The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

Biodiesel Facts

December 25, 2004

What it is

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel produced from domestic renewable resources, such as soybeans, a crop local farmers grow. The fuel can be mixed at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend that can be used in diesel engines with little to no modification.

The market

It can be used in any diesel engine. It also can be used in a blend or as a replacement for heating oil in oil-burning furnaces. Demand has increased from 500,000 gallons in 1999 to an estimated 25 million gallons in 2003, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

Local use

Biodiesel is available at the pump at Riverland FS gas stations in Roseville and Rosetta and Ag-Land FS Fuel 24 gas station in Kickapoo. Knoxville-based Riverland FS and Galesburg's Herr Oil are among suppliers selling the blended fuel in bulk.

Consumer cost

The fuel costs more, depending on the percent soy oil blend. For example, Williamsfield School District, which has begun using the fuel, pays 2.4 cents more per gallon for B2, a 2 percent biodiesel and 98 percent petroleum diesel blend.

Advantages

- Soy oil increases engine lubricity by 75 percent and the fuel also is cleaner burning than regular diesel, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

- The Congressional Budget Office and the USDA have confirmed that a 20 percent blend with diesel fuel is the lowest-cost alternative for meeting the federal government's Energy Policy Act compliance requirements.

- Supporters say using homegrown fuel reduces dependency on foreign oil.

Benefits to agriculture

- Farm revenue could rise with demand for the soybeans to produce biodiesel. An average annual increase of 200 million gallons of soy-based biodiesel demand would boost total crop cash receipts by $5.2 billion cumulatively by 2010, according to a 2001 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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