Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the final 2013 percentage standards for certain fuel categories. The fuels are part of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program established by the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA).
The rule will affect four fuel categories: biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuels, cellulosic biofuels, and total renewable fuel. The final 2013 volumes and standards are shown below:
Biomass-based diesel (1.28 billion gallons; 1.13 percent)
Advanced biofuels (2.75 billion gallons; 1.62 percent)
Cellulosic biofuels (6.00 million gallons; 0.004 percent)
Total renewable fuel (16.5 billion gallons, 9.74 percent)
The majority of these fuels are produced by domestic farmers and growers. The EPA states that these standards are issued in order to “enhance energy security and reduce carbon pollution”.
In order to provide greater flexibility for compliance, the EPA has extended the deadline for the volume requirements from February 28, 2014 to June 30, 2014.
As part of this rule announcement, the EPA also issued announcements on the “E10 blend wall”. This subject received a large number of comments during this rulemaking process. According to the EPA, “the “E10 blend wall” refers to the difficulty in incorporating ethanol into the fuel supply at volumes exceeding those achieved by the sale of nearly all gasoline as E10”. To address these comments, the EPA announced that flexibilities will be proposed to “reduce both the advanced biofuel and total renewable volumes in the forthcoming 2014 RFS volume requirement proposal”.
The original RFS program set renewable fuel volume target of 36 billion gallons by the year 2022.
For more information on the standard, click here.