Isra-Mart srl:US watchdog ups ethanol targets for 2011

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Isra-Mart srl news:

The US Environmental Protection Agency yesterday finalized its targets for renewable fuel use next year, increasing the proportion of road transport fuel that has to come from first and second generation biofuels.

Under the new standards, which have to be released each year under legislation that requires the US to increase renewable fuel production to 36 billion gallons in 2022, production of ethanol will be required to increase from 12.95 billion gallons this year to 13.95 billion gallons next year.

Overall renewable fuel will have to account for just over 8.01 per cent of all road transport fuel sold at US service stations if they are to meet the legally binding standards. The new target represents an increase on the proposed target of 7.95 per cent released earlier in the year by the EPA.

Total sales of ethanol could be higher still if the EPA rules that service stations can sell a higher proportion of ethanol in blended fuels that combine biofuels and conventional fuels. A final decision on whether fuels containing up to 15 per cent ethanol are suitable for older cars is expected in January.

Overall the target will result in 12.6 billion gallons of ethanol being produced and 1.35 billion gallons of alternative biofuels such as biodiesel, biomass-based fuels and cellulosic ethanol made from grasses and waste organic material.

The target for cellulosic ethanol of 6.6 million gallons or just 0.003 per cent of total fuel sales was lower than the statutory, but the EPA said that it was necessary given "an analysis of expected market availability". It added that the agency "remains optimistic that the commercial availability of cellulosic biofuel will continue to grow in the years ahead".

Bob Dineen, president and chief executive of the US Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), urged the EPA to be careful not to scale back targets for second generation biofuels too far.

"By reducing the standard for cellulosic biofuels, EPA is accurately reflecting the difficulties cellulosic biofuel technologies have encountered in obtaining the capital needed to fully commercialise," he said in a statement. "However, being aware of this fact, EPA should have been and must be careful to keep cellulosic biofuel targets ambitious so as to stimulate the kind of investment these technologies need to finish commercialisation."