Production and Demand

The U.S. fuel ethanol industry has grown to a total annual production capacity of 12.6 billion gallons per year (bgy) and an estimated 10.8 bgy of actual production, according to recent figures collected by the Renewable Fuels Association. There are 170 ethanol plants operating in 26 states and 21 new plants or plant expansion are underway. New plant construction and expansions are estimated to add 1.9 billion gallons of annual production, bringing U.S. production capacity to 14.5 bgy and requiring nearly 5.2 billion bushels of corn.  June 2009 ... Ethanol


Marketing

• Ability of the U.S. Ethanol Industry to Replace MTBE.
• American Coalition for Ethanol - Dedicated to the promotion and use of ethanol. Includes alerts, articles and events.
  
• Cellulosic Ethanol, AgMRC, Iowa State University, 2007.
  
• Distillers Dried Grains and Their Impact on Corn, Soymeal, and Livestock Markets, Steve Markham, Commodity Specialists Company.
• Distillers Grains Technology Council - Promoting the use of high-quality distillers grains. Research information and links to processing, nutritional value analysis and feeding trials of distillers grains.
• The Economic Impact of Ethanol and Distiller’s Grain Production on Ethanol Producers and Cattle Feeders, Josh Hoeme and Michael Wolverton, Kansas State University.
  
• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network
• Ethanol Across America - Uses a wide range of methods to educate the public, including educational publications, conferences and workshops, and consumer brochures. Ethanol Across America also serves as an information clearinghouse by creating national services directory databases and a national speakers bureau.
• Ethanol and a Changing Agricultural Landscape, Economic Research Service (ERS), USDA, 2009 - This report summarizes the estimated effects of meeting the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) targets for 2015 on regional agricultural production and the environment.
• Ethanol Co-Product Use in U.S. Cattle Feeding, ERS, USDA, 2009 - Ethanol co-products, such as dried distiller's grains, have become economically profitable ingredients in cattle feed rations during the last few years.
• Ethanol: Economic and Policy Issues, Congressional Research Service, 2009.
• Ethanol Fact Book, Clean Fuels Development Coalition, 2008 - Provides a historic and current foundation of peer-reviewed and resource-based knowledge about ethanol.
• Ethanol Reshapes the Corn Market, Amber Waves magazine, ERS, USDA, 2007.
• Farm Bill Energy Provisions: A California Perspective, by Hyunok Lee and Daniel A. Sumner, AIC Farm Bill Brief #7, 2007 - Energy is among the most discussed topics in the lead up to the 2007 Farm Bill. While the high cost of energy to farmers and ranchers has been raised, the main focus has been on programs related to agriculture as a producer of energy, especially biofuels.
• Feasibility Assessment Template for an Enzymatic Hydrolysis Lignocellulosic Ethanol Plant, Oklahoma State University, 2008 - This newly released tool is designed to assess the feasibility of building an ethanol plant. Users may input such key information as plant capacity, feedstock, equipment costs and personnel and then perform a sensitivity analysis, thus determining how plant profits will be affected by internal and external changes. A guide to using the template is provided.
  
• Forecasts for Biomass Ethanol Production Under Three Different Technology Cases for the Period 2000 to 2020, Department of Energy. Also at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/index.html.
• Fuel Ethanol: Background and Public Policy Issues, Congressional Research Service, 2008.
• Full Throttle U.S. Ethanol Expansion Faces Challenges Down the Road, Amber Waves, ERS, USDA, 2009 - New technologies, supporting infrastructures and greater demand will be needed to meet the country’s ambitious mandate to increase biofuel use.
• Governors Ethanol Coalition
• Illinois Ethanol Prefeasibility Evaluator
• Infrastructure Requirements for an Expanded Fuel Ethanol Industry, Downstream Alternatives Inc.
• Input-Outrageous: the Economic Impacts of Modern Biofuel Production, Iowa State University, 2006 - This paper questions the accuracy of projections about the economic impact of ethanol and looks at the findings of a modeled ethanol plant in Iowa.
• List of Ethanol Market Researchers and Consultants, American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE).
• Market Power in the Corn Sector: How Does It Affect the Impacts of the Ethanol Subsidy?, Agricultural Issues Center, University of California, 2008 - This paper develops an analytical model for determining the production and price impacts and the distribution of benefits from the U.S. ethanol subsidy when upstream sellers in the seed sector and downstream buyers in the processing sector may exercise market power. Seed producers and corn processors with market power are able to capture relatively large shares of the benefits of the subsidy.
• National Corn Growers Association - Links to state associations and news about ethanol initiatives around the country.
• New Uses Council - Nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the development and commercialization of biobased products.
• The Online Distillery Network for Distillers and Fuel Ethanol Plants - Links to equipment, services, supplies and related news.
• Renewable Fuels Association - The trade association for the fuel ethanol industry.
• Renewable Fuels Association - Lists Federal programs that can assist entities seeking to develop and build an ethanol production facility.
  
• Report on Ethanol Market Concentration, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 2009 - The FTC’s fifth annual report concludes that the U.S. fuel ethanol market, measured either by production capacity or by actual production, remains unconcentrated. As of September 2009, 160 firms produced ethanol in the United State.
• U.S. Department of Energy - Bioethanol.
• U.S. Department of Energy Office of Biomass Program.
• U.S. Ethanol and Biofuel Policy Provisions, U.S. Crops, Food and Ag Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) 2009 Agricultural Outlook, University of Missouri.
• The U.S. Ethanol Industry: Where Will it be Located in the Future?, Agricultural Issues Center, University of California, 2005 - This Kansas State University report provides an overview of the potential demand for distillers grains based on the location of animal agriculture in the United States.
• USDA Announces FY2005 Bioenergy Program that Provides $150 Million for Bioenergy Producers Sign-up Underway in August 2004.

Processing/Manufacturing

• Beer Brewer Converts Waste into Ethanol, Market to Market, Iowa Public Television, 2008 - Coors Brewing Company is taking the waste from the 16 million barrels of beer produced each year at their Golden, Colorado, facility and using it to make 3 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year.
• Directory of Ongoing Biofuel Research Projects, Agriculture Research Service (ARS), USDA.
• The Economics of Ethanol from Sweet Sorghum Using the MixAlco Process, Agricultural and Food Policy Center, Texas A&M University, 2006 - This research report discusses the conversion of biomass to renewable fuels, more specifically, using sweet sorghum as an ethanol fuel stock.
  
• Ethanol Supply Outlook for California, California Energy Commission - This report provides an update of the California Energy Commissioner's ongoing investigations of the California near-term ethanol fuel supply picture. Results of the 2003 U.S. ethanol industry production capacity survey and the status of ethanol production plans within California.
• Factors associated with Success of Fuel Ethanol Producers, Research funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, Staff Paper P03-7, 2003 - Contains a review of research on economic factors associated with success or failure of dry-mill ethanol plants utilizing corn as a feedstock. Included are three interactive spreadsheet models that can be used to analyze research assumptions and their interaction with various profitability factors.
  
• Using Real Options to Evaluate Investments in Ethanol Facilities, Tianyu Zou and Glenn Pederson, University of Minnesota, 2008 - The overall objective of this AgMRC-funded research was to gain new knowledge about how option value affects the decision to invest in ethanol facilities. Option value was shown to arise from uncertainty about project cash flows. Two options were considered: expanding the scale of a conventional ethanol plant and choosing a production technology.

Production

• Agricultural Baseline Projections: U.S. Crops, 2008-2017, ERS, USDA, 2008.
• Alternative Fuels Data Center.
• Crops, Long-term Projections, ERS, USDA, 2008.
• Current Issues in Ethanol Production, Matt Young and Michael Boland, Kansas State University and Don Hofstrand, AgMRC, Iowa State University, 2007.
• The Dry-Mill Ethanol Industry Biobased Products and Bioenergy - Dry-mill success stories from the National Biobased Products & Bioenergy Coordination Office.
  
• Ethanol and Cattle Worksheet, Iowa Beef Center, Iowa State University, 2003.
• Ethanol Plant Analyzer, Montana State University and Farm Foundation, 2003 - This mapping application allows you to see what would happen to corn prices in a local area throughout the United States if you opened an ethanol plant of a given size.
• Expected Impacts of Increased Ethanol Production, Pat Westhoff, FAPRI, University of Missouri, 2006.
• Feasibility of Producing Ethanol from Biomass in Northeastern North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota - This feasibility study was supported, in part, by a Western Regional Biomass Energy Program Department of Energy grant award.
• Growing Crops for Biofuels Has Spillover Effects, Amber Waves magazine, ERS, USDA, 2009 - Growing demand for corn as biofuel feedstock will change agriculture as regional cropping patterns adjust and production practices adapt.
• IPipeline Considerations for Ethanol, Sparks Companies, Inc., 2002 - Pipelines transport fluid quickly and economically. This research paper examines whether a pipeline is a feasible option for ethanol.
• Renewable Energy Web Page, Agricultural Economics Department, Kansas State University - Contains links to economic analyses of ethanol and biodiesel as well as a link to an Ethanol Pre-feasibility Calculator.
• Sourcing Corn for Ethanol, Iowa Grain Quality Initiative - This study collected data to indicate the magnitude of current and future impacts of ethanol production on Iowa agricultural logistics.
• Wheat Straw for Ethanol Production in Washington: A Resource, Technical and Economic Assessment, Washington State University Energy Program - Cooperative Extension.

Businesses/Case Studies

• American Crystal Sugar Company: Making Ethanol from Sugar Beets?, Greg McKee, North Dakota State University, and Mike Boland, Kansas State University, 2007 - This case study considers various economic factors that impact the supply and demand for ethanol and how sugar beet ethanol is produced.
• BBI International - Biofuel consulting services and biofuel information source.
• Central Minnesota Ethanol Cooperative, Little Falls, Minnesota - This cooperative has a plant that produces fuel grade ethanol and dried distillers drains with solubles from the processing of locally produced corn.
• Ethanol Industry with Comments on the Great Plains.
• Ethanol Marketplace - Ethanol industry information linking vendors, contractors, consultants, engineers and producers.
• Golden Grain Energy - This privately-held company is dedicated to adding value to Northern Iowa's corn production by turning locally-grown corn into clean-burning ethanol.
• Watching Corn Grow: A Hedonic Study of the Iowa Landscape, Silvia Secchi, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD), Iowa State University, 2007.

Links checked October 2009.