The Energy Information Administration (EIA) today released an update to its report titled, “Biofuels Issues and Trends”, which tracked both traditional and cellulosic ethanol penetration between 2009-2012. Among several significant findings in the report are that ethanol blended with gasoline faces a “blend wall” with nearly 100% penetration of the 10% maximum blend – in other words, with only 10% allowed to be blended, we have reached the maximum capacity for ethanol in gasoline. The report also finds that cellulosic ethanol has yielded far less actual production than originally promised, and EIA had now made a downward adjustment for cellulosic ethanol of only about .5 million gallons in 2012. In addition, the 2012 summer drought in the farm states took a toll on production, reducing the biofuels forecast for the coming year.
The update can be found at: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=8430
