Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:


Pages 263-286

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 263...
... 6 Barriers to Achieving RFS2 T he Renewable Fuel Standard as amended under the Energy Security and Indepen dence Act of 2007 (RFS2) mandates that 35 billion gallons of ethanol-equivalent biofuels -- 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels, 4 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, and 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels -- and 1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel be consumed in the United States by 2022.
From page 264...
... 264 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD each unit of biofuel produced. Technical barriers often require technical solutions to resolve; most technical challenges are addressed in research and development and demonstrated in pilot plants.
From page 265...
... 265 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 estimated feedstock costs to be one-third to two-thirds of the cost of corn-grain ethanol and cellulosic biofuel (Foust et al., 2007; NAS-NAE-NRC, 2009; Swanson et al., 2010; Wright et al., 2010)
From page 266...
... 266 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD but no such institutions exist to facilitate markets in nontraditional feedstock sources. In the absence of such institutions, at least two dimensions of the price discovery process pose potential barriers to the expanded use of biofuels.
From page 267...
... 267 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 requires both money and time. Government and private equity can provide the capital, but the time required to commercialize a new technology is difficult to compress.
From page 268...
... 268 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD TABLE 6-1 Complexities of Starch-Based Ethanol Production to Biomass-Based Ethanol Production via Fermentation Biomass Ethanol Grain Ethanol Cellulose Fraction Hemicellulose Fraction Characteristic of substrate Corn is about 70% starch, Cellulose makes up 35- Hemicellulose makes up which is composed 60% of biomass and is 15-40% of biomass and is exclusively of glucose and composed exclusively of composed of numerous easily freed from cellular glucose but is difficult to hexose and pentose sugars. matrix.
From page 269...
... 269 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 In a 2002 report, NREL estimated it would cost $197 million (2000$) to build the nth cellulosic-ethanol biorefinery to produce 69.3 million gallons per year of ethanol from 2,200 dry tons per day of feedstock (Aden et al., 2002)
From page 270...
... 270 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD existing pipelines could be retrofitted to become multipurpose ones that accommodate ethanol transport, they were designed to flow from petroleum refineries to end users. Ethanol transport would require pipelines that link locations where biorefineries exist and are projected to be built to the existing petroleum distribution infrastructure.
From page 271...
... 271 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 provided, accomplishing this level of investment in infrastructure would be a significant challenge. Raising the blend limit to 15 percent and blending all gasoline for transportation with that proportion of ethanol would only alleviate the problem to a small extent.
From page 272...
... 272 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD with its associated RINs and blending the biofuel into fuel type G Alternatively, blender A could buy the RINs from blender B that has excess RINs; that is, blender B has blended more biofuel than required and has those extra RINs to sell.
From page 273...
... 273 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 feedstocks for use as biofuels. The congressional appropriation was insufficient to satisfy total demand, and whether the 2-year payment limit will be extended is unknown.
From page 274...
... 274 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD Act (AB32) , an LCFS that mandates a reduction in greenhouse-gas (GHG)
From page 275...
... 275 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 TABLE 6-2 Life-Cycle Greenhouse-gas (GHG) Reduction Thresholds Specified in RFS2 GHG ReductionThresholda Category Renewable fuel 20% Advanced biofuel 50% Biomass-based diesel 50% Cellulosic biofuel 60% aGHG reduction threshold is the minimum percent reduction of life-cycle GHG emissions of the 2005 baseline average gasoline or diesel fuel that a renewable fuel replaces.
From page 276...
... 276 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD There is an additional concern that the industry as a whole could cause a detrimental cumulative impact in large watersheds (Chapter 5)
From page 277...
... 277 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 This certification is a two-tier system. If the new material is "substantially similar" to gasoline (that is, contains only hydrocarbons and aliphatic alcohols and ethers)
From page 278...
... 278 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD might affect adoption. The adoption and diffusion model has been subsequently criticized for overemphasizing the personal characteristics of the farmer to the neglect of the role of the broader structural, economic, and institutional environment shaping farming decisions, including the policy environment (Buttel et al., 1990)
From page 279...
... 279 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 how a well-operated farm would look (Nassauer, 1989; Napier et al., 2000)
From page 280...
... 280 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD development of a reliable year-round supply of woody resources for cellulosic biofuel. That challenge is already faced by saw and paper mills across the United States.
From page 281...
... 281 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 and Bioenergy Promotion. Several educational websites on biomass and bioenergy are currently in development, such as the website developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA, 2011)
From page 282...
... 282 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD Anderson, W.F., B.S.
From page 283...
... 283 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
From page 284...
... 284 RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD Muehlegger, E.J.
From page 285...
... 285 BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING RFS2 Tao, L., and A

Key Terms



This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.