There are a number of potential barriers and bottlenecks in the current ethanol use supply chain. While we expect the market to respond to the infrastructure needs of a growing industry, we recognize that the path from production to actual consumption presents challenges that will need to be anticipated and addressed.  For example, the vehicle fleet in the United States today currently is not able to accept ethanol blends higher than 10% due to the technical challenge of overcoming the ―blend wall‖.6   EPA is in the process of evaluating whether a decision to blend up to 15 percent ethanol into gasoline is justifiable based on the latest science, its effect on engines, and its effect on air quality.  In addition, the only other fuel currently utilized by vehicles on the road today is E85, which can be utilized in a flex-fuel vehicle (FFV).  The limited number of FFVs, their relatively low utilization of bio-based fuels instead of gasoline, and the inability of the rest of the vehicle fleet to utilize higher blends, restricts the amount of ethanol that can actually be consumed.

 

In conjunction with meeting the blend wall and FFV challenges, there is a need to evaluate infrastructure needs to both distribute (rail and truck, blending terminals and storage) and dispense fuel (blender pumps, refueling stations).  These issues can affect decisions in siting biorefineries, in addition to many other components such as feedstock availability, land and water availability.  Key among them are distribution concerns.  For instance, biorefineries with production capacity below 100 million gallons per year will likely depend on truck service to deliver the feedstocks to the biorefinery and the fuel to market (petroleum blending terminal or retail stations).  However, if enough biorefineries are located in close proximity to each other, rail service may be a viable option.  For retail sales, the installation of blender pumps will be necessary at the retail level to provide outlet of the product to the consumer.

 

We provide an assessment of current capacity including the availability of blender pumps and transportation infrastructure.

 

Blender Pumps.  While the market will determine the ultimate need for blender pumps, this is one area that USDA can immediately offer assistance on infrastructure, beyond the work USDA Rural Development is already doing on biorefinery construction and upgrade loans and grants.

 

The number of FFV vehicles in service and locations of concentrations of these vehicles is a good indicator of current blender pump needs.  The number of Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) currently on the road is between 8.0 and 8.5 million.  They constitute about 3.2 – 3.5 percent of the approximately 250 million vehicles on the road. The map below shows the distribution of FFVs by county (NREL), indicating the concentration of FFVs is mainly near the ethanol- producing region.

 

The bulk of the FFVs are located in the Midwest.  However, see figure below, there is a demand for ethanol outside the Midwest.  Approximately 40 counties in Texas, 2 in Kansas, 3 in Nebraska, 8 in South Dakota, 3 in North Dakota, 6 in Minnesota, and 1 in Missouri have a concentration of FFVs in the 5 – 10 percent range.  On a land density basis (FFV/5 sq. miles), the FFVs are concentrated in the East and West Cornbelt and the Southern and Northern Plains states.  In the West Coast markets such as, California, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon and in the Northeast states, however, there is an opportunity to increase the number of FFVs because currently their share in those major markets is low.

 

The top five states in terms of FFVs are Texas, Florida, California, Michigan and Ohio and they account for one-third of the FFVs (July 1, 2009). One point of information—due to the total number of vehicles in the urban areas of California and Michigan—they are boosted into the top five states in terms of FFVs.

 

Huayiwang Chinese Translation Company has translated many professional documents about Blender Pumps.

 

 

在当前的乙醇供应链中，存在着一系列潜在的障碍和瓶颈。一方面我们期望市场对这一不断增长的行业在基础设施方面的需求做出反应，另一方面我们也认识到，从生产到实际消费的这一过程提出了需要我们预见并加以解决的挑战。例如，受制于“混合墙”⁶这种技术挑战，当前美国的车辆还不能接受乙醇比例超过10％的混合燃料。美国环境保护署正在执行一项评估，以判断在最新科学的基础上做出石油中乙醇混合比最高为15％的决定是否合理，同时也衡量这样的混合比对引擎和空气质量的影响。此外，当前实际在用的车辆所使用的唯一一种代用燃料是E85，它可以用于弹性燃料车辆（FFV）。由于弹性燃料车辆数量有限，它们用生物基燃料来替代汽油的使用率相对也比较低，而且美国车辆的其它部分也没有能力采用混合比更高的燃料，因而便限制了实际可以消费的乙醇数量。

在解决“混合墙”和弹性燃料车辆所提出的挑战的同时，我们还需要对燃料分配（铁路运输与公路运输、燃料混合输油站与混合燃料库房）与加注（燃料混合泵、混合燃料加油站）的基础设施需求做出评估。这些问题可以影响生物精炼厂选址方面的决策，而且也能对许多其它要素产生影响，比如原料可用性、土地及水资源的可用性。其中关键的一项问题是对燃料分配的考虑。例如，年生产能力在1亿加仑以下的生物精炼厂很可能要依赖公路运输来将原料送交到精炼厂、并将燃料交付到市场（石油混合站点或是零售站）。不过，如果有足够多的生物精炼厂相互靠近来定址，那么铁路运输服务就可以成为具有存续能力的选项。就零售而言，为了给产品提供进入消费的出口，就有必要在零售层级上安装燃料混合泵。

我们在这里提供一份对当前基础设施能力的评估，包括燃料混合泵及交通运输基础设施的可用性。

燃料混合泵。美国农业部下属的乡村发展署已经为生物精炼厂建设以及改造换代贷款与拨款开展了大量工作。除此之外，美国农业部可以直接对基础设施提供协助的一个领域便是燃料混合泵，尽管对燃料混合泵的最终需求将由市场来决定，。

对于当前的燃料混合泵需求而言，在用弹性燃料车辆的数量、以及这些车辆集中的地点都能起到很好的指示作用。当前在用的弹性燃料车辆数量在800万到850万辆之间，在当前的大约2.5亿辆在用车辆中占3.2～3.5％左右。下面的地图显示了弹性燃料车辆在美国各个县份中的分布情况（国家可再生能源实验室（NREL）的资料），它们指示出，弹性燃料车辆主要是靠近乙醇生产地区而集中分布的。

弹性燃料车辆的大部分位于中西部。不过，参照下文的数字，可以看出中西部以外地区对于乙醇也有一定的需求。在德克萨斯州的大约40个县、堪萨斯州的2个县、内布拉斯加州的3个县、南达科他州的8个县、北达科他州的3个县、明尼苏达州的6个县以及密苏里州的1个县中，弹性燃料车辆的密度都在5～10％之间。如果按照土地密度来计算（也就是每5平方英里上的弹性燃料车辆数量），那么弹性燃料车辆就集中在东部和西部玉米带以及南部和北部的大平原诸州。但在西海岸的市场上，比如加利福尼亚州、亚利桑那州、华盛顿州、俄勒冈州，以及在东北诸州中，也有着增加弹性燃料车辆数量的机遇，因为当前这种车辆在这些主要市场上所占的比例都相当低。

弹性燃料车辆集中程度最高的前五个州是德克萨斯、佛罗里达、加利福尼亚、密歇根和俄亥俄，它们在弹性燃料车辆的总数中占了三分之一（2009年7月1日的数据）。这里需要指出的一点是，加利福尼亚州与密歇根州是因为城市地区车辆总数之巨，才得以在弹性燃料车辆的数量方面跻身前五名之列。

 

原件下载：