The Future Of U.S. Biofuel Infrastructure
Introduction
The U.S. biofuel infrastructure is booming, with more than 8,000 gas stations selling E85 ethanol blends in 2018 and more than 10 million flex-fuel vehicles on the road today. Yet there’s still a long way to go before we reach our fuel goals for 2050: 60 percent of vehicles fueled by electricity or hydrogen and 80 percent run by natural gas or other alternative fuels like biodiesel, bioethanol or biomethane (a methane-rich form of biogas). Here’s what you need to know about the future of U.S. biofuel infrastructure as it relates to transportation fuels:
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) required the federal government’s fleet to have 700,000 flex-fuel vehicles by 2015.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) required the federal government’s fleet to have 700,000 flex-fuel vehicles by 2015. EISA is a part of the Energy Independence and Security Act, which was enacted in 2007 with the goal of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and protecting America’s national security.
Section:
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel derived from vegetable oils, animal fats and recycled greases. It can be used in all diesel engines (including older models), even if they were not built to use biodiesel.
Biodiesel has many advantages over petroleum-derived diesel:
- It’s cleaner burning than petroleum-based fuels, so it produces fewer pollutants when burned.
- Biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80{a5ecc776959f091c949c169bc862f9277bcf9d85da7cccd96cab34960af80885} compared with traditional fossil fuels like gasoline or natural gas – making it an important part of the solution for climate change.
One of the most important elements of this law was an increase in use of renewable fuels.
One of the most important elements of this law was an increase in use of renewable fuels. Renewable fuels are cleaner than fossil fuels, which means they reduce our dependence on foreign oil and help the environment.
Congress also established a “renewable fuels standard” (RFS) that requires certain quantities of renewable fuel be blended with gasoline and diesel fuel.
Congress also established a “renewable fuels standard” (RFS) that requires certain quantities of renewable fuel be blended with gasoline and diesel fuel. The RFS was created to help expand the market for domestic biofuels, including ethanol and biodiesel, which are considered environmentally friendly because they emit fewer greenhouse gases than traditional fossil fuels.
The RFS has two parts: an annual minimum volume requirement and an overall maximum volume limit. In addition to these requirements, Congress allocated 15 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuel credits over 10 years from 2010 through 2020; the first year saw 2 billion gallons of these credits allocated toward meeting the RFS target for 2022–2023; however, this number could increase if there is not enough infrastructure in place by 2022–2023 when those 2 billion gallons are needed again!
In 2007, about 1 percent of gasoline sales were for ethanol blends, but this increased to 2 percent in 2010 and 4 percent in 2014.
In 2007, about 1 percent of gasoline sales were for ethanol blends, but this increased to 2 percent in 2010 and 4 percent in 2014. The federal government requires that at least 10{a5ecc776959f091c949c169bc862f9277bcf9d85da7cccd96cab34960af80885} of all fuel sold in the United States contain some kind of biofuel by 2022.
This is the most common type of ethanol found in the United States.
E85, also known as “FlexFuel” or simply 85{a5ecc776959f091c949c169bc862f9277bcf9d85da7cccd96cab34960af80885} ethanol, is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. It can be used in any vehicle that uses gasoline, including cars, trucks and motorcycles.
E85 is made by mixing the right amount of pure ethanol with the right amount of unleaded gasoline at the refinery level. The resulting blend is then put into underground storage tanks until it’s delivered to gas stations where it’s dispensed by pump attendants just like regular unleaded fuel (except they will ask you if your vehicle runs on E85).
There are several different ways to make biodiesel, including using soybean oil or other vegetable oils like sunflower or canola oils as well as animal fats such as tallow or lard.
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can be used in any diesel engine. It’s made from vegetable oil, animal fats, or recycled cooking oil and can be used to power cars and trucks.
There are many different types of biodiesel but they all have the same basic chemical structure: an alcohol molecule attached to two long chains made up of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached at each end (H-C-H). The number of carbons determines what type of fuel it will be: if there are more than 10 carbons then it’s considered diesel; if it has less than 10 carbons then it’s considered an ethanol–this would be suitable for use in an internal combustion engine like those found in cars or boats but wouldn’t work well in large trucks because they need higher compression ratios than regular engines do!
The Department of Energy estimates that there are about 200 million flex-fuel vehicles on U.S. roads today, which means that about half of all cars manufactured since 2001 are able to run on both ethanol and gasoline blends such as E85 (85 percent ethanol).
Conclusion
The future of biofuel is bright, but there are still many challenges ahead. The technology to produce renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel has improved greatly over the past few decades, but production costs are still high and there are concerns about food prices rising if more land is used for growing crops instead of feeding people.