By Todd Neeley
DTN Staff Reporter
HOUSTON (DTN) — When ClearFlame Engines CEO B.J. Johnson told ethanol industry representatives about the potential ethanol market for the company’s all-ethanol diesel engine, those at the recent National Ethanol Conference in Houston could have kissed him.
While concerns continue about the future of the Renewable Fuel Standard and whether the EPA will provide a 15-billion-gallon market for ethanol in light of small-refinery exemptions, Johnson said even an optimistic 20% market penetration into the $231 billion heavy-duty diesel market would in itself create 15 billion gallons of demand for ethanol per year.
?Ethanol burns more efficient than diesel,? Johnson said.
?Why has it not happened? Ethanol is considered a gasoline additive. The solution? Get ethanol to burn in a diesel application. We’re able to get a diesel engine to burn ethanol. We take the diesel engine design and implement it into a high-temperature combustion system.
