US EPA finalises RFS 2018, biomass based diesel 2019 volumes

The US Environmental Protection Agency finalised renewable fuel volumes for 2018 and 2019 Thursday, with confirmation of the volumes for the 2018 Renewable Fuel Standard in particular hailed as a victory for the biofuel industry.

The rule requires 19.29 billion gallons, slightly higher than the 2017 volume and higher than a proposal released earlier in July this year.

Of that, advanced biofuels should contribute 4.29 billion gallons of which 288 million gallons should be cellulosic biofuels and 2.1 billion gallons biomass-based diesel, compared to the earlier proposal that saw the overall volume fall to 19.24 billion gallons.

The biomass-based diesel volume of 2.1 billion gallons was also confirmed for 2019.

That leaves 15 billion gallons to be fulfilled by conventional biofuels, with the vast majority to come from corn-based ethanol.

While the biofuels sector welcomed the apparent change of heart, the oil lobby hit back with the American Petroleum Institute claiming the EPA is ‘forced to implement a broken ethanol mandate’ and raising concerns that higher petrol blends may cause issues for engines that are not able to handle biofuels.

Currently, the US retail network supports gasoline blends of 10% ethanol – known as E10, but the higher blends that the biofuel industry has sought, such as E15 or E85 are not widely available.

For the biofuel industry, however, the news was seen as a positive step in fulfilling the initial vision of the RFS and would promote the adoption of flex fuel vehicles – those that are capable of driving on higher blends.

Bob Dineen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said that maintaining the 15 billion gallon guarantee for conventional biofuels “will accelerate investments in the infrastructure necessary to distribute mid-level ethanol blends like E15 and E30, and flex fuels like E85.”

The measure provided some support to US corn prices too, with something in the region of 40% of US corn heading into the energy pool as a feedstock to ethanol production.