Last week, I was at the National Ethanol Conference, held this year in Texas. To be honest, it’s not easy to leave my 15 month at home to travel for work. While I was gone she actually learned to say Texas after asking for me frequently and being told, “Mommy is in Texas.” Daddy even showed her the state on the map, which I’m guessing was more confusing than illuminating for her.

Still, I’m glad I went. I always get something out of, as the late Kathy Bryan used to say, “showing up.” I learned a lot from listening in on the presentations and I had several meetings, some of which you will hear more about in future blogs.

I was particularly interested in the panel about higher ethanol blends. I wrote a story about it but there’s no way to include all the information presented by the speakers. I immediately knew that was a panel I didn’t want to miss, considering what I’ve learned recently about ethanol producers in Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan, who are blending onsite and selling E85 directly to retailers. The speakers gave me good ideas about the stories we should pursue for the September issue of the magazine, which has a “Growing the Market: E15 and Higher Blends” theme. 

Brian West, deputy director of the Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, talked about how the industry and the U.S. DOE is investing in programs to quantify the benefits of high octane mid-level ethanol blends in turbo engines. One is a team conducting a study on renewable super premium, to explore the benefits and challenges of E25 to E30. Another is an experiment on a late-model E15 compatible Ford EcoBoost Fiesta, which showed that E15 boosted octane and improved engine performance and efficiency. He also pointed out that the world’s fastest car is a flex-fuel vehicle, the Koenigsegg One:1, which can go from zero to 60 miles an hour in 2.5 seconds and has a top speed of 273. I’m not a gearhead but I have to say I was really excited about what he had to say about higher ethanol blends.

John Eichberger talked about the Fuels Institute, which brings diverse stakeholders together in one room, he said. Poet Ethanol Produces and ICM Inc. are on the board of advisors along with representatives from Gulf Oil, Phillips66, Toyota Motor and others. I really learned a lot from Eichberger’s presentation too.  I liked the way he presented the low number of E85 stations and low percentage of FFV drivers filling up with E85 as a big opportunity for the ethanol industry and gasoline retailers. However, he also realistically showed the challenges that must be overcome if E85 sales are going to increase.

After his presentation, I talked to Eichberger and briefly mentioned the ethanol plants that are blending and selling E85 directly to retailers, which he said he hadn’t heard about previously. As I’ve said before, I think more ethanol producers should be selling E85 directly to area retailers.

The successes of ethanol producers doing it now show that it helps lower prices for E85 and higher blends, which drives sales and encourages other area retailers to install blender pumps. From what I’ve learned, increasing the number of ethanol producers blending and selling directly to retailers could have a seriously significant impact on overcoming the challenges in increasing E85 sales. As Eichberger said in his presentation, selling more volumes of ethanol is all about price.

But, as Mitch Miller, CEO of Michigan ethanol plant Carbon Green Bioenergy LLC, told me, it’s not enough to just announce you have E85 for sale. The ethanol producers I spoke to have put in a lot of time talking to area retailers, helping them get set up to offer higher ethanol blends, providing them with educational materials and, in some cases, even spending money helping them market the fuels. It’s a big project to take on but one that can have significant benefits for individual ethanol plants, the ethanol industry as a whole and consumers.