Blender pumps are coming up more and more often in conversations about renewable fuels, so I thought it might be useful to pull together some basic blender pump information in one location -- including a link to a map of current U.S. blender pump locations.
Blender pump basics:
Blender pumps give motorists more choices at the pump by offering a variety of ethanol blends between E10 and E85, as seen here.
A blender pump looks like a standard gasoline dispenser and takes up the same amount of space, but features two underground tanks -- one with unleaded and one with E85. The two fuels are blended in the appropriate percentages to create mid-level ethanol blends such as E20, E30, or E50, in addition to E10 and E85.
This map of U.S. blender pump locations is maintained by the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE).
Links for more information about blender pumps:
- Section on Ethanol.org: http://www.ethanol.org/index.php?id=91&parentid=8
- The national "Blend Your Own Ethanol" campaign, led by ACE and the Renewable Fuels Association: www.byoethanol.com
- A diagram of a blender pump: http://www.ethanol.org/index.php?id=84&parentid=29
