How to Prepare an Efficient
Producer Petition
Version 1*2
United States
Environmental Protection
tl Agency
-------
How to Prepare an Efficient
Producer Petition
Version 1*2
Transportation and Climate Division
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
£% United States
Environmental Protection
^1 Agency
EPA-420-B-17-033
October 2017
-------
Table of Contents
I. Introduction 2
II. Section-by-Section Instructions 3
1. Cover Sheet (No information claimed CBI) 4
2. Technical Justification 5
3. Feedstock (No information claimed CBI) 6
4. Production Process 6
5. Process Energy 6
6. Coproducts 7
7. Mass and Energy Balance Data 7
7. Certification by the Responsible Corporate Officer (RCO) 8
8. List of Attachments 9
Appendix 1: Formatting for New Fuel Pathway Petitions 10
Appendix 2: Petition Cover Sheet Template 11
1
-------
I. Introduction
The EPA is providing detailed information on how to prepare a complete Efficient Producer (EP) petition
for a new fuel pathway under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. Parties considering an EP
petition are strongly encouraged to start by reviewing the background information provided on the
EPA's website on whether they qualify for this expedited petition process.
This document provides details on the required information for EP petitions, including
recommendations on organization and formatting.1 Our objective is to help petitioners provide all of
the data that EPA needs to complete life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) analyses of proposed new fuel
pathways, while also reducing extraneous information. EP petitions that do not meet the information
requirements specified in 40 CFR 80.1416, as explained and clarified in this document and other EPA
guidance, will be rejected as incomplete and no further action will be taken. In other words, the whole
petition will need to be resubmitted.
This document provides step-by-step instructions for preparing a complete EP petition. The
recommendations included in this document are based on EPA's experience implementing the petition
process since its creation in March 2010. As we continue to receive and evaluate more petitions, we
expect to update this document as needed.
Compared to Version 1.1, this document has been updated to include a new category under the EP
petition process for petitions involving corn starch ethanol producers who co-produce cellulosic ethanol
from corn kernel fiber. The requirements for such petitions are explained below. Version 1.2 also
includes:
A new section on the cover sheet briefly describing the petition request
A new Technical Justification section
Updated instructions for the Feedstock section
Updated section numbering
1, Petitions for co-production of cellulosic etlia: corn kernel fiber
EP petitions from corn starch ethanol producers seeking to co-produce cellulosic ethanol from corn
kernel fiber, and generate D-code 3 RINs for such ethanol, must include the following information in
their EP petitions:
On the Cover Sheet, under the Petition Request field, include one of the following:
o Modification to an existing Efficient Producer corn starch ethanol pathway, for a facility
that seeks to co-produce cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel fiber and generate D-code
3 RINs for such ethanol.
o New Efficient Producer corn starch ethanol pathway, for a facility that seeks to co-
produce cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel fiber and generate D-code 3 RINs for such
ethanol.
1 The information requested in this document is based on the information requirements for petitions outlined in
the RFS regulations at 40 CFR 80.1416(b).
2
-------
Include the following in the Technical Justification section:
o Reference the facility's registration application to generate cellulosic biofuel (D-code 3)
RINs for ethanol produced from corn kernel fiber that has been accepted by EPA,
including the date that EPA accepted such a registration application. EP petitions
seeking co-production of cellulosic ethanol without an active registration for such
ethanol will be rejected as incomplete. This is necessary because the methods and
techniques for measuring the volumes of cellulosic ethanol produced need to be
established before the formulas developed for the EP petition process can be properly
used to calculate the lifecycle GHG emissions associated with the corn starch ethanol
produced.
o The date that EPA accepted the registration application for your existing EP pathway.
As part of the mass and energy balance data provided in the GHG Calculator, the volumes of
cellulosic ethanol must be reported separately from the volumes of ethanol produced from corn
starch.
II. Sectlon-by-Section Instructions
As part of our efforts to streamline the petition review process, the EPA is asking petitioners to prepare
their application packages using the recommended organization and format provided in this document.
The following sections go through each part of the petition outline and provides guidance on what to
include in each section.2
For EPA to complete its evaluation of these petitions, it is necessary for the Agency to publicly disclose
certain information about requested pathways (e.g., the name of the company that submitted the
petition, the name and location of their biofuel production facility, the type(s) of feedstocks used, the
type of fuel produced and the type of production process technology). For this reason, EPA requests
that certain sections of the EP petition include no information claimed as confidential business
information (CBI). Below, these sections are marked as "(No information claimed CBI)."
We also recognize that petitioners may feel it is important to claim as CBI certain technical information.
Petitioners who wish to claim certain information as CBI should clearly mark all the information claimed
as CBI as precisely as possible. We ask petitioners to clearly mark each and every page that includes
information claimed as CBI. The header of all such pages should say "Contains information claimed as
CBI," and the header should also include an explanation of how such information is marked. For
example, the header could explain that information claimed CBI is included in brackets or highlighted
yellow.
2 We ask petitioners to use the section headings specified below and in the table of contents (e.g., A. Cover Sheet,
B. Feedstock, C. Production Process, and so on). For more instructions on formatting see Appendix A.
3
-------
1, Cover Sheet (No Information claimed CBI)
We ask that every petition include a one-page cover sheet. The cover sheet serves as a quick reference,
designed to help EPA staff efficiently and systematically process and review incoming petitions. An
example Cover Sheet is provided in Appendix 2.
Date Submitted
Enter the date that the petition is submitted to the EPA.
Company Full Name
Enter the official name of the company submitting the petition. Enter only one company name.
Name of Etli.an.oI Production Facility
Give the name of the ethanol production facility associated with the petition.3 Please use a brief name
(we recommend no more than three words), as this will be the name used in the EPA Moderated
Transaction System (EMTS) and EPA's determination document. A company submitting petitions for
multiple facilities should make sure that each facility has a unique name. For example, facilities could be
named after the Company and the city where they are located, e.g., Acme Washington, Acme
Washington II, Acme Detroit. Enter only one facility per petition.
Location of Ethanol Production Facility
Specify the location (city, state, country) of the facility that will produce the ethanol associated with the
proposed pathway.
Fuel Pathway Ketpestei
Enter the fuel, feedstock and production process technology and RIN D-code for each pathway
requested. A single petition may involve more than one fuel pathway. For example, the petition may
request pathways for corn starch ethanol, grain sorghum ethanol qualifying for renewable fuel (D-code
6) RINs and grain sorghum ethanol qualifying for advanced biofuel (D-code 5) RINs. Add rows to the
table as necessary to include all of the fuel pathways requested. Below is an example of how to fill out
the table of requested fuel pathways.
Table 1: Example listing of requested fuel pathways
Fuel Type
Feedstock
fro Auction
Process
Technology
code
Requested
Ethanol
Corn starch
Dry mill process
6
Ethanol
Grain sorghum
Dry mill process
5
3 In this document ethanol refers to undenatured ethanol.
4
-------
Petition Request
Choose one of the one-sentence descriptions listed below summarizing what the petition is requesting.
EP petitions are currently limited to the following options:4
1. New Efficient Producer corn starch ethanol pathway, for a facility that uses only corn kernels as
feedstock to produce ethanol, and generates only D-code 6 RINs for such ethanol.
2. New Efficient Producer corn starch ethanol pathway, for a facility that uses only corn kernels
and grain sorghum as feedstocks to produce ethanol, and generates only D-code 6 RINs for the
ethanol produced from corn.
3. New Efficient Producer grain sorghum ethanol pathway, to generate D-code 6 RINs for ethanol
produced from grain sorghum.
4. New Efficient Producer grain sorghum ethanol pathway, to generate D-code 5 or 6 RINs for
ethanol produced from grain sorghum.
5. Modification to an existing Efficient Producer corn starch ethanol pathway, for a facility that
seeks to co-produce cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel fiber and generate D-code 3 RINs for
such ethanol.
6. New Efficient Producer corn starch ethanol pathway, for a facility that seeks to co-produce
cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel fiber and generate D-code 3 RINs for such ethanol.
Primary Point of Contact
Provide the requested contact information (see Appendix B) for the primary point of contact (POC) for
the petition. Include only one POC per petition. EPA recommends that the POC should be affiliated with
the company listed on the cover sheet under Company Full Name. If the POC is not affiliated with the
lead organization, at least one appropriate official from the lead organization should be listed under the
"Additional Contact Info" section of the Petition Cover Sheet, and included in any subsequent meetings
or calls related to the petition. EPA will send all communications regarding a petition to the POC, and it
is the POC's responsibility to disseminate information to other parties associated with the petition.
These recommendations are intended to reduce duplicative communications between EPA and parties
associated with a petition.
2. T ech.iil.cal Justification
Include a brief technical justification (typically 1-2 short paragraphs), that includes a summary of the
proposed pathway and any important aspects that you would like EPA to consider when evaluating the
petition.
Petitions from corn starch ethanol producers seeking to co-produce cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel
fiber, and generate D-code 3 RINs for such ethanol, must reference, in this section, the facility's
registration application to generate cellulosic biofuel (D-code 3) RINs for ethanol produced from corn
4 Ethanol producers with a request other than those listed here may petition the Agency pursuant to 40 CFR
80.1416. Such petitions will not be eligible for the Efficient Producer petition process, and will therefore take
significantly longer to review. The review time will depend on the number and type of other higher priority
petitions under review by the EPA.
5
-------
kernel fiber that has been accepted by EPA, including the date that EPA accepted such a registration
application. As discussed in section 1.1, EP petitions seeking co-production of cellulosic ethanol without
an active registration for such ethanol will be rejected as incomplete.
3. Feedstock (No Information claimed CHI)
Provide a brief statement certifying the types of feedstocks that are used in the requested pathway(s).
The options for this certification language are:
1. "I certify that the [insert facility name] dry mill ethanol production facility uses only corn starch,
corn kernel fiber, or other minor components of corn kernels as feedstocks to produce
ethanol."
2. "I certify that the [insert facility name] dry mill ethanol production facility uses only corn starch,
corn kernel fiber, other minor components of corn kernels, or grain sorghum kernels as
feedstocks to produce ethanol."
3. "I certify that the [insert facility name] dry mill ethanol production facility uses only grain
sorghum kernels as feedstock to produce ethanol."
Proiiii 'cess
Provide a brief statement certifying that the production process used to produce ethanol through the
requested pathway(s) is a dry mill ethanol production process. For more information about what
constitutes a dry mill ethanol production process, see Section 1.4.1.1 ("Dry Milling Technology") of the
February 2010 Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2) Regulatory Impact Analysis (EPA-420-R-10-
006).
For example, the statement could say the following: "I certify that the requested pathways for ethanol
produced by [insert facility name] use a dry mill production process where corn starch and grain
sorghum feedstocks are ground into a coarse flour, also known as "meal"; the meal is cooked into a hot
slurry with the addition of enzymes to produce a mixture commonly known as "mash"; the mash is
fermented with the addition of yeast to produce ethanol, carbon dioxide and solids from the grain and
yeast, known as "fermented mash"; the fermented mash is distilled to produce a mixture of ethanol and
water, and a residue of non-fermentable solids, also known as "stillage"; the mixture of ethanol and
water is dehydrated to produce 200-proof ethanol; and the primary coproducts/byproducts are carbon
dioxide, distillers grains, solubles, syrup and vegetable oil."
5, cess Energy
Provide a brief statement certifying that the dry mill process for the requested pathway uses one or a
combination of the following sources for all of its process energy: electricity from the grid, natural gas,
coal, biogas or biomass. If the requested pathway uses biogas for process energy, briefly describe the
sources of the gas. Note that to qualify for the EP petition process the biogas must be sourced from one
or a combination of the following sources: landfills, municipal wastewater treatment facility digesters,
agricultural digesters, separate municipal solid waste (MSW) digesters, or other waste digesters. See
the July 2014 RFS rule (79 FR 42128) for more information on qualifying sources of biogas.
6
-------
If the requested pathway uses biomass for process energy, briefly describe the sources of the biomass.
Note that to qualify for the EP petition process, all biomass used as process energy must meet the RFS
regulatory definition for crop residue at § 80.1401. See the July 2014 RFS rule for more information on
what EPA considers to be a crop residue for the RFS program.
6, Coproiticls
Provide a brief statement certifying that all of the distillers grains or distillers grains and solubles co-
product produced as a result of the requested pathways is intended for use as animal feed. This section
should also provide a brief description of the coproducts resulting from the requested pathways and
their intended uses. For example, explain whether the facility sells wet or modified distillers grains,
produces vegetable oil coproduct through fractionation or extraction, produces any additional co-
products, etc.
7. Mass a ergy Balance Data
A mass and energy balance should be included for every new pathway requested. To provide the
required mass and energy balance data, petitioners should use the EP Lifecycle GHG Calculator
spreadsheet (the "GHG Calculator"), available for download on the Agency's EP petition process web
page.5 This spreadsheet tool is designed to automatically calculate lifecycle GHG emissions based on the
mass and energy balance data entered. Petitioners should fill out the GHG Calculator and attach it to
their EP petition. For detailed instructions on using the GHG Calculator, including the formulas and
emissions factors used in the calculations, see the How to Use the Efficient Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas
Calculator document available for download on EPA's EP web page.
The GHG Calculator submission should include average annual mass and energy balance data over the
past year and/or projected into the future. For EP petitions, data may be entered in the GHG Calculator
for a daily, monthly or annual basis. If the mass and energy balance data provided are based on
projected process improvements, provide a brief explanation (less than one page) of the energy saving
technologies and other process improvements that will (or have been) undertaken to improve the
facility's future efficiency compared to its historical performance.
In cases where a facility uses corn kernel fiber feedstock to co-produce ethanol, and seeks to generate
cellulosic biofuel (D-code 3) RINs for such ethanol, the volumes of cellulosic ethanol must be reported
separately from the volumes of ethanol produced from corn starch. For details, see the updated
instructions for the GHG Calculator.
The data provided should demonstrate how the requested fuel pathway will meet the applicable
lifecycle GHG emissions reduction threshold (e.g., 20% GHG reduction for renewable fuel D-code 6 RINs,
50% GHG reduction for renewable fuel D-code 5 RINs) using the methodology and formulas contained in
the GHG Calculator. If you submit an EP petition that does not demonstrate adequate GHG reductions
EPA will return it as incomplete.
5 https://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard-program/how-prepare-efficient-producer-petition-under-
renewable-fuel
7
-------
Should the petition be approved, the average lifecycle GHG emissions for the ethanol produced at the
facility will need to be calculated and recorded over a 365 calendar day rolling average. The GHG
Calculator is designed to help perform these calculations as well.
8, Certification by the Responsible Corpo: ; - ' '» ;er (RC' •
EP petitions should include a signed statement by the RCO of the company (or facility) submitting the
petition,6 certifying that the information provided is accurate and the company understands and wishes
to comply with the steps and requirements in the EP petition process, as explained on the EPA's
website. The signed determination document responding to your petition will be addressed and mailed
to the RCO listed in this section, based on the address provided in the GHG Calculator attached to your
petition (for details see the How to Use the Efficient Producer Greenhouse Gas Calculator document).7
Petitions should include the following statement, with information in brackets filled as appropriate,
followed by the RCO's signature, the RCO's printed name and the date:
As [RCO job title] of [company full name], I am providing to EPA information about a requested
new fuel pathway on behalf of [company full name], I have reviewed the information provided
above, and to the best of my knowledge it is accurate and complete. I have reviewed all of the
information related to the Efficient Producer petition process available on the EPA's website
and I certify that my organization wishes to utilize this process and understand the conditions
likely to be contained in any approval document, including those related to registration,
continuous monitoring and the recordkeeping that will be designed to ensure ongoing
compliance with the appropriate life cycle greenhouse gas reduction threshold requirements
associated with the approved pathway.
RCO Signature:
RCO Name (Printed:
Date:
6 For reference, a definition for responsible corporate officer is provided at 40 CFR 122.22:
(i) A president, secretary, treasurer, or vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function,
or any other person who performs similar policy- or decision-making functions for the corporation, or
(ii) the manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities, provided, the manager is
authorized to make management decisions which govern the operation of the regulated facility including having
the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiating and directing
other comprehensive measures to assure long term environmental compliance with environmental laws and
regulations; the manager can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather
complete and accurate information for permit application requirements; and where authority to sign documents
has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
7 The most recent version of the How to Use the Efficient Producer Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Calculator is available
here: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/new-pathways/efficient-producer-petition-process.htm
8
-------
List of Attachments
Provide a list of the attachments submitted with the petition, including a short name and brief
description (1-2 sentences) for each attachment.
-------
Appendix A: Formatting for New Fuel Pathway Petitions
Electronic file type: PDF or MS Word
Font and Section Headings:
• For the body of the document: Calibri, size 11, black color.
• First level section headings (e.g., t. Feedstock): Cambria, size 14, bold, no indent, capitalize
the first letter of each word, color = dark blue, insert page break before section heading.
• Second level section headings (e.g., B. Information for New Feedstocks): Calibri, size
13, bold, capitalize the first letter of each word, color = blue.
• Third level section headings (e.g., vii. Alternative Uses): Calibri, size 11, indent by one tab,
capitalize the first letter of each word, color = blue.
• Fourth level section headings (e.g., (I, Information for livestock Feed): Calibri, size 11, italics,
indent by one tab, capitalize the first letter of each word, color = blue.
• Fifth level section headings (e.g., 1. Animal market share and feed ratios by region): Calibri,
size 11, normal font, indent by one tab, capitalize only the first letter of the first word, color =
dark blue.
Include a table of contents
Paper size: Standard 8.5 by 11-inch copier paper
10
-------
Appendix B: Petition Cower Sheet Template
[This page intentionally left blank]
11
-------
Date Submitted: [MM/DD/YYYY]
[Company Full Name]
Abbreviat mpanyName:
Location of Ethanol Production Facility; [City, State, Country]
Name of Ethanol Production Facility; [Abbreviated Company Name + Facility
City]
Fuel Pathway Requested
Fuel
Feedstock
Production Process
T echnology
RIN D-code
Requested
Ethanol
Dry mill process
Petition Request: [See section II.1 for options]
Primary Point of Contact
lame;
Job Title;
Address;
Phone Number:
Alternate Phone lumber;
Email address:
Additional Contact Info (if any);
12
------- |