Chamber speaker warns of threats facing ethanol

Electric vehicles and the quality of corn crop harvests are some of the biggest threats facing the future of ethanol production, according to Pennsylvania Grain Processing corn originator Brian Kelly, the keynote speaker of the Blair County Chamber of Commerce's 599th chamber breakfast Thursday at The Casino at Lakemont Park.

Kelly encouraged chamber members to use Unleaded 88 fuel, also known as E15, which contains 15% ethanol, if it works for their vehicles because they'll get better fuel mileage and save gas money instead of using regular unleaded 87 fuel, which contains 10% ethanol, he said, noting ethanol production supports the economy and agriculture industry.

At Pennsylvania Grain Processing in Clearfield, the plant grinds 40 million bushels of corn and produces

The company employs 95 people — of which 20 are truck drivers — and purchases "any quantity" of corn from over 500 local food producers west of Centre County, he said, noting most of the producers are local farmers.

Kelly said the plant has purchased corn from Blair County farmers in the past, but it won't buy from those farmers this year because they "didn't have a very good crop (season) because it was too dry." He said the plant purchased corn from a lot of Bedford County farmers last year.

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau region four director Joe Diamond said agriculture is Blair County's No. 1 industry, and Pennsylvania Grain Processing provides farmers with a market for grain, particularly their corn, he said.

Kelly said one bushel of corn — about 56 pounds — can produce three gallons of ethanol, 14 pounds of dried distiller grains — which are used as high-protein animal feed — and 16 pounds of carbon dioxide.

"It provides a good market and a local market for corn here to the local area," Diamond said.

Diamond said the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is currently advocating for a federal Farm Bill to be passed in Congress because the previous bill, which covered food programs for low-income families and crop insurance benefits for farmers, expired Sept. 30.

If passed, Diamond said the Farm Bill would provide protections to farmers in Blair County for whenever periods of droughts impact the quality of their crops. That was the case for many farmers across the state this year, he said.

"Hopefully by the end of the year, we'll have a Farm Bill and farmers will have that safety net for the upcoming year," Diamond said.

Threats, opportunities discussed

Kelly said there's a legal cap of how much ethanol can be blended with gasoline, which is another threat to ethanol production plants, he said, noting there are opportunities for the industry's future exports as other countries increase ethanol blending in gasoline.

According to Kelly, the United States produces about 15 billion gallons of ethanol each year, or 53% of the world's production of ethanol. He said Brazil produces 28% of the world's production through sugar cane and corn feedstocks.

Kelly said ethanol is added to gasoline to boost the octane rating and reduce emissions. Ethanol reduces up to 20% of carbon monoxide and up to 30% of volatile organic components in gasoline, he said, adding ethanol also makes gasoline "greener."

Kelly said only "a small part of the gasoline market" purchases E15 and E85 gasoline. The predominant base of the market purchases regular unleaded fuel, he said.

"We're always promoting people to use higher blends of ethanol if it works in their vehicle," Kelly said.