USA, Brazil have gained from ethanol blending

In the United States, the blending of ethanol into gasoline for use as an automotive fuel began in the 1970s due to high petroleum prices and growing health and environmental concerns over the use of lead in gasoline which created a need for a new source of "octane"

- DR J P GUPTA

In 2006, which was the first regulation requiring renewable content in gasoline. A second round, and most significant, round of rapid growth of ethanol fuel blending began with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, also known as RFS-2.

Today all gasoline sold in the US has a minimum of 10 percent ethanol ("E10"), with both E15 and E85 growing in use.

The following charts highlight the growth in ethanol production, corn production, and ethanol plant construction from each of the key pieces of legislation.

Corn production has been more than adequate to keep up the demand to produce ethanol.

Since the 1930s, corn production is up 800 percent, while over the same period land use for corn production is down by 10 percent.

The recognized benefits of ethanol fuel blending in the U.S. are:

Creates well-paying jobs: Ethanol production in 2022 accounted for nearly 79,000 direct and over 330,000 indirect jobs across the country, $57 billion in GDP, and $35 billion in household income.