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EPA increases renewable fuel volumes Targets for 2017 under Renewable Fuel Standard involve increased use of all categories of renewable liquid transportation fuels ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
The Environmental Protection Agency has published a final rule setting target volumes for the use of renewable liquid fuels in the transportation sector in the United States in 2017. Overall consumption of renewable fuels is set to increase from 18.11 billion gallons in 2016 to 19.28 billion gallons next year. That volume likely translates to renewable fuels constituting 10.7 percent by volume of all transportation gasoline and diesel, the agency says. A renewable fuel is derived, essentially, from some form of currently grown plant - the growth of the plant absorbs carbon from the atmosphere, thus recycling carbon emitted into the atmosphere when a carbon-based fuel is burned.
The renewable fuel rule-making is a requirement of the Renewable Fuel Standard, a component of the Clean Air Act and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Transportation technologies typically depend on the use of liquid fuels - the idea behind the Renewable Fuel Standard is to steer an increasing use of renewable transportation fuels in place of traditional fossil fuels, thus reducing carbon emissions from transportation activities while also bolstering U.S. energy independence.
“Renewable fuel volumes continue to increase across the board compared to 2016 levels,” said Janet McCabe, EPA’s acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, on Nov. 23 when announcing the 2017 standards. “These final standards will boost production, providing for ambitious yet achievable growth of biofuels in the transportation sector. By implementing the program enacted by Congress, we are expanding the nation’s renewable fuels sector while reducing our reliance on imported oil.”
Mandated fuel mix The standards are implemented by having each fuel importer or producer acquire and use appropriate quantities of recognized renewable liquid fuels within their fuel mix. Most U.S. motorists are probably familiar with the addition of ethanol, typically corn ethanol, to conventional gasoline. However, other types of renewable fuel consist of cellulosic biofuel, generated from plant material; and biomass-based diesel, produced for example from vegetable oil. Advanced biofuels, which can include cellulosic biofuels and biomass-based diesel, are fuels that can achieve full lifecycle carbon emissions reductions of at least 50 percent, relative to conventional fossil fuels.
The new standard requires cellulosic biofuel usage to increase from 230 million gallons to 311 million gallons; biomass-based diesel usage to increase from 1.9 billion barrels to 2 billion barrels; and advanced biofuels usage to increase from 3.61 billion barrels to 4.28 billion barrels. EPA says that, other than for biomass-based diesel, the target volumes are actually lower than those that had originally been set by Congress, given some “real-world challenges” that have slowed progress towards the original renewable fuel goals. Apparently there is a waiver authority that allows the agency to set a standard that is lower than what was originally stipulated.
Constraints include the slower than anticipated development of the cellulosic biofuel industry, EPA says.
Questions and limitations Although supported by those concerned about carbon emissions from the use of fossil fuels, the standards for renewable fuel use have caused some controversy, especially since they are often more expensive to produce than fossil fuel products. Moreover, there is currently a “blendwall,” typically set at 10 percent, for the addition of ethanol to gasoline - EPA, in its final rule, says that it recognizes practical limits to the amount of ethanol that can currently be added to gasoline but that the 10 percent blendwall “is not the barrier that some stakeholders believe it to be.”
The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are funding the development of new technologies and infrastructure for the use of higher ethanol blends, while the ethanol industry is also making efforts to expand the use of higher blends through a program called “Prime the Pump,” EPA says.
Some people have also questioned the effectiveness of corn ethanol as a means of reducing carbon emissions, given the potentially carbon-intense processes of farming the required corn and distilling the alcohol. However, to meet the EPA definition of “renewable fuel,” the full life cycle carbon emissions associated with the ethanol must be at least 20 percent less than those generated from the use of a fossil fuel.
EPA has estimated that in 2016 about 380 million acres of U.S. agricultural land was used for production of crops and crop residues for use in biofuel production. That acreage is less than the 402 million acres that in 2007 EPA had determined might be needed for this purpose, EPA says. EPA has also estimated that about 118 million acres of agricultural land in Canada supports biofuel production.
Cellulosic biofuels Although the development of cellulosic biofuels has been slower than originally anticipated, there has been progress in this area, EPA says. Production of this type of fuel reached record levels in 2015, mainly as a result of the manufacture of compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas from biogas, the agency says. Cellulosic ethanol, from vegetation, was manufactured in much smaller quantities and saw its first commercial production in 2015, with production levels increasing in 2016. EPA says that it used projected production ranges for this category of fuel when developing its 2017 renewable fuel standards.
And, in setting a target for the use of advanced biofuels, EPA has determined that other forms of highly effective biofuels will fill in some of the shortfall resulting from the relatively slow rate of development of cellulosic fuels.
The desire to increase the amount of advanced biofuel used, coupled with the slow development of cellulosic fuels, is driving a greater than expected use of biomass-based diesel fuel, EPA says. At the same time, the agency says, the intent is to set a target for biomass-based diesel use that allows space for the growth of other advanced biofuels.
Taking into the account the blend of the various renewable fuel types, the total overall target of 19.28 billion gallons for renewable fuel use appears attainable in 2017, EPA says.
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