Denatured fuel ethanol is the pure ethanol that gets blended into gasoline, made undrinkable on purpose. A small amount of gasoline is added to it so it cannot be sold or taxed as drinking alcohol.
Ethanol is alcohol, the same kind that is in drinks, made here from crops such as corn. The ethanol blended into gasoline starts out as that pure alcohol. To keep it out of the beverage market and its heavy taxes, a small amount of gasoline or other material is added to make it unfit to drink. That added material is called a denaturant, and the result is denatured fuel ethanol.
This denatured ethanol is the actual product that moves through the fuel supply chain. It is what a terminal stores and what gets metered into gasoline to make the blends sold at the pump, such as E10.
The denaturing matters for taxes and tracking. Drinking alcohol carries a steep federal tax, while fuel ethanol does not. Denaturing draws a clear line so the fuel version is handled, taxed, and reported as fuel.
For a fuel marketer, denatured fuel ethanol is the blendstock behind nearly every gallon of gasoline sold, the renewable component blended in to meet federal rules and earn the credits tied to blending.
In useThe terminal receives denatured fuel ethanol by rail, stores it apart from the gasoline, and meters it in as each truck loads to make E10.
Where the word comes from
Denatured means its nature was changed, here changed so it cannot be drunk. Fuel ethanol marks it as the ethanol meant for blending into fuel rather than for drinking.
See also Ethanol blend, Blendstock, RINs / RFS