Biofuels consumption on the rise in Iowa

The Iowa Department of Revenue says that the biodiesel sold in 2011 was nearly twice as much that was sold in 2012.

During last year, the total amount of pure biodiesel that was sold in the state amounted to 13.9 million gallons, whereas the year before it only reached 7.4 million gallons.

In the region, where there are 13 biodiesel plants which produced 175 million gallons last year, sales of biodiesel make up just over 42% of all biodiesel sold on the market.

Ethanol is also popular in Iowa, where three ethanol blends – E10, E85 and E15/20 – accounted for more than 82% of all petrol sales last year.

An excess of 95% of petrol stations that sell the blends also sell more ethanol than they do conventional fuel.

For biodiesel, more than 1,100 sites sell the fuel with some of them selling clear biodiesel and other selling dyed biodiesel.

The Iowa Biodiesel Board says that it believes a combination of the federal biodiesel tax incentive, the federal renewable fuel standard and the state legislation giving infrastructure and incentives to retailers has enabled a growth in the fuel.

‘These numbers show the energy policy put into place at the state and federal levels is moving us in the right direction,’ says Randy Olson, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board. ‘That’s almost 14 million gallons of fuel that we didn’t have to make from foreign oil, and translates to millions of dollars that pumped up Iowa jobs instead of going overseas.’