The Renewable Fuels Association recently announced that Mark A. Gouthro has been selected to lead the association’s Technical Committee. RFA’s four committees are the premier opportunity for peer-to-peer collaboration on important ethanol industry topics, and the Technical Committee focuses heavily on fuel specifications and standards such as ASTM International, National Conference of Weights and Measures, ISO, Canadian General Standards Board, and other international fuel requirements.
“We’re pleased to have Mark leading the RFA Technical Committee,” said RFA Vice President for Regulatory Affairs Kelly Davis, who has been involved with the committee—both as an ethanol plant lab manager and now as an RFA staffer—for roughly 30 years. “As countries around the world seek to decarbonize the transportation sector, this committee will provide important assistance to help ethanol reach our association’s pledge of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner, and making sure that we work with regulatory bodies and other entities to expand the availability of climate-smart renewable fuels.”
Gouthro has worked as lab manager at E Energy Adams, in Adams, Neb., since 2016. A native of Canada, he earned a master’s degree in biology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He began his career in fermentation when he accepted a position with the Biological Processes Development Facility at UNL, where he eventually became the Fermentation Lab Manager. Gouthro moved on from there to become the Developmental Fermentation Lab Manager at Tate & Lyle and switched his focus to the ethanol industry in 2008 when he began work for Genencor (later DuPont) as an Applications Scientist, where he had the opportunity to work with numerous ethanol plants helping them to solve issues and during product trials.
RFA’s three other committees focus on Co-Products, New Uses, and Environmental Health & Safety. Some of the ethanol industry’s most significant achievements began as topics in the RFA’s committees, and current committee participants are engaged in new developments that improve ethanol production efficiency, safety, and environmental impact. They’re also involved in monitoring and responding to federal/state regulatory changes, pursuing new and novel uses of the ethanol molecule, researching and expanding the use of ethanol coproducts, and finding ways to foster industry-wide growth.
