EPA Ups Ethanol Production Standards for 2019

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposed 2019 Renewable Fuel Volume Obligations (RVO) has increased the volume requirement for cellulosic biofuels to 418 million gallons under the federal government's Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

The increase provides a policy framework that will lead renewable natural gas (RNG) stakeholders to invest in new RNG production facilities, according to the Renewable Natural Gas Coalition (RNG Coalition). The RNG industry produces 95% of the fuel used to meet the RFS program's cellulosic biofuel requirement.

Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from the cell walls of plants as opposed to seeds or fruit.

The industry’s cellulosic biofuel production has increased significantly in recent years, according to the RNG Coalition. October RNG production of 28.5 million gallons was a more than four fold increase compared with the 6.6 million gallons produced in October of 2014. An additional 55 RNG production facilities are under construction or development.