Canada’s Ontario Province eyes E10, ethanol demand to soar

The province of Ontario in Canada has published a proposal to double the volume of ethanol blended in gasoline to 10% from 5% in a bid to cut consumption of fossil fuels and emissions.

Canada has a federal mandate requiring 5% of all fuel in the national gasoline pool be renewable and 2% diesel, meaning the province will go further than national targets.

The move could see additional demand for ethanol reach 500 million litres per year, according to Jim Grey, president of RIC and CEO of IGPC Ethanol, who was quoted in local media.

The province, which includes the cities Ottowa and Toronto and contains about 40% of the population of Canada, produces around 1 billion litres of ethanol per year and has net imports of about 221 million litres.

Canada as a whole imports around 1 billion litres, according to the USDA.