Biodiesel vs diesel

[CVanco]

I called a local gas staion the other day to ask if they had biodiesel. Thinking to myself this would help out with the hole in my wallet, if I could burn it in my Dodge Diesel. Well the station told me they care it (good news) and then they said it was $4. 09Gal. Regular fuel was the same $4. 09gal. What the crap#@$%!. Ok I did research on the web and they said that 80-90% of biodiesel is made from used veg oil right here in my home state (ohio). I would have thought that it would be somewhat cheaper than fossil fuel. What the crap????? It is just frustrating to think that bio can be made so much cheaper and yet we still have to pay the high prices. :{ Is there bio diesel where you live if so is it cheaper than fossil fuel?

 

[fox]

Two years ago, I bought 200 gallons of B99-soydiesel- for 2. 20 or so a gallon.

So I find time to do it again and now they want 5. 78 a gallon.

I ask why ( with shook in my voice), and they say it is the speculators on the stock market.

So, off to the filling station I went!!!

 

[JFaughn]

The vast majority of bio in the US is from new soybean oil , it could be possible is that a processor is getting the majority of there oil from used , but that would be rare , most reporters know nothing about what there righting about , so that is a large part of bad info .
What an individual fuel station sells for can have as many reasons as stations , it a free market , if you do not like the price , do not buy from them .
Time of year is a big issue , near end of yr they may have made as much as there lic. allows , soybean prices are high , every winter methanol goes up .
I have been sharing some bulk , so have not bought any for a while , may get more next month , but bulk again , there are discounts with bulk , also we buy from the processor not a retail filling station .

 

[amsoilman]

Where I live, BIO is more money than #2 Diesel! Still GREED in my mind, just like the #2 is!



Wayne

amaoilman

 

[JFaughn]

Generally I look at greed as being a , start at the top thing , the few at the top start gouging , that raises every bodies cost , so if your in bis then you have to charge too much to stay in bis .
Not that some in the middle do not over charge more then the overpriced costs ,
I think that most are sheep , and learn by watching those at the top that nothing els matters .

 

[RGardner]

No access to bio here but I know that soy bean are thru the roof price wise.

 

[AStrand]

There is one bio-diesel refinery here in Minnesota that shut down because the price of soybeans is so high. North Dakota is starting to use sorgum instead of soybeans which is also high in oil content. There is also a lot of expirementation with algae which is also is suppose to be good. I don't understand that one.

 

[JFaughn]

A lot of the problems are the greed issues , most all of the alt fuel related to getting from things that grow , are jumped on by existing crops , that mean that now we are taking what we are using for for other uses , that causes all kinds of issues , so coming up with an alt fuel we should use a alt source , that would help to keep the price down .
But then you need to use what is going to be locally viable in your location , the algae works in climates like AZ , instead of harvesting 1-2 a yr , it can be harvested daily .
There is a coal burning power plant in AZ that is using algae to eat the carbon , for the carbon tax , then use the algae grown by eating the carbon , to get oil from , all plants have oil , you need to make any plant into pulp to extract the oil , algae is already pulp when harvested , an other step save / cheaper .
Same with ethanol , we should be using switch grass , instead of corn .

 

[obert]

Hey, where in columbus did you find bio? I dont stop for fuel in town too much, and my fleet card is only good certain places, so I havent seen any bio in my work travels.



I burn b-20 in my personal truck occasionally just for something different. So far the only place I've bought it is very high on all fuel. B-20 last thurs. was 4. 25, but #2 was 4. 50! :--) #2 in the area that day was 4. 09 to 4. 15 at other stations.

 

[wcjp]

I've been doing some reading on Soy based Bio. It appears Bio quality depends on soil, water and sun conditions of the Soy. Nothing concrete as yet. Something to keep in mind.

 

[RWalker]

The cost of biodiesel is so high is because the three largest producers of soy oil are raising the price of soy to drive out the small soy manufacturers. Note: each manufacturer gets a 1. 00 per gallon discount from the government and then then blends it again into B-99 to get 1. 00

 

[bmoeller]

A new plant in IA that was completed won't even start production. The cost of soy oil has tripled since they started planning construction of the facility.

The push for ethanol has cut back the soybean acres considerably, and the price of soybeans has shot up. My boss sold some for over $14/bu. several weeks ago.

CBOT - Corn Quotes Open Auction

CBOT - Soybeans Quotes Open Auction

CBOT - Soybean Oil Quotes Open Auction

Not that long ago, corn was $2/bu or less and beans were $5/bu or less. The high prices are good for grain farmers (til the cost of inputs and cash rent catch up), but it hurts the livestock producers. Not only do hog producers feed corn, they also use bean meal in the ration.

 

[KMatson]

New to the forum, but I wanted to advertise a biodiesel site I visited yesterday. $3. 50 a gallon. He said he thought his prices may be going down in the near future due to changes in his feedstock.



FM-362 and HI-290, Northwest of Houston.



As of today, I'm a biodieseler!!!Oo. If that's even a word...



Relax... It's Biodiesel! - New Energy Fuels, Houston, Texas... ask for Jeff

 

[Headshot zod]

There is also a lot of expirementation with algae which is also is suppose to be good. I don't understand that one.

Go to youtube and look up "algae biodiesel" you find a number of videos there. Grain based biofuels is a complete disaster. I think you get 60 gallons of oil per acre of soybeans whereas you 5k-12k+ gallons per acre with algae based biodiesel. And Solazyme is working on another version more productive then the algae.



Right now the price of algae based biodiesel is around $20. 00 a gallon. When they refine the process and get the price down, farmers can go back to growing food instead of burning it.