Domestic Fuel

Consumers can find out the latest prices for E85 all over the country with the click of a mouse at E85prices.com.

According to the website, the price of E85 fell significantly last month and the spread between unleaded and E85 has now widened to about 40 cents per gallon in many areas.

The price of E85 is below $2.00 a gallon in 7 States – Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska.

The lowest price for E85 in the nation was reported in Perryville, Missouri at $1.61 a gallon.

Texas-based Panda Energy has announced plans to build another 100 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant powered by manure.

According to the company, the latest plant will be located near the city of Muleshoe in Bailey County, Texas.

The Muleshoe facility will generate the steam used in the ethanol manufacturing process by gasifying more than 1 billion pounds of cattle manure a year. Once complete, it will be one of the most fuel efficient ethanol refineries in the nation and equal in size to Panda’s Hereford facility, currently under construction, which will be the largest biomass-fueled ethanol plant in the United States.

The Muleshoe facility is the sixth 100 million gallon ethanol project announced by Panda, and the fourth to be powered by cattle manure.

Last week, Panda announced that it intends to build a 100 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant in Lincoln County, Nebraska which will be fueled with the more traditional natural gas instead of biomass.

The U.S. Department of Energy has provided a major grant to build 15 public E85 stations in California.

According to a news release, the effort will include the collaboration of some major environmental and corporate partners, including CALSTART, General Motors, Pacific Ethanol, and CleanFUEL USA.

Currently, there is currently only one public station that sells E85 ethanol in California, despite the fact the state has more than 300,000 flex-fuel cars capable of running on the fuel.

CALSTART is a non-profit corporation that works with its 130 participating organizations to accelerate the commercialization of clean and energy efficient transportation technologies.

Illinois Central Ethanol, or ICE, has announced plans for the development of an ethanol production facility in Nokomis, Illinois. The Montgomery County plant is projected to produce 50 million gallons of ethanol annually.

The dry mill plant will use an estimated 18 million bushels of corn annually, according to Don Frank, ICE board president, “which will provide a good local market for corn farmers in the surrounding areas.

Learn more about how auto technicians and anyone else can benefit from taking the free on-line “Ethanol Fuel Performance Training” course from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

This simple, user-friendly computer course provides an understanding of ethanol fuel and how it affects engine performance and the environment. Different lesson levels provide information from the very basic to the very technical. The course can be found on the EPIC website, www.drivingethanol.org.

The “Fill up, Feel Good” podcast is available to download by subscription (see our sidebar link) or you can listen to it by clicking here. (4:00 MP3 File)

The Fill Up, Feel Good theme music is “Tribute to Joe Satriani” by Alan Renkl, thanks to the Podsafe Music Network.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.8MB)

Just in time for colder weather, consumers who use heating oil now have a new option that is cleaner-burning and domestically produced – Bioheat®.

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) recently trademarked the term and launched the official logo for this product, which is made from a combination of biodiesel and generic heating oil, making it a superior product for the environment, as well as for the overall operational enhancement of the heating system.

Read more here.

Here’s a couple of interesting international developments on ethanol.

Domestic Fuel reader Erick Erickson of Nebraska sent a link to a post on a European blog called Biopact that tells about “an interesting but as yet unclear development” in Venezuela. Seems that Venezuela’s most recent Energy Strategy Meeting concluded with the announcement that the country will be investing massively in ethanol production. The OPEC member is the world’s 7th largest oil exporter, so it comes as a surprise to see Venezuela investing in biofuels.

Meanwhile, Brazil is pulling out all stops to increase ethanol production. According to UK Auto Industry - Unica, the Brazilian entity which manages the country’s sugar cane production, has announced that 77 new ethanol refining plants will be opened by 2012-2013, adding to 248 existing plants. At present, 48.3% of Brazil’s sugar cane harvest is made into ethanol; in six years’ time, this percentage will rise to 60%.

As was expected, Brazil has raised its ethanol mandate for fuel due to a record sugarcane crop. Fuel distributors will have to add a 23 percent ethanol content to all gasoline sold to service stations starting Nov. 20, rising from a 20 percent mandate now, the agriculture ministry said in a statement. Read more from Bloomberg.