Over the past decade, demand for corn ethanol has stopped growing, and the prospect of a rapidly expanding electric vehicle fleet has left the ethanol industry struggling to find new markets.
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) could provide the industry a sizable new market for decades if ethanol can meet the required greenhouse gas emissions standards.
Thus, the industry’s hope of expanding demand for SAF rests on whether corn ethanol will meet federal emissions standards through “climate-smart” agriculture practices and whether midwestern policymakers will approve carbon-capture pipelines.