Biofuel production continues to climb in 2015

For the first nine months of 2015, the Energy Information Administration estimated that domestic ethanol production was up 3.6 percent from the first nine months of 2014. 

In all of 2014, the United States produced 14.313 billion gallons of fuel ethanol, up 1.02 billion from 2013. In addition, estimates indicate the production of ethanol in October and November of 2015 was up by 3.1 percent from the same two months in 2014. 

The Energy Information Administration predicts the United States will produce 14.745 billion gallons in 2015, slightly over the total for 2014.

Domestic ethanol estimates are based on the Energy Information Administration’s estimates of the volume of fuel ethanol production, imports, exports and changes in domestic stock levels. In 2014, ethanol consumption hit a record with 13.444 billion gallons, of which approximately 13.353 billion gallons were from conventional ethanol, made from corn.

Different factors will affect domestic ethanol consumption during the upcoming year. The first factor is the biofuels volume requirements in the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2014-2016 Renewable Fuels Standards which were released Nov. 30. The standards require approximately 730 million gallons more of biofuels to be produced and used than last year.