Canola for Biodiesel

[CumminsFarmer]

Hey guys,



My dad and I grow canola as a rotational crop here on the Camas Prairie of North-Central Idaho. We've grown varieties for both edible purposes (i. e. cooking oil) and also for industrial use, such as biodiesel. Most times growers are constricted to 'open-market' prices for oilseed. Sometimes this means the price of canola is quite low and not very economical to grow. Other times contracts can be made that are quite lucrative, of course it all depends on weather and the yield of the crop! Anyways, Im simply looking in the wide-world of the TDR for anyone interested in perhaps buying canola direct from the grower to use for their own bio-fuel purposes. This could possibly benefit both the consumer, and also the grower. If anyone is interested, or perhaps has ties to a biodiesel plant of some kind, please contact me here on the TDR website. Thanks!



-Cole

 

[cj hall]

seed

Hello Cole



I would like to talk to you about this could you give me your phone number. email me at

-- email address removed --

or call 406-672-6853







Thanks

cj hall

 

[TomThomas]

Cole, are you saying that you'd have oil for sale or seeds?

 

[JFlagg]

Cole, are you saying that you'd have oil for sale or seeds?

X2, I am looking for a supplier for my home biodiesel project... . might be smaller amounts than youa re thinking though.

 

[CumminsFarmer]

I would have seeds for sale possibly, not oil. There are no crushers anywhere close around here. Dealings would take place probably through a warehouse as thats where I store the harvested canola.

 

[JFaughn]

I'm linking to watch , I have some possibilities I'll talk to .
Something that occurs to me is that you might have some volume to sell at , min. what ever ?

 

[HoleshotHolset]

There's an article in the latest edition of Farm Show Magazine where a farmer is using a combination of canola oil/off-road petroleum diesel to run his tractors, etc. He isn't going through transesterification to make biodiesel, however.



Here's another article in that issue where they are going from feedstock to biodiesel - the prices seem very reasonable for the processing equipment, too!

Agriculture equipment, farm magazines, farm equipment, farm inventions, farm machinery, agriculture machinery



Beers,



Matt

 

[CumminsFarmer]

If I decide to go this route the price obviously will have to compete with open-market prices, or contract prices I can obtain. Currently canola is on the rise, as are alot of rotation crops due to the increase in winter wheat acres. Bear in mind that shipping costs will most likely be passed on to the buyer, and northern Idaho is fairly remote. An actual bio refinery would probly be the most logical scenario, as truckloads are generally shipped weighing in at rougly 70,000 lbs of actual canola.

 

[tgordon]

CumminsFarmer, when you say a warehouse, is the canola in bags? I am use to dealings with wheat, corn , etc in bulk. Do you have any idea what would be the oil per pound of grain?

 

[PPettit]

CumminsFarmer,

Interesting to see this today. I was just wondering if bulk canola or canola oil was available. I am curious about the yields with canola. From Joshua Tickell's book "From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank" He quotes anywhere from 100 to 200 gallons of pressed oil per acre. Quite a range. What is the seed yield in bushel's per acre?

I am trying to get some hard numbers to see if buying a small press and bio plant make economic sense for personal use.

Mother Earth News also had an article on running SVO this month. Very interesting sidebar on some legalities of running home made fuel on the road.



Thanks,

Phil

 

[AFarmer]

Very interested. Any details??

 

[CumminsFarmer]

Well I cant answer some of everybody's questions. Ive never dealt first hand with crushing canola for oil. A good place to contact for such information is the University of Idaho. They have a small crushing operation and have been doing so for many years. They do alot of research on stuff like that, and could probly answer oil per pound of seed value. On my end, a good yield for spring canola is generally 1200 lbs of canola seed an acre, or more. We've been experiencing drought around here the last few years, so most are happy with 1000 lbs. My dad has grown winter canola several times and has had great success with it. Our top yield on winter canola was 3800 lbs/acre a few years ago, but winter canola MUST be planted on summer fallow ground, with decent moisture before August 25th around here to do any good. Canola sold in this area is shipped out in semi's with grain trailers. No bagging occurs around here that I am aware of.



-Cole



P. S. - A 'bushel' of canola weighs in at 50 lbs.

 

[tgordon]

Thanks for the info, I just woundered if the terminology was the differance.



Here is some research that might help answer any questions somebody else has about oil yeailds for canola.



http://www.columbiabasin.edu/docs/ag_bs1_pdf_madison_farms_biodiesel.pdf



Slide 13 gets into the nitty gritty of the fuel production.