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Report confirms U.S. position as world's top ethanol producer

By Kris Bevill | August 31, 2011

Washington, D.C.-based independent research firm Worldwatch Institute recently released an analysis of global biofuels production for 2010. The analysis confirms continual growth within the industry, specifically within the U.S. Global biofuels production increased by 17 percent in 2010, compared to 10 percent in 2009, according to the report. Biodiesel and ethanol production were both up, but ethanol continues to dominate worldwide, accounting for 86 billion liters (almost 23 billion gallons) of the world’s 105 billion liters (27.7 billion gallons) of biofuels produced in 2010. In the U.S., ethanol output increased by 20 percent last year to 49 billion liters (13 billion gallons), or slightly more than half of the world’s total ethanol production.

The report’s authors said at least some of that growth should be credited to oil refiners. “In the United States, the record production of biofuels is attributed in part to high oil prices, which encouraged several large fuel companies, including Sunoco, Valero, Flint Hills and Murphy Oil to enter the ethanol industry,” said Alexander Ochs, director of Worldwatch’s climate and energy program.

Despite difficult economic and weather conditions, ethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil increased by 2 billion liters in 2010 for a total output of 28 billion liters (7 billion gallons), or 7 percent more than the year before. It was enough of an increase to maintain the nation’s position as the second largest ethanol producing-country in the world, but it wasn't enough to satisfy rising demand, and the United States began exporting significant amounts of corn-based ethanol to Brazil and elsewhere in order to make up for the shortfall. In fact, U.S. producers sent 1.3 billion liters (about 343 million gallons) of ethanol to other countries in 2010, a staggering 300 percent increase over U.S. export totals the previous year.

The U.S. DOE Energy Information Administration has also reported dramatic increases in ethanol exports over the past year and said it expects the trend to continue. Worldwatch noted, however, that European producers may soon increase their production levels as well, which could slightly dampen demand for U.S. imports. “Although the U.S. and Brazil are the world leaders in ethanol, the largest producer of biodiesel is the European Union,” Ochs said. “However, we may see some European countries switch from biodiesel to ethanol because a recent report from the European Commission states that ethanol crops have a higher energy content than biodiesel crops, making them more efficient sources of fuel.”

 

 

4 Responses

  1. Stephan Singer

    2011-09-01

    1

    Just a question. Have you done an estimation of how much of the global cereal production the 86 and 105 billion liters respectively of biofuels produced in 2010 do represent?

  2. Anonymous

    2011-09-01

    2

    Just a question. Have you done an estimation of how much of the global cereal production the 86 and 105 billion liters respectively of biofuels produced in 2010 do repressent? Corn based ethanol uses field corn which is used for animal feed. I don't know that you would consider it a cereal grain for human consumption. Ethanol is produced by taking the starch or sugar portion of the corn and fermenting it. The fermented starch is then distilled into alcohol. The excess water is removed so the resulting ethyl alcohol (ethanol) is very pure – 200 proof. Only the starch portion of the corn, which is about 70% of the kernel, is made into ethanol. The remaining portion is left over in the form of a co-product called distillers grain. This is a highly nutritious animal feed that contains all the remaining fats, oils, and proteins after the starch is taken out and converted to ethanol.

  3. Betty

    2011-09-03

    3

    Perhaps someone can confirm this, but it is my understanding that distillers grain is not nearly as beneficial for animal feed as the whole product that cattle, etc. would normally consume.

  4. Bob

    2011-09-05

    4

    Betty: Distillers Grains are more nutritious than the corn iteself for cattle and other ruminants. Starch alters the normal ph of the rumin and inteferes with digestion of the nutirents. Cattle gain more weight and produce more milk when fed DDGS than they do if they are fed the original corn, even though the DDGS is about 1/3 of the mass. The starch just makes the cattle bloated as undigested starch is processed by parasitic microbes on the way out of the cow. DDGS lacks starch which is energy for chickens, hogs and other farm animals. But some 80% of the field corn is fed to ruminants and the 13.5 billon gallons of corn ethanol produced in the US in 2010 came from about 40% of the field corn. A simple calculation shows that there is substantial headroom for corn ethanol before it were to interfere with the food supply. Unfortunately, the domestic DDGS market is about saturated and growth in corn ethanol can only come from an increase in DDGS exports.

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