E15 ethanol approval imminent

The US Environmental Protection Agency will issue its ruling today at 1:30 ET on E15 ethanol blends.

Politico, the Washington Post, and The Des Moines Register is reporting that the EPA is expected to OK ethanol blends of up to 15 percent for 2007+ model years. Digest sources have confirmed the report. 18 percent of the US auto fleet consists of model years 2007-2011.

The EPA is awaiting test results on 2001 through 2006 model years from the Department of Energy, which could double the scope of the approval in the near term.

Currently, model years 1995 and later are approved for E10 ethanol blends.

Initial impact of the ruling is expected to be minimal, as retailers consider the logistic and legal implications of offering 15 percent blends to some customers, 10 percent to others. But over the next 12 years the rulling will open up the market for ethanol to more than 19 billion gallons, without the use of higher ethanol blender pumps for flex-fuel cars, as more and more post-2007 cars arrive in the marketplace.

The ruling is expected to include blends of up to 24 percent biobutanol, based on the current ratio of 1.6:1 for biobutanol vs ethanol. This would open a market of up to 31 billion gallons of biobutanol based on non flex-fuel cars, equivalent to 38 billion gallons of ethanol, in terms of the BTU content.

More in the Digest:
Corn ethanol’s stock rises, as its stocks rise.
E15 to have “bullish impact”: ethanol analysts.
EPA says E15 decision due by October 15th.