicles are not available in California.

If certain aspects of state regulations are not as stringent as Federal Laws, the Federal Laws apply (at least that is the way it is supposed to be, but we currently have a Federal government who does not want to exert their authority).

Our company was prepared to create a new business unit with conversion kits until our research unveiled the EPA issues. We contacted the EPA and a legal team who specializes in EPA issues. Both advised us against proceeding at this time.

As for removal of your Catalytic Converters, you may want to rethink the rational there. Removing the CATS will not prevent your vehicle from running on gasoline, therefor the Colorado credit would not apply. Removing the CATS is a clear violation of the 1974 EPA regulation, though.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kevin Adams on July 21, 2008 at 8:53am: E85 price gouging.

In Colorado we have several fuel stations carrying E85.

In the recent months, over 7 price increases for gasoline and E85, the E85 price has risen the same dollar amount as gasoline. The most recent increase, gasoline rose $.03 while E85 rose $.10.

Is there a logical reason for E85 rising in price like this? One would think if gasoline rises $.10, E85 should rise about $.015 (or possibly up to $.03), but not the exact same amount as the gasoline increase.

Are we being punished for embracing E85?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nathan Campbell on July 21, 2008 at 8:21pm: Its still cheap! This winter E85 was $1.99 and now its $2.89. E85 in Colorado is not based on the price of gas, its based on the spot price for ethanol. Its all about the spot (wholesale) prices, and they are not always directly related. The wholesale price for ethanol recently went up 30 cents, while wholesale gasoline fell 30 cents over the last week. The increased demand for ethanol is mostly from gasoline blenders. It is now so much cheaper to sell 10% ethanol gasoline than gasoline that doesn't contain ethanol. Now the gas station and distributor (Western Convenience) makes more on every gallon of E85 they sell, especially because of the blending credit, but I am happy to give them that money because they took the business risk to sell E85 throughout Colorado. They are an American company and therefore all the money you spend on E85 stays in America, rather than going to the Middle East.

I still like how it works in Colorado a lot better than in Michigan, where E85 is pegged 50 cents below the price of regular gasoline.

Don't worry about E85 prices! They are coming down again, and soon. BILLIONS of gallons of ethanol producing capacity are under construction, and many new plants will be completed before the end of the year. One billion gallons of new ethanol capacity will come online, and supplies will no longer be as tight as they currently are.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kevin Adams on July 31, 2008 at 5:46am: In the past few days, E85 certainly did drop in price here in Colorado. At the Western Convenience stations it dropped back down to $2.79, and gasoline dropped about 5 cents.

This is the first price change in over 6 months where the spread (ie percentage difference) has been in favor of E85 (except for a 2 hour period about a month ago, when our local station had a press conference and lowered the price of E85 to $0.85).

I have not noticed changes in the spot price of ethanol, which have justified the price increases over the past 6 months. Where do you find these reports?

Do we have anyone out there who has taken advantage of the free Federal permit to make their own ethanol? If so, I would be interested in hearing what the equipment and operating costs are? I have heard operating costs of $0.85 to $1.00 per gallon.; ▶ Reply to This