EPA discloses guidance on ethanol production

The U.S. EPA updated guidance that describes three additional ways ethanol plants that co-process corn kernel fiber and corn starch can demonstrate the resulting volume of cellulosic biofuel produced.

The new guidance supplements guidance released in May 2019 that focused on quantifying an analytical method for determining the cellulosic converted fraction of corn kernel fiber co-processed with starch. The 2019 guidance was widely criticized by the ethanol industry for stifling innovation for second generation fuels. The EPA said the updated guidance benefits from recent scientific advancements, including work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The guidance outlines three new ways companies can satisfy Renewable Fuel Standard registration requirements for corn kernel fiber, including adoption of the DOE/NREL method; demonstration of reasonable accuracy by returning comparable cellulose values to the NIST reference materials using a non-voluntary consensus standards body (non-VCSB) method; or use of advanced analytical technologies, such as mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), as identified by DOE/NREL in its analytical method and validation.