The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced renewable fuel obligations (RVOs) for 2023, 2024 and 2025 under the country’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), Biodiesel magazine reported.
The agency said that proposing volume targets for more than one year would provide the market with certainty of demand needed for longer-term business and investment plans.
Published on 1 December, the proposed rule set the 2023, 2024 and 2025 RVOs at 78.8bn litres (20.82bn gallons), 82.79bn litres (21.87bn gallons), and 85.85bn litres (22.68bn gallons), respectively.
A 946M litre (250M gallon) supplemental obligation would also be imposed for 2023, the 1 December report said, as it had been this year.
Many biofuel groups had welcomed the EPA’s proposal, which aimed to boost biofuel blending by 7.76bn litres (2.05bn gallons) between 2022 and 2025, with substantial increases for cellulosic biofuels and advanced biofuels, Biodiesel magazine wrote.
However, associations representing the biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industries, had criticised the proposal for failing to fully account for expected growth in these fuels, the report said.
For 2023, the EPA’s proposal to set the total RVO at 78.8bn litres (20.82bn gallons) was an increase of 719M litres (190M gallons) when compared to the 2022 RVO finalised earlier this year.
The 2023 blend target included 2.72bn litres (720M gallons) of cellulosic fuel, 10.67bn litres (2.82bn gallons) of biomass-based diesel and 22.03bn litres (5.82bn gallons) of advanced biofuel. Conventional biofuels, such as corn ethanol, could fill up to 56.77bn litres (15bn gallons) of the RVO requirement. The 946M litre (250M gallon) supplemental obligation boosted the total 2023 obligation to 79.74bn litres (21.07bn gallons).
On a percentage basis, the 2022 RVO requires biofuels to account for 10.82% of transportation fuel. The RVOs for 2023, 2024 and 2025 would boost the biofuel blend levels to 11.92%, 12.55% and 13.05% respectively.
Open for public comment period until 10 February, and the EPA is holding a virtual public hearing for the proposed rule on 10 January, with an additional session to be held the following day if necessary.
