May contain 10 percent ethanol

May contain 10 percent ethanol

By Suzanne Haberman Friday, 12 February 2010

WILLIAMSON COUNTY — Drivers who fill up at some Williamson County gas stations may have noticed the fuel they are buying contains up to 10 percent ethanol. As ethanol becomes more widely used, drivers may wonder why it is so prevalent and what effect the blend will have on pocketbooks and mileage.

Blended fuel may seem as though it appeared overnight, but ethanol’s journey to local pumps has taken more than 20 years, first showing up after federal legislation in 2007.

When amendments to the Clean Air Act passed in the 1990s, Congress required gasoline be reformulated with an oxygenate to help reduce emissions produced by burning fossil fuels. Oil refineries originally combined fuel with a petroleum byproduct called methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put a stop to its use after the chemical leaked into the ground and contaminated drinking water supplies.

“The agency eliminated the requirement for the use of MTBE as an oxygenate fuel and settled on the use of ethanol, which is a renewable fuel,” EPA regional spokesman Dave Bary said.

It was not until April 2009, however, that Texas law required signs on fuel pumps to clearly state the fuel contains ethanol.

 

Ethanol is an alcohol made from the simple sugars found in crops such as grain and sugar cane. More than 80 percent of ethanol produced comes from corn, much of which is grown in the Midwest, according to a report by the American Petroleum Institute. The price of ethanol is largely driven by the price of corn, much like the price of gasoline is driven by the price of crude oil.

In addition to being a renewable resource, ethanol burns cleaner than petroleum fuel, so its use decreases the amount of nitrous oxide vehicles emit into the air. However, ethanol has 20 to 30 percent lower energy content than fossil fuel, a small difference drivers might notice at the wheel.

“That means you get a 25 to 30 percent reduction in fuel economy, so at the 10 percent level, that’s 2 or 3 percent,” API Fuels Issues Manager Al Mannato said.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 only mandated that areas with poor air quality offer ethanol-blended fuel. Dallas and Houston fell into the EPA’s nonattainment category for regions with high pollution.

Further amendments under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 called for the use of ethanol everywhere, even in areas with lower air pollution.

“Therefore, you’re beginning to see the use of ethanol gasoline not only in nonattainment areas, but also all across the country,” Bary said.

The goal of the program is to burn 36 billion gallons of ethanol a year by 2020. In 2009, consumers burned 11.1 billion gallons in the United States.

“We estimate about 80 percent of the gasoline nationwide has ethanol in it,” Mannato said.

The blend the EPA is considering that would increase ethanol to 15 percent is not called E85. E85 contains up to 85 percent ethanol and is already available for flexible fuel vehicles designed to burn alternative fuels. API spokeswoman Cathy Landry said the institute is opposed to the increase until adequate testing can show that all vehicles can run effectively on the increased ratio.

(Correction: We incorrectly referred to E85 as 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent fuel when the combination is the other way around. We apologize for the error.)