Samuel Morey, an American inventor, developed an engine that ran on ethanol and turpentine.
German engine inventor Nicholas Otto used ethanol as the fuel in one of his engines. Otto is best known for his development in 1876 of a modern internal combustion engine.
Henry Ford built his first automobile, the quadricycle, to run on pure ethanol.
Over 50 years after imposing a tax on ethanol, a major illuminating oil, to help pay for the Civil War, Congress removed it, making ethanol an alternative to gasoline as a motor fuel.
Henry Ford produced the Model T. As a flexible fuel vehicle, it could run on ethanol, gasoline, or a combination of the two.
During World War I, the need for fuel drove up ethanol demand to 50—60 million gallons per year.
Gasoline became the motor fuel of choice. Standard Oil began adding ethanol to gasoline to increase octane and to reduce engine knocking.
Fuel ethanol gained a market in the Midwest. Over 2,000 gasoline stations in the Midwest sold gasohol, which was gasoline blended with 6% to 12% ethanol.
Ethanol production for fuel use increased, owing to a massive wartime increase in demand for fuel, but most of the increased demand for ethanol was for non-fuel wartime uses.
Once World War II ended, with reduced need for war materials and with the low price of fuel, ethanol use as a fuel was drastically reduced. From the late 1940s until the late 1970s, virtually no commercial fuel ethanol was available anywhere in the United States.
The first of many legislative actions to promote ethanol as a fuel, the Solar Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1974 led to research and development of the conversion of cellulose and other organic materials (including wastes) into useful energy or fuels.
The United States begins to phase out lead in gasoline, based on regulations adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) two years earlier. Ethanol becomes more attractive as a possible octane booster for gasoline in place of lead. By 1986 no lead was allowed in motor gasoline.
Following years of oil embargoes leading to calls for energy security, EPA allows 10% ethanol blend in gasoline.
The term gasohol was defined, for the first time, in the Energy Tax Act of 1978. Gasohol was defined as a blend of gasoline with at least 10 percent alcohol by volume, excluding alcohol made from petroleum, natural gas, or coal. Ethanol was exempted from the federal gasoline excise tax, which at the time was 4 cents per gallon. This amounted to a 40-cents-per-gallon exemption for ethanol from federal motor fuel taxes.
Amoco Oil Company began marketing commercial alcohol-blended fuels, followed by Ashland, Chevron, Beacon, and Texaco. Comedian and actor Bob Hope could be seen in TV and magazine ads promoting the ability of ethanol to “stretch our available supply of gasoline.”
The first U.S. survey of ethanol production was conducted. The survey found fewer than 10 ethanol facilities existed, producing about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year. This was a major increase from the late 1950s until the late 1970s, when virtually no fuel ethanol was commercially available.
Congress enacted a series of tax benefits to ethanol producers and blenders. These benefits encouraged the growth of ethanol production.
The Energy Security Act of 1980 offered insured loans for small ethanol producers (less than 1 million gallons per year), up to $1 million in loan guarantees for each project that could cover up to 90% of construction costs on an ethanol plant; price guarantees for biomass energy projects; and purchase agreements for biomass energy used by Federal agencies.
The handful of commercial ethanol producers operating in the United States banded together to form the Renewable Fuels Association to ensure the fledgling industry had a powerful voice in Washington, D.C., and across the nation. After a push from ethanol producers, Congress established an import fee (tariff) on foreign-produced ethanol to offset the blender’s tax exemption. Previously, foreign producers, such as Brazil, were able to ship less expensive ethanol into the United States.
The Gasohol Competition Act of 1980 banned retaliation against ethanol resellers.
The Crude Windfall Tax Act of 1980 extended the ethanol blenders tax credit.
The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (signed in early 1983) increased the ethanol tax incentive to 50 cents per gallon.
The number of ethanol plants in the United States rose to 163, with most of producing 2-4 million gallons, or less, per year.
The Tax Reform Act of 1984 increased the ethanol tax incentive to 60 cents per gallon.
Many ethanol producers went out of business despite the availability of tax incentives, as an oil glut developed and gasoline prices plunged.
Only 74 of the 163 commercial ethanol plants (45%) remained operating by the end of 1985, producing 595 million gallons of ethanol for the year.
Ethanol was first used as an oxygenate in gasoline. Denver, Colorado, mandated oxygenated fuels (i.e., fuels containing oxygen) for winter use to control carbon monoxide emissions.
Other oxygenates added to gasoline included MTBE and ETBE. MTBE dominated the oxygenate market.
The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 decreased the ethanol subsidy to 54 cents per gallon of ethanol.
Ethanol plants began switching from coal to natural gas for power generation and adopting other cost-reducing technologies.
An expanding ethanol market and higher values for high fructose corn syrup encouraged expansion of wet mill plants that produce the syrup as a by-product of the ethanol production process.
Congress adopted Clean Air Act Amendments, establishing a nationwide clean-burning fuels program that would rely on reformulated gasoline and increased use of oxygenates, like ethanol, to reduce ground-level ozone and smog.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 provided for two additional gasoline blends (7.7% and 5.7% ethanol). The Act defined ethanol blends with at least 85% ethanol (E85) as alternative transportation fuels. It also required specified car fleets to begin purchasing alternative fuel vehicles, such as vehicles capable of operating on E85. The Act also provided tax deductions for purchasing (or converting) a vehicle capable of running on alternative fuel, such as E85, and for installing equipment to dispense alternative fuels.
As a result of the Clean Air Act Amendments adopted two years earlier, the use of oxygenated fuels begins in 39 major carbon monoxide nonattainment areas.
MTBE was still the primary oxygenate used in the United States.
Annual U.S. ethanol production surpasses one billion gallons.
The EPA began requiring the use of reformulated gasoline, year-round, in metropolitan areas with the most smog, opening new markets for ethanol as an additive to help clean the air.
The excise tax exemption and income tax credits were extended to ethanol blenders that produced ETBE.
Major U.S. auto manufacturers began mass production of flexible-fueled vehicles capable of operating on E85, gasoline, or both. Despite their ability to use E85, most of these vehicles used gasoline because of the scarcity of E85 stations.
The ethanol tax exemption was extended through 2007 with a gradual reduction from 54 cents per gallon to 51 cents per gallon in 2005.
Some States began to pass bans on MTBE use in motor gasoline because traces were showing up in drinking water sources, presumably from leaking gasoline storage tanks. These bans increase the need for ethanol.
The EPA recommended that MTBE should be phased out nationally.
A 1998 law reduced the ethanol tax incentive to 53 cents per gallon, starting January 1, 2001.
U.S. automakers continued to produce large numbers of E85 flex fuel vehicles to meet Federal regulations that required a certain percentage of fleet vehicles capable of running on alternative fuels. Over 3 million of these vehicles were in use.
At the same time, several States were encouraging fueling stations to sell E85.
With only 169 stations in the United States selling E85, most flex fuel vehicles are still operating on gasoline.
BP and ExxonMobil begin phasing out MTBE and switching to ethanol in California.
A 1998 law reduced the ethanol tax incentive to 52 cents per gallon, starting January 1, 2003.
As of October 2003, a total of 18 States had passed legislation that would eventually ban MTBE.
California began switching from MTBE to ethanol to make reformulated gasoline, resulting in a significant increase in ethanol demand by mid-year, even though the state ban did not officially go into effect until 2004.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is signed into law, creating the Renewable Fuel Standard ensuring gasoline sold in the United States contained a minimum volume of renewable fuel. The regulations aimed to double, by 2012, the use of renewable fuel, mainly ethanol. The bill also eliminated liability protections for gasoline suppliers using MTBE, effectively driving MTBE out of the marketplace.
The ethanol tax exemption was transformed into the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC).
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 expanded the Renewable Fuel Standard to require that 36 billion gallons of ethanol and other fuels including advanced and cellulosic biofuels be blended into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel by 2022.
In 2007, the United States consumed 6.8 billion gallons of ethanol and the average blend rate in the U.S. hits 5%.
An Argonne National Laboratory study compared data on water, electricity, and total energy usage from 2001 and 2006. During this period, America's ethanol industry achieved improvements in efficiency and resource use while it increased production nearly 300%.
As of March 2008, U.S. ethanol production capacity was at 7.2 billion gallons, with an additional 6.2 billion gallons of capacity under construction.
California’s first-in-the-nation Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) takes effect.
The EPA approves blends of 15% ethanol (E15) for use in model year 2001 and newer passenger cars and light trucks.
VEETC and the ethanol tariff are allowed to expire.
U.S. becomes a net exporter of ethanol, exceeding 1 billion gallons for the first time.
Ethanol consumption breaks the “blend wall,” making up more than 10% of the nation’s fuel.
U.S. ethanol production reaches a record 16.1 billion gallons.
The EPA’s secretive issuance of “small refinery exemptions” allows dozens of oil refiners to avoid RFS blending obligations, undercutting the ethanol market and causing more than 20 plants to temporarily shutter.
The COVID-19 pandemic leads to global lockdowns and fuel demand plummets, causing many ethanol producers to pivot to hand sanitizer and industrial alcohol production. At the peak of the crisis, over half the industry’s capacity was shuttered and roughly three-quarters of ethanol plants were offline or operating at reduced rates.
In its first decade, ethanol generates more greenhouse gas reductions than any other fuel used to meet LCFS requirements in California’s LCFS program.
RFA ethanol producer members commit to ensuring ethanol achieves a net-zero carbon footprint, on average, by 2050 or sooner.
As the industry begins to recover from COVID-induced demand destruction, U.S. ethanol production rebounds by 8 percent over 2020 levels.
The White House announced the Sustainable Aviation Fuels “Grand Challenge,” a strategic initiative to increase SAF production to at least 3 billion gallons annually by 2030.
Recognizing the ability of ethanol to extend domestic fuel supplies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EPA issues emergency waivers removing the summertime barrier to E15 and allowing year-round sales of the fuel. EPA would go on to take similar action in both 2023 and 2024.
The Inflation Reduction Act is signed into law. The legislation provides grant funding for higher-blend biofuels infrastructure; extends several current biofuel tax credits; creates new tax credits for clean fuel production (45Z) and sustainable aviation fuel (40B); and enhances support for carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
The RFA debuts the world's first Plug-in Hybrid Electric Flex Fuel Vehicle (PHEFFV), a 2022 Ford Escape that combines the benefits of a flex fuel vehicle (FFV) capable of operating on low-carbon E85, and a plug-in battery electric vehicle.
The EPA finalizes RFS volumes for 2023-2025, marking the first time the agency set standards for multiple years at a time. It also marks the beginning of the “post-2022 era” for the RFS, in which there are no specific Congressionally mandated volumes and EPA has more discretion to establish RFS levels.
The EPA gives final approval to a petition from the Governors of eight Midwest states allowing permanent, year-round sales of E15 in those states beginning in 2025.
North America’s first commercial ethanol-to-jet SAF facility begins operations in Soperton, Georgia.
Timeline sources: RFA and EIA
