The largest producers of fuel-grade ethanol in the United States are POET, Valero Renewable Fuels Company, Archer-Daniels-Midland Company and Green Plains, according to Alto Ingredients.
Together, these four companies represent approximately 36% of the total installed fuel-grade ethanol production capacity in the United States.
In addition, there are many mid-sized fuel-grade ethanol producers with multiple owned plants, smaller producers with one or two plants, and several fuel-grade ethanol marketers creating significant competition.
Overall, Alto Ingredients estimates that there are more than 200 fuel-grade ethanol production facilities in the United States with a total installed production capacity of approximately 17.5 billion gallons and many brokers and marketers with whom it competes for sales of fuel grade ethanol and its co-products.
Ethanol producers
Alto Ingredients is a leading producer and marketer of specialty spirits and essential ingredients, and the largest producer of specialty spirits in the United States.
Other major producers of specialty spirits in the United States are Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, MGP Ingredients, Grain Processing Corporation, CIE, and Greenfield Global, which together make up a large majority of the total installed specialty spirits production capacity in the United States, along with many smaller producers.
In particular, Alto Ingredients operates five alcohol production plants.
Three of its production facilities are located in the midwestern state of Illinois and two of its facilities are located in the western states of Oregon and Idaho.
The company has an annual alcohol production capacity of 350 million gallons.
At the same time, the company markets all the alcohol produced at its facilities, as well as the fuel-grade ethanol produced by third parties.
In 2021, Alto Ingredients marketed approximately 480 million combined gallons of proprietary alcohols and fuel-grade ethanol produced by third parties, and more than 1.2 million tons of essential ingredients on a dry matter basis.
Through its recent acquisition of the Eagle Alcohol Company, the company now specializes in the bulk distribution of specialty spirits.
Its fuel-grade ethanol also competes in a global market with production from other countries, such as Brazil, which may have lower production costs than US producers.
