Economic and Environmental Transportation Effects of Large-Scale Ethanol Production and Distribution in the United States

Abstract

The combination of current and planned 2007 U.S. ethanol production capacity is 50 billion L/yr, one-third of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) target of 136 billion L of biofuels by 2022. In this study, we evaluate transportation impacts and infrastructure requirements for the use of E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) in light-duty vehicles using a combination of corn and cellulosic ethanol. Ethanol distribution is modeled using a linear optimization model. Estimated average delivered ethanol costs, in 2005 dollars, range from $0.29 to $0.62 per liter ($1.3-2.8 per gallon), depending on transportation distance and mode. Emissions from ethanol transport estimated in this work are up to 2 times those in previous ethanol LCA studies and thus lead to larger total life cycle effects. Long-distance transport of ethanol to the end user can negate ethanol's potential economic and environmental benefits relative to gasoline. To reduce costs, we recommend regional concentration of E85 blends for future ethanol production and use.

Impact of energy prices and cellulosic biomass supply on agriculture, energy, and the environment: An integrated modeling approach

“…MARKAL also optimizes the geographic location of E85 compatible FFVs, and due to the assumption of perfect foresight in the model, is able to build out the FFV fleet in anticipation of higher ethanol volumes in later modeling years. 4 However, there is in fact a heavy concentration of ethanol blending and FFV use in the Midwest, with 77-82% of high ethanol blends located in the Midwest Petroleum Acquisition Defense District (PADD) II between 2010(EIA, 2013b penetration, Wakeley et al (2009) also looked at an optimized system, highlighting that long-distance transportation erodes the economic (as well as environmental) benefits of ethanol relative to gasoline and recommended regional concentration of E85 blends.…”

Uncertainties in Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Advanced Biomass Feedstock Logistics Supply Chains in Kansas

“…For the counties we consider in Kansas, biomass marginal access costs begin at $40/ton and can be as high as $80/ton depending upon the available supply within each county. Wakeley et al [25] and Argo et al [18] varied biorefinery capacity in their studies in order to examine the range of transportation cost and GHG emissions. In this study, the biorefinery capacity was fixed at 800,000 dry matter tons (DMT)/year.…”

“…For example, Wakeley et al [25] concluded that at higher production scales, ethanol long-haul transport costs and environmental emissions would decline through use of rail infrastructure to transport due to the majority of supply (in the Midwest) needing to access demand centers (on east and west coasts of the U.S.). Strogen and colleagues evaluated the costs and emissions of bio-ethanol distribution on a larger scale than previously studied, and concluded that annual ethanol production scale critically impacts the average transport distance to end use markets [26].…”

Technological variation and the US renewable fuel standard

“…First-generation biofuels are successful under niche market conditions because the burdens associated with unsustainable production processes were alleviated by public resources and they have not yet accounted for their full social and environmental costs (Wakeley et al 2009). As firstgeneration ethanol and biodiesel compete with other transportation fuels, the environmental and social costs must be included in the total cost of production if biofuels are to be sustainable.…”