How to Read EIA's Biofuels Plant Production Capacity Report — Ethanol, Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel and Units

As of 4 November 2026, 01:01 KST; most recently published report: the U.S. Biofuels Plant Production Capacity Report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), with plant counts and capacity as of January 1, 2026 for fuel ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel fuel and other biofuels. The report page, as retrieved by this page at 01:01 KST, shows a release date of September 24, 2026 and a next release date of September 2027; the sources used give no time of day. The January 1, 2025 values come from the three separate 2025 reports reached from the report's previous-issues page. Primary source: https://www.eia.gov/biofuels/capacity/^[1][5]

Comparison basis: the 2026 page gives capacity only in thousand barrels per day (Mb/d), while the 2025 pages gave both million gallons per year (MMgal/yr) and Mb/d, so the table uses Mb/d for both years. This page's calculated changes are rounded half up to one decimal; with whole-number Mb/d values, small changes are sensitive to rounding. Each row compares January 1 with January 1. All sources are EIA publications and count as one source.^[1][2]

In three lines

1. EIA's annual biofuels capacity report counts operating U.S. fuel ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel and other biofuels plants and their daily production capacity by Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD).
2. On January 1, 2026, fuel ethanol capacity was 1,202 Mb/d at 189 plants, biodiesel 128 Mb/d at 45 plants, and renewable diesel and other biofuels 324 Mb/d at 19 plants.
3. Compared with January 1, 2025, renewable diesel and other capacity rose 5.2% while ethanol and biodiesel capacity edged down (this page's calculations).^[1]

"Annual biofuels production capacity report with data for all operating U.S. fuel ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel fuel and other biofuels production plants as of January 1, 2026." "Fuel Ethanol Production Capacity measures estimated thousands of barrels of fuel alcohol that a plant is capable of producing in one day." For renewable diesel and other biofuels, the table note says: "Includes refineries co-processing renewable feedstock and petroleum." "Total may not equal sum of components due to independent rounding."^[1]

Per day vs per year. The 2025 ethanol report expressed its capacity definition in annual gallons, whereas the 2026 page expresses it in daily barrels: "Fuel Ethanol Production Capacity measures estimated gallons of fuel alcohol that a plant is capable of producing over a period of one year (365 consecutive days) starting on the first day of each report month." It printed 18,477 MMgal/yr alongside 1,205 Mb/d; 18,477 million gallons a year divided by 42 gallons per barrel and 365 days gives about 1,205.3 thousand barrels per day (this page's calculation), consistent with the printed Mb/d. Comparisons with older issues should use the same unit.^[1][2]

Plants vs capacity. Renewable diesel and other biofuels had the same 19 plants in both years while capacity rose from 308 to 324 Mb/d, and PADD 3 rose from 139 to 160 Mb/d (this page's calculations). The category also includes refineries co-processing renewable feedstock and petroleum, per the table note, so plant counts are not all stand-alone biofuel plants.^[1][4]

Category totals vs a combined total. The 2026 page gives a U.S. total for each category but no combined biofuels total; the 1,643 and 1,654 Mb/d in the table are this page's sums of the three categories, and EIA notes that totals may not equal the sum of components because of independent rounding.^[1][2][3][4]

Report and form names. The 2026 page cites Form EIA-819 as the Monthly Report of Fuels from Non-Biogenic Waste and Biofuels, while the 2025 ethanol page cites Form EIA-819 as the Monthly Biofuels, Fuel Oxygenates, Isooctane, and Isooctene Report, and the three 2025 categories were published as separate reports. The cited pages do not provide a numeric error measure.^[1][2]