EIA: Ethanol in 95% of US Gasoline

NEW YORK (DTN) -- Blends of petroleum-based gasoline with 10% ethanol, commonly referred to as E10, now account for more than 95% of the fuel consumed in motor vehicles with gasoline engines, according to a new report by the Energy Information Administration.

The "Today in Energy" report says ethanol-blended fuels are one pathway to compliance with elements of the federal renewable fuel standard. The total volume of ethanol blended into motor fuels used in the United States has continued to increase since 2010, albeit at a declining rate of growth. The use of ethanol-free gasoline by fuel consumers has declined.

EIA tracks fuel components through data it collects from refiners, importers, large blending terminals, and ethanol producers.

U.S. refiners produce large volumes of blendstocks for oxygenate blending that are referred to as RBOB or CBOB depending on whether they are formulated to be blended with ethanol to make reformulated or conventional gasoline, respectively.

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Another distinct gasoline blendstock known as CARBOB is used to produce California reformulated gasoline; EIA reports aggregate CARBOB with all other RBOBs.

With nearly all U.S. gasoline now being sold as E10, the only way to increase ethanol use in the motor vehicle fleet is to adopt fuel blends containing a higher volume of ethanol, such as E15 and E85. However, not all gasoline-powered vehicles can use these fuels.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a partial waiver allowing the use of E15 in model year 2001 and newer vehicles. Fuels marketed as E85, which contain between 51% and 83% ethanol by volume, can only be used in flex-fuel vehicles.

Recent EIA congressional testimony on the RFS program estimates that flex fuel vehicles make up about 7% of the current on-road fleet of light-duty vehicles in the United States.

Notwithstanding the partial waiver and the significant number of flex-fuel vehicles now in use, sales of E15 and E85 remain very limited because of a variety of economic, environmental, and distribution system challenges.

EIA data cannot directly measure E15 and E85 use, in part because these fuels can be blended at the point of sale. However, in the final rule for the RFS program for calendar years 2014, 2015, and 2016 that was issued in November 2015, EPA estimated use of 320 million gallons of E15 and 200 million gallons of E85 in 2016.

Combined, these values would represent only 0.4% of the total 142 billion gallons of fuel use by vehicles and other equipment with gasoline-burning engines expected during 2016, according to EIA's latest Short-term Energy Outlook.

(BM/AG)

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