Gevo enters on-road automobile gasoline market in Houston

Biofuels producer Gevo announced that gasoline blended with its isobutanol and marketed for use in automobiles has begun to be sold in Texas, Houston, US.  

This marks the first time that Gevo’s isobutanol has been specifically targeted towards on-road vehicles, the company said in a statement.

Previously, Gevo and its partners have focused on specialty markets such as marinas and off-road engines.

Musket Corp. is Gevo’s distribution partner serving the Houston market. Musket is blending up specially formulated gasoline containing Gevo’s isobutanol to distribute into the on-road automobile market.  Buc-ee’s, a 37-store regional chain of rest stops in Texas, is the first company to sell the blend, marketed as a high-performance ethanol-free gasoline.

The 12.5% blend of isobutanol and gasoline is attractive to customers who are looking for a high-performance alternative to ethanol-blended gasoline. The on-road gasoline market represents a much larger market opportunity for isobutanol than specialty segments. 

Selling into the on-road market also counterbalances the seasonal nature of some of the specialty markets like marinas.

This announcement expands on the previously publicised partnership between Gevo and Musket.  In June, Gevo announced it had entered into an agreement with Musket to supply isobutanol for blending with gasoline. 

Musket is a national fuel distributor under the umbrella of the Love’s Family of Companies and specialises in commodity supply, trading and logistics across North America. Under the partnership, the initial target markets were Musket’s marine and off-road customers in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.

“Isobutanol-blended fuel is a new paradigm for biofuels because it combines high performance and sustainability. We’ve established this in the aviation and boating markets and are now bringing it to on-road transportation.  It’s important for us to be working with established brands like Musket and Buc-ee’s to deliver a new high performance gasoline to end customers, and we look forward to seeing this business grow,” said Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo.