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Big oil turns on biofuels

Nature Biotechnology volume 31, pages 870–873 (2013)Cite this article

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Despite government incentives and mandates, second-generation biofuels are proving tough to bring to market. Cormac Sheridan investigates.

The market for ethanol, which is almost entirely based on an E10 blend (10% ethanol and 90% gasoline) is now saturated with corn ethanol, which is scraping up against the so-called blend wall—the maximum amount of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline based on current consumption practices. Meanwhile, cellulosic biofuels should finally start flowing this year, and for weary investors and a beleaguered Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), those gallons can't come soon enough (Table 1). However, it will take a steady ramp-up in production volumes over the next several years, combined with continued support from the White House, to banish the doubts that currently beset the sector.

Table 1 US commercial-scale second-generation biofuels plants
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References

  1. US Energy Information Administration. Biofuels Issues and Trends http://www.eia.gov/biofuels/issuestrends/pdf/bit.pdf (US Department of Energy, October 2012).

  2. McPhail, L., Westcott, P. & Lutman, H. The Renewable Identification Number System and US Biofuel Mandates. http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/138383/bio03.pdf (US Department of Agriculture, November 2011).

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  4. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA proposes 2013 renewable fuel standards. http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/documents/420f13007.pdf (EPA, January 2013).

  5. US Energy Information Administration. International Energy Outlook 2013 http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/pdf/0484(2013).pdf (US Department of Energy, May 2013).

  6. George W. Bush. Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=65090 (January 31, 2006).

  7. Environmental Protection Agency. RFS renewable identification number (RIN) quality assurance program. Federal Register, 78, 21 February 2013. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-02-21/pdf/2013-03206.pdf

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  1. Dublin

    Cormac Sheridan

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Sheridan, C. Big oil turns on biofuels. Nat Biotechnol 31, 870–873 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2704

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