Last Friday the Biden administration raised the mandatory amount of biofuel, specifically ethanol, that must be blended within the U.S. gasoline supply. The previous amount of 10% (summer blend) was raised to a year-round 15% (waiver) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This is likely to lead to two sets of bigger issues, less food and higher gas prices.
♦ First issue. – The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a government mandate, passed in 2005 and expanded in 2007, that requires growing volumes of biofuels to be blended into U.S. transportation fuels like gasoline and diesel every year. Approximately 40 percent of corn grown in the U.S. is used for ethanol. Raising the amount of ethanol required in gasoline will result in the need for more biofuel (corn). With farming costs and outputs already under pressure this could be problematic.
♦ Second issue – The EPA enforces the biofuel standard by requiring refineries to submit purchase credits (known as Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs) to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proving the purchases. This enforcement requirement sets up a system where the RIN credits are bought and sold by small refineries who do not have the infrastructure to do the blending process. They purchase second-hand RIN credits from parties that blended or imported biofuels directly. This sets up a secondary income stream, a trading market for the larger oil companies, refineries and importers.
The RIN credit trading platform is similar to what we might expect to see if the ‘Carbon Trading’ scheme was ever put into place. However, now that summer biofuel requirements for blended gasoline have gone from 10% to 15%, the price of the RIN credits will likely jump. This will cost refineries billions in additional expenses,…. which will mean the cost of the gasoline from the refineries will increase,….. which will mean the cost of the gasoline at the pump will go higher.
The EPA theory is that RIN credits should be expensive thereby forcing all oil refineries to invest in infrastructure that makes the blended fuel. All of the infrastructure from the refinery to the gas station would need to be modified to facilitate the new 15% RFS standard. Again, higher prices at the pumps as a result of oil companies and refineries needing to spend billions on upgrades. Which brings us to issue number three.
♦ Third Issue – “Ethanol is a valuable source of octane in finished gasoline, but it is chemically different than petroleum gasoline and cannot be used in concentrations above 10 percent in small engines — like outboard boat motors, motorcycles, lawnmowers, generators or chain saws — or in any cars made before 2001. Complicating matters further, most cars on the road today still aren’t warrantied to run on gasoline with more than 10 percent ethanol. Retail stations also must have compatible infrastructure in order to sell gasoline with higher ethanol blends.” This issue is known within the industry as “The Blend Wall.”
The net result of Joe Biden’s EPA raising the mandatory amount of biofuel that must be present in the U.S. gas supply is this:
(1) Less food as more corn is needed for ethanol.
(2) Higher prices for finished and blended gasoline.
(3) Vehicle engines breaking down at a much higher rate.
The predictable Biden outcome is the absolute worst scenario for the middle-class.
ABC Article on the EPA change HERE.
AFPM Background Information HERE.
WASHINGTON – “The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers group, which represents refineries, called the 2022 figure “bewildering and contrary to the administration’s claims to be doing everything in their power to provide relief to consumers.” The group said unachievable mandates will increase fuel production costs and keep consumer prices high.” (more)
Literally just put 5% more ethanol in the tank when you blend it. There is no upgrade cost to the refineries or filling stations. And it’s not a mandate-gas companies CAN blend up to 15% if they want to. They will do it, because it’s cheaper than gas, at least for now.
Pay attention to the octane at the pump, too- ethanol raises the octane, so the refineries blend it with lower grade gas (85 octane or less) to make 87 octane. Less refined means more impurities and less energy per gallon. Ethanol does absorb water and causes some problems, but it’s also getting the blame for the less-refined fuel the refineries are sending out.
The corn being used is not used for people food. The starch is made into ethanol and the fiber and protein are fed to cows, pigs and chickens, just like the corn would have been.
There is energy cost to make ethanol, there is energy cost to ship it, but if it wasn’t cheaper than gas, the refineries wouldn’t be blending as much as they do.
I don’t have time to read all the comments, but maybe you will see this:
I have a ’99 Tahoe in great shape and rebuilt pretty much everything. I have read vehicles produced prior to 2001 cannot run on 15% ethanol. Do you know of an additive to account for this? Perhaps some motor oil of some kind?
My only comment on your post is that fields and fertilizer used for this special corn are necessarily not being used for growing human food. There is no excuse for us to need ethynol. NONE. We have plenty of oil in North America to never need to import oil again. We just need to get it out of the ground and to refineries built for what we have. That takes some time and expense – but it is a WHOLE lot cheaper than paying $6 gallon for a year and paying for wars in the ME.
I think there are octane booster you can buy at farm stores for tractors, but it won’t get rid of the alchol that burns hotter and injures you engine.
I use an octane booster in my Harley otherwise it spits and sputters. Out west many Harley shops sell octane booster because many gas stations only have 85 and 87 octane. Those big Twin-Vs like octane.
Ethanol does not burn hotter (fewer BTUs per unit volume than unadulterated gasoline).
In NC you can buy gas without ethanol. I would switch to that even though it is more expensive.
It’s just that Ethanol is more corrosive on the feed lines. Modern cars have Enthanol-resistant hoses.
The problem is that the extra percentage of ethanol will destroy your fuel lines because they are not designed to handle that higher concentration of alcohol. It’s not that the engine won’t run, it’s that your fuel system including gas tank, fittings, and fuel lines under the hood will be destroyed by running high ethanol fuel through them.
Yea. And we have free energy it’s just being suppressed. Look at Tesla’s work and electromagnetism. This is all a big show and manipulation. EU plasma cosmology – Thunderbolts project will explain a lot. We don’t need oil or any other source than the ether to create “fuel” and “energy”.
Purchase 100 percent fuel and done! Yes spend now or later.
SEE MY COMMENT ABOVE YOURS!!!! LUCAS GAS TREATMENT!!!!
OMG, what you don’t know is staggering
That reply is being polite.
Please enlighten the rest of us…
No, the corn is not food corn but growing more of it takes land away from the food crop. Also, ethanol production is water intensive and also takes that resource away from food crops. Price of ethanol corn is subsidized which makes growing food corn less profitable, further diminishing availability of food corn..
Do the math.
I see the tobacco farmers are all growing corn this year. No food crop gone, just tobacco
That’s mostly feed corn for farm animals.
Which makes it food corn.
??? Ethanol is lower BTU , corrosive, does NOT raise octane levels, does not magically blend with gasoline (the polarity difference alone makes this obvious), the refineries are mandated by effing law to put it, nothing you say here makes sense, – you must be from Nebraska.
Been using the alcohol in gas for 40+ years and started due to the poor quality of the gas.
Just about everything you think you know is wrong.
1: Add the extra 5% when you blend it, where exactly? Everything downstream of that point needs to be able to handle the extra ethanol.
2:”Less refined means more impurities and less energy” Wrong on both points. Exactly what impurities are you talking about? And what is “more refined” vs. “less refined? There is no such thing. Crude is refined to emphasize the desired output, whether it is diesel or gasoline. Also, it is a common misconception that high octane = more energy. It is actually the opposite. The octane rating is merely a measure of how quickly the fuel ignites, with higher octane meaning slower burning. That is why high compression engines need the higher rating. It is because of the engine, not the energy in the gasoline, that high compression engines are more powerful. It is possible to raise the octane of gasoline by adding propane for example. Yes, gasoline will absorb gasses like propane. And propane has a much lower BTU content than gasoline.
3: The corn. Ok, so that particular variety is not for people food. But what really matters, the farmland and other resources used to grow the corn could be used for people food.
no energy cost to make ethanol? What, it is manufactured using magic?
I have a 2021 Vehicle…I use the blended gas just like everybody else…HOWEVER, I use Lucas Gas Treatment and this is how I do it…VERY IMPORTANT —> 1 LARGE BOTTLE & 1 SMALLER BOTTLE…
USING THE SMALLER BOTTLER
1st time – FULL BOTTLE IN TANK!!!
2ND TIME & THERE AFTER USE 1/2 SMALL BOTTLE
I just took the vehicle to the dealer and had them look at the engine (scoping) AND THE ENGINE WAS CLEAN AS A WHISTLE!!!
Where to BUY— (READY) LOWES AND HOME DEPOT!!!!
Older cars can use it also…
NOTE: I also had a 2009 VW and USED this EXACT TREATMENT ON THE ENGINE!!!! Died in the parking lot!!!! Please a moment of Silence….😂🤣😁😀😎😎😎
The biggest problem we have is the politicians have nothing to worry about. No matter how bad they make things for the people, nothing changes for them. They live off the tax payers and the poor people they say they are helping. All the good stuff like SS , health care, they have their own plans. They are not as dumb as they look, exempt from everything.
Scary for those of us with little knowledge on “octane” and if having 15% will damage our cars. I paid my 2016 Kia Soul off and only have 38K miles on it. I have babied it and taken good care of it. Now, we have to deal with this shit.
I’m furious that after paying the car off and taking good care of it, this IDIOT in office has destroyed the supply lines and cut off keystone to go along with his Global Cabal handlers.
I’m going to be punished by the Freaks who are running the West out of the offices of the World Economic Forum – because THEY WANT TO CONTINUE flying their private jets and owning more houses than they need.
Are you familiar with the term “subsidies”?
“The corn being used is not used for people food. The starch is made into ethanol and the fiber and protein are fed to cows, pigs and chickens, just like the corn would have been.”
The land, water, fertilizer, labor etc would be devoted to food/feed, if not for government subsidies/mandates, so to say it is not used for food is a half truth.
“There is energy cost to make ethanol, there is energy cost to ship it, but if it wasn’t cheaper than gas, the refineries wouldn’t be blending as much as they do.”
Another half truth. More accurate to say
“but if the government subsidy didn’t make it cheaper than gas, the refineries wouldn’t blend as much as they do “
It takes 100,000 BTU/gallon to plant, harvest and distill corn for Ethanol which has 80,000 BTU/gallon that you add to 110,000 BTU/gallon gasoline to reduce your mileage and ruin your engine.
“From Muscle Power to Carbon Empowerment” at principia-scientific.com
Don’t forget.
More ethanol =less mpg = more gallons of gas required for the same daily transportation.
Same price at the pump so they make more money. It is all about the friggin money. Always has been.
Remember back when ethanol was introduced. The gaskets in all of our vehicles dissolved away. So now Biden wants to destroy our engines, so we buy EVs? None of this will end well. I see very hard times in our future.
Bob,
Wait until the Gov’t. devises a way to add ethanol to electricity! LOL
The difference in an E10 engine and an E85 engine is partially the hoses that deliver the fuel from the tank to the fuel pump to the engine. The seals in those parts are specifically designed to handle the increased alcohol content and if they can’t you have a breakdown in the seals and hose tubes which can either contaminate the components or cause leaks. This is appears to be another time where the Biden Administration is telling consumers they can eat cake and suffer if these things happen to them.
Not in the discussion at all is the skyrocketing of fertilizer costs, of which corn is a huge consumer. That means that the price is going to jump up hard for ethanol. That means the the cost of summer gasoline is also going to jump.
I have a small patch of farmland in Iowa. I was concerned for the man who farms it, so I asked him about this year’s crop. He replied that he and most farmers had already secured fertilizer for this year. But he indicated next year was going to be very bad.
Biden is nothing more than a wooden-head globalist puppet. Dude can’t even read teleprompter properly.
This is all being done by the globalist elites, that even call themselves elites, for the specific purpose of bringing all of humanity to it’s knees before them. Even if it means the death of billions.
Wake up people!!
Let’s go Brandon!
Don’t cars have an ethanol limit? Years ago it said on my car no more than 5%. Haven’t checked in years, guess I will now.
x
Let’s go Brandon
All these problems will hopefully start to be resolved starting in and around Jan 6th, 2025.
You still buying the fairy tale that elections in this country are honest?
The problem with pre-2001 vehicles is that the lines, seals and such were not made to deal with the SOLVENT effect of Ethanol (the same with a lot of small motors as well). Ethanol is a very good solvent and many types of polymers suffer rapid breakdowns. Likewise Ethanol is Hygroscopic, it takes up water from the atmosphere (which is why it cannot be transported in pipelines) higher water content increases corrosion in the fuel system and damages the fuel and other sensors.