06.08.2013 Views

Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Renewable Fuel Standard ...

Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Renewable Fuel Standard ...

Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Renewable Fuel Standard ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

production/technologies, refer to Section 7.1.2 <strong>of</strong> the Draft Regulatory Impact Analysis<br />

(DRIA).<br />

The ethanol production process is relatively resource-intensive <strong>and</strong> requires the<br />

use <strong>of</strong> water, electricity <strong>and</strong> steam. Steam needed to heat the process is generally<br />

produced onsite or by other dedicated boilers. Of today’s 102 ethanol production<br />

facilities, 98 burn natural gas, 2 burn coal, 1 burns coal <strong>and</strong> biomass, <strong>and</strong> 1 burns syrup<br />

from the process to produce steam. A summary <strong>of</strong> ethanol production by plant energy<br />

source is found below in Table VI.A.1-2.<br />

Table VI.A.1-2<br />

2006 U.S. Ethanol Production by Energy Source<br />

Capacity % <strong>of</strong> No. <strong>of</strong> % <strong>of</strong><br />

Energy Source MMGal/yr Capacity Plants Plants<br />

Natural Gas a<br />

4,671 95.9% 98 96.1%<br />

Coal 102 2.1% 2 2.0%<br />

Coal & Biomass 50 1.0% 1 1.0%<br />

Syrup 49 1.0% 1 1.0%<br />

Total 4,872 100.0% 102 100.0%<br />

a Includes a natural gas facility which is considering transitioning to coal<br />

Currently, 7 <strong>of</strong> the 102 ethanol plants utilize co-generation or combined heat <strong>and</strong><br />

power (CHP) technology. CHP is a mechanism for improving overall plant efficiency.<br />

CHP facilities produce their own electricity (or coordinate with the local municipality)<br />

<strong>and</strong> use otherwise-wasted exhaust gases to help heat their process, reducing the overall<br />

dem<strong>and</strong> for boiler fuel.<br />

The majority <strong>of</strong> ethanol is produced in the Midwest within PADD 2 – not<br />

surprisingly, where most <strong>of</strong> the corn is grown. Of the 102 U.S. ethanol production<br />

facilities, 93 are located in Midwest. The PADD 2 facilities account for about 97 percent<br />

(or 4.7 billion gallons per year) <strong>of</strong> the total domestic ethanol production, as shown in<br />

Table VI.A.1-3<br />

Table VI.A.1-3<br />

2006 U.S. Ethanol Production by PADD<br />

Capacity % <strong>of</strong> No. <strong>of</strong> % <strong>of</strong><br />

PADD<br />

MMgal/yr Capacity Plants Plants<br />

PADD 1 0.4 0.0% 1 1.0%<br />

PADD 2 4,710 96.7% 93 91.2%<br />

PADD 3 30 0.6% 1 1.0%<br />

PADD 4 98 2.0% 4 3.9%<br />

PADD 5 34 0.7% 3 2.9%<br />

Total 4,872 100.0% 102 100.0%<br />

- 116 -

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!