Ethanol growth continues upward movement

Feb. 24, 2006
Ethanol has moved from a niche market in the Midwest to a national and ubiquitous component of the US motor fuels market, said Bob Dinneen, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president, at the National Ethanol Conference in Las Vegas NV February 20-22.

Ethanol has moved from a niche market in the Midwest to a national and ubiquitous component of the US motor fuels market, said Bob Dinneen, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president, at the National Ethanol Conference in Las Vegas NV February 20-22.

Dinneen made the argument through a list of statistics that include:

•Ethanol today is blended in more than a third of the nation’s gasoline and is used from coast to coast and from border to border.

•Ten-percent ethanol can be used in every vehicle on the road today, he pointed out.

•In 2005, 95 ethanol refineries were in production, 14 began operation, 30 began construction, 10 were expanded and the industry produced a record four-billion gallons of fuel and nine-million metric tons of distillers feed from more than 1.5-billion bushels of grain.

Dinneen also noted that although Brazil produced slightly more ethanol in 2005, the United States is poised to overtake Brazil and become the world’s leading fuel ethanol producer this year.

"Our analysis concludes that the RFS (renewable fuel standard) will displace more than two-billion barrels of oil through 2012, reducing the outflow of dollars to foreign oil regimes by as much as $100 billion," he said.

To see his remarks in their entirety, click here for the RFA Web site.