I am looking to buid a 1 million gallon per year biodiesel production plant in Louisiana and would like info on what grants may be available to alternative fuel manufacturing.

I’m planning to buy a Mercedes-Benz 300D and I want to use biodiesel to run it. How do I do that?
What are the chemicals used to make biodiesel? What are the ingredients used as well as the procedures?

Biodiesel Production: Energy Balance
There is a growing demand for biodiesel in the markets of USA and Europe Biodiesel Economics. Countries like Malaysia are growing oil palm to source the production of biodiesel for exporting to the developed countries. Biodiesel from palm oil is far less costly than from rapeseed oil. The energy of biodiesel is derived from the solar energy trapped by the plants during the process of photosynthesis. Biodiesel has positive energy balance.

For production of one unit of this fuel, the ratio between yield and cost is 3.71 units. That means one unit of energy input for producing biodiesel yields an output of 3.71 units. Biodiesel has therefore been increasingly produced both in small domestic scale as well as large commercial scale.

There are many companies around the world that are involved in the production of biodiesel. The Biodiesel Company which is privately owned is one of them. The Biodiesel Company has many years of experience in the fields of sales and distribution. Based in Toronto Canada, The Biodiesel Company collects and renews fuel from the waste of cooking oil, non vegetable oils and also related feed stocks and then process them into biofuel. On of the Biodiesel Companies is Grease Brothers, they make their biodiesel from vegetable oil and change it into fuel, the ultimate biodiesel guide is a company that sells instructions on how to make biodiesel so that you will be able to heat your home. Tree Hugger is a new biodiesel company that produces biodiesel through algae which has been found to be a more efficient way to make fuel. They found that algae can produce 30 times more oil per acre then the current crops that companies use do.

Other biodiesel companies include Agra Biofuels which produces over 3 million gallons of biodiesel every single year. Bently Biofuels, produce biodiesel from the oils of seeds and restaurant grease. Biodiesel production companies are the new solution to the rising prices of fuel. The fuel can be used in any diesel without having to convert it which makes it quick to Descente grate.

They believe that it is important to have competitive prices because of the fact that people are not fully aware of it and do not fully understand they cannot sell it above market price. Their marketing strategy which should be the same marketing strategy of all biodiesel production companies is to have a strong emphasis on the quality and focus on their target markets.

Oils
Biodiesel can be produced from many types of vegetable oils. The ones most commonly used are soybean and rapeseed oils. In the United States, 90% of biodiesel is produced from soybean oil. It can also be produced from crops such as Jatropha, field penny cress, sunflower, palm oil, mustard, etc. Other sources for biodiesel include Waste Vegetable Oil, animal fats like lard, yellow grease and tallow. Biodiesel can also be made from the byproducts derived in the process of making Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.

Another important economical source for production of biodiesel is algae. Algae for producing oil for biodiesel can be sourced cheaply from sewage wastes thus obviating the need for land which can be utilized for growing food. Many people consider waste vegetable oil to be the most ideal source for production of biodiesel. But the volume of biodiesel required to be produced to meet the demands of the transportation and household sectors is too large to be met with the inadequate supply of waste vegetable oil. Similarly inadequate is the supply of animal fat to produce biodiesel. Use of petroleum diesel can however be reduced to some extent by using discarded animal fat to produce biodiesel. Discarded chicken fat that can be procured from local poultry firms can be a viable source for biodiesel. Around 3 million gallons of biodiesel can be manufactured from nearly one billion kg of chicken fat and this source is utilized by some plants in USA

Not Enough to Replace Fossil Fuel
To produce soybean and animal fat in a scale than can produce enough biodiesel to substitute petroleum diesel as fuel is practically not possible. The enormous quantity of vegetable oils required to be produced towards making biodiesel would need very large scale farming with use of pesticides and fertilizers. People all over the world might object to such large scale diversion of agricultural land for producing vegetable oilseeds instead of food cultivation. As per the estimates of the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy, consumption of diesel as engine and heating fuel is around 160 million tonnes in USA. Production of vegetable oils and animal fat in the country is estimated to be around 11 million tonnes and 5.3 million tonnes respectively that indicate the inadequacy of the production of these substances to produce biodiesel in sufficient volume to replace petroleum diesel.

From Algae
To produce biodiesel from soybean oil to meet the estimated consumption in USA of 160 million tonnes of fuel would require the total cultivable land of the country. This impractical prospect can be eliminated by the alternative option of using algae from sewage wastes that is economical and does not require much land. According to the estimate of the Department of Energy, to meet this fuel need, only 15000 square miles of land is required for growing algae. Algae can be grown in arid lands including in desert and marine conditions and can yield more oil for biodiesel than other plants. The energy yielded by algae per acre is estimated to be 30 times more than crops grown on land like soybean.

More articles:
Biodiesel From Algae – History Of Biodiesel