Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

Groundbreaking for $80 M biodiesel plant in St. Rose

ST. ROSE, La. — An $80 million biodiesel plant in St. Rose will produce 60 million gallons a year of the vegetable-based fuel, partners say.
“This is the beginning of a great, great industry for Louisiana,” Thomas Coleman, chief executive officer of International-Matex Tank Terminals, where the plant is being built, said at Thursday’s groundbreaking.
Vehicles can run entirely on biodiesel, which is often used as an additive to petroleum-based diesel.
The plant will be Renewable Energy Group’s only plant outside the Midwest. It has three plants open and is building or planning eight more.

Eight more! Maybe we found something the environmentalists will allow us to build!

A couple of the main arguments against biomass fuels - like biodiesel - are based on the fact that they require the use of a lot of farm land and they have a potentially negative impact on the global food supply. Both arguments are valid.

At least one potential solution, however, might lie with a strange looking plant called Jatropha curcas. The seeds from the poisonous plant, also called Barbados or Physic Nuts (no…I have no idea where those names come from) will yield about four times as much virgin oil per acre than soybeans but about half as much oil per acre than corn. Oh, one more thing, Jatropha plants, which have a forty year lifespan, can be grown almost anywhere; including deserts.

Since ethanol is generally made from corn and biodiesel often derived from soybeans it seems that Jatropha curcas is especially suited to the biodiesel market. As a matter of fact, at least one company, Smiling Earth Energy LLC, is planning major biodiesel refinery projects that will be using Jatropha curcas seed oil for feedstock. As reported in PilotOnline.com, Smiling Earth Energy LLC “has contracted with Mexican farmers to grow jatropha on nearly 1 million acres” to fuel a proposed $532 million biodiesel refinery in Chesapeake, VA along the Elizabeth River’s Southern Branch.

Pretty cool idea. A poisonous plant that grows in the desert being used for fuel. What’s not to like?

A few days ago Wayne posted his views regarding the Biofuel Boondoggle; as reported in the Christian Science Monitor. I happen to disagree with Wayne’s conclusions but I have no quibble with his criticism.

My disagreement is this: Wayne, like many Americans, seems suspicious of “Big Oil”. But, if you read the CSM story, it’s clear that those most likely to profit from any loopholes are biodiesel importers and producers. So if there’s any push to maintain the status quo regarding biodiesel tax credits it’s most likely to come from producers, who gain an export advantage, and importers, who can exploit the loopholes.

Here’s where I join with Wayne in his criticism: Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone is getting the benefit of biodiesel except for US.

Biofuel boondoggle: US subsidy aids Europe’s drivers | csmonitor.com
The maneuver begins with a shipload of biodiesel from, say, Malaysia, which pulls into a US port like Houston, says John Baize, an industry consultant in Falls Church, Va. Unlike domestic diesel-biodiesel blends, which typically contain from 1 to 10 percent of biodiesel, the Malaysian fuel starts off as 100 percent biodiesel, typically made from palm oil.

Then, the vessel receives from a dockside diesel supplier a “splash” of US petroleum diesel. It doesn’t take much to turn it into a diesel-biodiesel blend that is eligible for US subsidies.

If the ship holds roughly 9 million gallons, it takes only about 9,000 gallons of traditional diesel (0.1 percent of the total) to make the entire load eligible for the blenders tax credit.

The US importer of the load applies to the Internal Revenue Service for the credit – a dollar for each of the 9 million biodiesel gallons, Mr. Baize calculates. The next day the tanker can set sail – dash – for Europe. There, the US importer resells the biodiesel, taking advantage of European fuel-tax credits that, in effect, keep biodiesel prices above US prices.

“Splash and Dash” another example of Congress’ ineptitude. Any tax credit should be for fuel sold in the US. Why is that so difficult? Congress says this is on their list to fix, but no one is in a hurry.

A larger biofuel supply would make biofuel more popular and would bring down the price of not only biofuels, but regular diesel would be competing with the bio’s and companies would probably lower the price on regular diesel too.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but Big Oil wouldn’t want that to happen. I really don’t see this being fixed anytime soon.

Biodiesel Blends

While I do believe that the use of pure biodiesel (B100) can be practical in certain applications; commercial trucking isn’t one of them. Note, please, that I said PURE biodiesel isn’t suitable for use in the trucking industry. BLENDED biodiesel, however, is not only suitable for use in trucks; it’s my personal opinion that it’s superior to standard petrodiesel products. When used in a 20% biodiesel and 80% petrodiesel blend, known as B20, nearly all the disadvantages of B100 are either mitigated or disappear completely. In their place appear several distinct direct and indirect advantages. For example: Read the rest of this entry »

Biodiesel Basics Right about now you might be asking: Just what the heck is biodiesel, anyway? Back in Diesel’s day their bio-fuel was pretty much straight vegetable oil but now we (well…not me, but you know what I mean) have the ability to create from biological sources a petro-diesel equivalent that can be used to power an unmodified diesel engine. Modern biodiesel is generally distilled from one of several types of vegetable oil and the most important element of that distillation process is known as transesterification. Yes, I have to agree that it’s a weird word but, basically (very basically), transesterification is a chemical reaction resulting in the separation of methyl or ethyl esters from glycerol; the esters can then be further refined into the final biodiesel product. Biodiesel Drawbacks Even though biodiesel is the theoretical equivalent to petrodiesel; there are a few major differences. For example: Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, let’s get something straight, it would not be even remotely accurate to label me as a left-wing environmentalist nut. First, I’m not a big fan of hybrid vehicles. (Soooo…whatcha gonna do with all those junk batteries, anyway? Ya got a plan for that?? No, I didn’t think so.) I also have no problem with the harvesting of trees. (Yep, they do grow back. Who woulda thunk it?) And I don’t think mankind is causing global warming. (Let’s see, we’ve had at least three major ice ages, not to mention a few minor ones, and they’ve all come to an end. Figure it out, Maynard. I could go on about this subject for days.) I am, however, a fan of alternative fuels - especially biodiesel - but for purely pragmatic reasons.

A Little Biodiesel History
Influenced by the work of Nicolas Carnot concerning the efficiency of engines; Rudolf Diesel felt certain that he could improve on the designs of Nicolaus Otto and, at the same time, develop an engine that would be both cheaper and more efficient than the steam engines then dominating industry, agriculture and transportation. He envisioned, and eventually developed, an engine that he hoped would provide the means by which smaller industries, farmers, and other regular folks could compete on even footing with industrial monopolies. One other thing; Diesel designed the engine to “utilize locally available fuels”. In other words: biodiesel. As a matter of fact; the “first diesel engine suitable for practical use” was demonstrated to the public at the 1898 Exhibition Fair in Paris - fueled by none other than peanut oil. Read the rest of this entry »