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Challenges in the Industry
Market Challenges and Barriers
- Lack of Biofuels Distribution Infrastructure
- Availability of Biofuels-Compatible Vehicles
- Industry and Consumer Acceptance, and Awareness
Lack of Biofuels Distribution Infrastructure: For biofuels, there still remains a lack of infrastructure to transport, store and distribute the product, especially when compared to conventional liquid transportation fuels that already have mature infrastructure.
Availability of Biofuels-Compatible Vehicles: As of mid-2009, only a limited number of vehicle model/fuel type combinations exist that can use ethanol in high percentage blends (E85).
Industry and Consumer Acceptance, and Awareness: The awareness about ethanol as a biofuel is low in the marketplace. Industry participants need to increase the awareness about the benefits of ethanol to the consumer.
Technical (Non-Market) Challenges/Barriers
- Ethanol Pipeline Distribution Issues
- Limited Information Available for Developing Codes and Standards
- Materials Compatibility Issues of Alcohol Fuels
- Increased Evaporative Hydrocarbon Emissions of Ethanol Blends
- Ethanol Blend Vehicle Fuel Economy
Ethanol Pipeline Distribution Issues: Ethanol is a stronger solvent than the petroleum products moved via pipelines today. Consequently, ethanol will remove water, rust, gums and other contaminants from the existing petroleum pipeline distribution system. This downgrades the value of the delivered ethanol and adds back-end costs to restore the fuel to meet specifications. Construction of new dedicated ethanol pipelines is limited by the high cost of capital investment and materials compatibility issues, among others.
Limited Information Available for Developing Codes and Standards: National organizations that develop codes and standards recognize that additional data are required to integrate biofuels into the model codes for infrastructure construction. Currently, insufficient technical information hinders revision of various codes and standards in support of the quickly accelerating biofuels industry. Lack of codes as well as costly project permitting processes can stymie the introduction of new technologies.
Materials Compatibility Issues of Alcohol Fuels: Alcohol fuels and alcohol fuel blends require components throughout the infrastructure system (e.g., fuel storage, pipes and piping, and on-board vehicle systems) that are compatible with the higher electrical conductivity and solubility of the fuel. Higher cost materials, including stainless steel, lined fiberglass tanks, and mild steel with epoxy coatings, are often required to ensure compatibility and mitigate risk of decay or failure.
Increased Evaporative Hydrocarbon Emissions of Ethanol Blends: Adding ethanol to gasoline increases fuel volatility. The higher volatility results in higher evaporative hydrocarbon emissions from ethanol blends than those from straight gasoline. Ethanol in gasoline also increases the permeability of plastic on-board fuel tanks, which in turn contributes to increased evaporative emissions.
Ethanol Blend Vehicle Fuel Economy: Since ethanol has a lower heating value than gasoline (for instance, E85 has a heating value of 83,000 Btu/gal vs. 113,500 Btu/gal for gasoline), E85 delivers a lower fuel economy when compared to gasoline on a gallon by gallon basis. However, this lower fuel economy can be counteracted by optimizing the engine design to take advantage of the higher octane rating of E85 (98 for E85 vs. 87 for gasoline).
Related Links:
- Ethanol as Biofuels
- What are feedstocks?
- Properties of Feedstocks for ethanol production
- Yield of Biomass for Various Feedstocks
- Feedstocks used by Various Companies
- Why Cellulosic Ethanol?
- Cellulosic Ethanol Production
- Cellulosic Ethanol Production Value Chain
- Ethanol production methods
- Latest Discoveries and Breakthroughs
- R & D Roadmap in Cellulosic Ethanol
- Future projections
- Companies Involved in Producing Cellulosic Ethanol
- Investments & Funding
- Challenges & Barriers in the commercialization process
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