By Maura Keller
Pull up to fuel stations throughout the U.S. and you are bound to the standard E10 fuel being offered. But gracing the pumps of stations throughout the Midwest, specifically in the “corn belt,” you will see E15 gasoline available. E15 (15% ethanol, 85% gasoline) has been certified for sale in the U.S. and is slowly gaining ground among petroleum marketers.
The argument among those marketers and retailers that have embraced the fuel is that E15 fuel allows them to market a cleaner-burning, higher-octane fuel that can technically be used by more than 200 million cars on the road today (EPA approval for cars 2001 and later), and it can typically cost less than the E10 competitors are selling.
As Ron Lamberty, senior vice president at the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) explains, although there may be an increased interest in the E15 blend, E10 and even E0 will still be around for a long time because although 80 to 85% of cars can use E15, 100 percent of cars can use E0 or E10.
“We’re just trying to make E15 available in a lot more locations,” Lamberty said. “The EPA approved E15 for use in all cars and light trucks more than five years ago, and there are only about 200 stations selling it today. Most of those stations are located in the Midwest. The reason most station owners have not offered E15 is they’re either contractually prevented from doing so, or afraid, or both—and both of those things have been created by the oil industry to prevent E15 from gaining a foothold. They’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars to misinform and scare station owners, and it has worked.”
As Lamberty stated, the oil companies are fighting it while the farm industry, mostly the corn producing states, are pushing for it. With the price of corn down, the price of ethanol also has dropped. In addition, the price of gasoline has dropped, so the economic advantage of the E15 is significantly less.
According to Dr. Michael Haselkorn, material science and engineering laboratory director at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the benefits of ethanol are that it is a domestically produced fuel and it produces less emissions than gasoline. The drawbacks are slightly poorer engine performance and lower gas mileage (4% – 5%) as compared to gasoline.
Haselkorn was instrumental in selecting the materials to improve the durability of diesel engines fueled with biodiesel, natural gas and biogas from landfills. He also designed ceramic components for diesel engines and hydraulic pumps. At RIT, Haselkorn has developed processes for converting waste grease to biodiesel and cellulosic materials into ethanol. He also has researched the effects of biodiesel additions on the lubrication of engines oils.
Kent Satrang, CEO of Petro Serve USA, has 24 stores, 25 percent of which are branded Petro Serve USA. The remaining 75 percent are branded with Cenex and Tesoro. He eagerly offers E15 fuel to his patrons.
“Cenex and Tesoro have been more receptive than most ‘Big Oil’ companies to E15 and they say they support ethanol,” Satrang said. “But you have to understand that both companies own multiple oil refineries and it is likely in their best interest financially to come up with programs to sell gasoline and not ethanol. The Renewable Fuel Standards requires that they sell a certain percentage of ethanol through the use of RINS, but they naturally want to sell their own products.”
Satrang said the biggest hurdle to growing the E15 market is a lack of a RVP (Reid Vapor Pressure) one-pound waiver from the EPA.
“The result is that we can only sell E15 through the cooler weather months,” Satrang said. “Also E15 can only be sold during those months to cars 2001 and newer. It’s hard to understand that a 1995 Ford Pickup can run fine on E10 but it will supposedly have problems with E15.”
Lamberty stresses that everyone who has added E15 is selling more gallons, has increased customer counts and is making more money.
“The biggest drawbacks are probably the fact that your competitors won’t like you very much, you’ll get nasty looks at petroleum marketers’ events, and the company you buy gas from may be unhappy with you,” Lamberty said. “A lot of other fuel retailers will wonder how you did it, because they’ve all heard it couldn’t be done, or it’s illegal, or they thought you would get sued out of business, or they heard it costs way too much to install the equipment you need for E15—and all of those things are lies.”
Besides the warranty concerns, the auto companies have not fully embraced E15. However, according to Haselkorn, the E15 studies performed at RIT with Monroe County and the University of Minnesota showed that any car that runs on E-10 would run without any problems on E-15.
“The EPA has certified vehicles in the U.S. fleet made in 2001 or newer, and all Flex Fuel vehicles (vehicles capable of using up to an 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline mix) are E15 compatible,” Haselkorn said. “One study conducted at Kettering University found no remarkable degradation in fuel systems all the way back to 1995 model years. But the main issue is whether or not your vehicle will be covered under warranty for any damage caused by E15 usage, and in many cases the answer is no. GM and Ford have certified their own vehicles starting with the 2012 and 2013 model years, respectively, so some brand-new cars will have no trouble at all.”
To assist with liability concerns, the ethanol industry has helped Satrang to properly identify E15 by labeling the pump, hose and the nozzle.
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