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

e a one-to-one correspondence between gallons in a batch and the volume block codes
for the batch-RIN assigned to that batch. If a batch of renewable fuel is split into two or
more new batches, the gallon-RINs assigned to the original batch can be split
coincidentally with batch volumes. The following example shows how this would be
done (volume blocks separated for clarity):
Parent batch:
1000 gallons
batch-RIN: 2007123412345000011021-000001-001000
Daughter batch #1:
600 gallons
batch-RIN: 2007123412345000011021-000001-000600
Daughter batch #2:
100 gallons
batch-RIN: 2007123412345000011021-000601-000700
Daughter batch #3:
300 gallons
batch-RIN: 2007123412345000011021-000701-001000
In this example, the gallon-RINs remain both unique and paired on a one-to-one basis
with actual gallons even after the parent batch is divided into smaller daughter batches.
However, there will be some cases in which there is not a one-to-one
correspondence between a RIN assigned to a batch and the actual gallons in that batch,
and such cases could complicate the process of splitting batches. For instance, changes in
temperature could cause batch volumes to swell or shrink. Renewable fuels with
Equivalence Values less than 1.0, although currently unlikely to arise in appreciable
volumes, will have more actual gallons in the original batch than RINs assigned to that
batch. And some producers may choose to assign extra-value RINs to batches in cases
wherein the Equivalence Value is greater than 1.0.
To address such cases, we propose to allow parties in the distribution system the
discretion to split batches and their assigned RINs following any protocol they choose, as
long as that protocol preserves the requirement that gallon-RINs that have been assigned
to a batch by the producer are subsequently assigned to a batch after splitting has
occurred. Thus regardless of the splitting protocol used, no gallon-RINs assigned to a
batch could be retained by a party after every gallon in that batch has been transferred to
another party.
There are a variety of batch splitting protocols that a party could choose from for
situations where there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the number of gallon-
RINs assigned to a batch and the number of standardized gallons in that batch. However,
we have identified two acceptable protocols that we expect most parties to use. These are
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